City News
Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
Review By Sona
Anya’s Ghost is a young adult graphic novel by Vera Brosgol about the story of a high school student, Anya, and a ghost she befriends. Anya, who struggles with her body image, family, Russian heritage, school, and friends, decides to skip school and takes a walk through a forest. She accidentally falls into a well, where she discovers a human skeleton belonging to a ghost named Emily. After two days, Anya is rescued but decides to leave Emily’s skeleton in the well.
Despite this, Emily follows Anya home through a bone accidentally taken from the well. Anya is at first reluctant to keep the bone, but decides to keep Emily around when she helps Anya take an exam and spy on Sean, a boy she has a crush on. Emily also reveals the way she died—running from her parents’ murderer and falling into the well—after which Anya promises to help Emily track down her killer’s identity. Anya begins to ignore her only friend at school, Siobhan, as Emily attempts to help her date Sean. He later invites Anya to a party, which she is initially excited to attend. However, she learns from Sean’s girlfriend that he regularly cheats on her, causing Anya to leave the party upset.
Emily is furious with Anya for leaving, and becomes possessive over Anya and her relationships, trying to force Anya to see Sean despite not being interested in him anymore. On her own, Anya researches Emily’s death and discovers that she actually died running from police after committing arson against her unrequited crush and his lover.
Anya immediately returns home to find Emily’s bone missing. Emily reveals that she has the ability to move tangible objects, and threatens members of Anya’s family in an attempt to force her to obey. Anya discovers the bone in her brother Sasha’s room, and runs to the well to dispose of it. Emily confronts Anya at the well and tries to attack her, causing Anya to drop the bone into the well. Emily then takes control of her own skeleton to pursue Anya, who is able to talk her out of her behavior. The ghost vanishes and Emily’s skeleton falls back into the well. The well is filled in and Anya begins to repair her friendship with Siobhan.
I absolutely loved the way this book communicated a theme of self-acceptance. Anya is shown to struggle with her Russian heritage and family in the first part of the book, insulting another Russian student and shortening her full name, Annushka Borzakovskaya, to Anya Brown. However, after meeting Emily and learning to appreciate what she has, she gains a deeper respect for her family. In the last scene of the book, she introduces herself with her full Russian last name, showing how she has matured and finally accepted herself for who she is.
The illustration in this book is also amazing. The panels are drawn in a monochromatic indigo palette, adding to the overall mood of the story, and the cartoony style that the characters are drawn in perfectly captures their emotions.
One inconsistency in the plot I found was Emily’s ability to move objects. She reveals later that she can affect physical objects, implying that the bone Anya “accidentally” brought home was put there by Emily much earlier in the story. This would mean that Emily already had this ability before she met Anya, which makes the reveal later in the book feel insignificant. It’s not an important flaw, but it was something I found curious.
I would give this book a 9/10. While the concept of the plot is a little cliché—an unpopular girl struggling with her self-image learning to accept herself—the overall message of the book is beautiful and relatable to any teen or young adult. Graphic novels are often overlooked when it comes to literature as being “just for kids,” but this book definitely deserves more recognition for its darker themes and motivational message.