First off, thank you so much to NetGalley, Pantheon Publishing and Author/Illustrator Mattie Lubchansky for the opportunity to read and review this advanced reader copy of Simplicity.

We live in an interesting time; I know, understatement of the year. I find myself looking back at the “Dystopian” novels that I read in my youth and finding them hard to go back to because they now feel too close to reality. Now call me a radical if you will, but it’s getting scary out there. Mattie Lubchansky, author and illustrator of Simplicity, has re-energized my love of this genre, while inflaming my radicalization and class consciousness.

The setting is a really good “glimpse” into the near future, a possible dystopia of what comes after the US. I like how the main character Lucius, has a naivety that is recognizable and understandable to the reader, when looking at the commune of Simplicity (SAP), and the corporation that he works for. It reminds me of the way that sometimes as liberals and more progressive thinkers, we can idolize, or even essentialize, groups merely for the fact that they aren’t of the norm and how that ends up being reductive. In the case of the SAP folk, this is quickly disproven by this community being a lot more than what we think it is. I really like the characterization of the corporation that Lucius is working for because it strips away all of the green-washing that our modern-day capital class likes to hide behind. What starts as a corporation that looks like they are saving history for posterity, quickly melts away to the soul-less, money-obsessed monopolies that we know and live with in our everyday lives. It’s like when Jeff Bezos (or insert the vapid billionaire of your choosing) sets up a foundation or gives a lot of money for some charity. They purport themselves as these great benevolent paragons of righteousness, when in reality they are basically gilding their own image so we don’t really look into why they are so insanely wealthy? But I digress…

I loved reading this graphic novel. It hits all the notes of class-consciousness, queer representation/acceptance and self-discovery all while doing so in a way that stays relevant to the reader. It brings resolution while still showing the unfortunate situations that we find ourselves in. As Amity put it, “ There’s no such thing as leaving the world is there? … We’re in the world. The choice has already been made for us.” I guess in the end, it is a story of survival and of adapting the best we can to stay alive; culturally, spiritually, physically. I am very excited to see what Mattie comes up with next!

Weird book! I think the artstyle was a strange choice for the writing, which is not something I've ever said about a story before. I think I could have taken the story a lot more seriously if it had been more realistically drawn.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for me to review!

The art is wackier than the cover will lead you to believe. The STORY is wackier than the description will lead you to believe, for the most part. It became a little predictable and was much more violent than expected, but quite an entertaining little foray into dystopia, gender, and societal expectations.