Ann Tenna : a novel /

Marchetto (Cancer Vixen) spins a cautionary tale of celebrity warfare, family ties, and astral projection in this splashy book. Ann Tenna, the reigning queen of gossip blogging, has clawed her way to international fame and fortune. She's as loathed as she is loved, but no one can ignore her. After a catastrophic car crash, Ann discovers that her destiny lies far beyond the red carpet and in the stars themselves. Ann has been called by the cosmic powers that be into service as a beacon of love and light for a cynical world. Allowed a few months to make the transition, Ann confronts family, friends, colleagues, and, most crucially, herself. Marchetto's art balances glamour and sleaze to wonderful effect: Ann's eyelashes are dramatically long, guardian angels prowl about in Versace originals, and goddesses wear two-foot-high platforms. With art and writing in perfect harmony, Marchetto has crafted a warm romp of a story that's a tribute to feminine fantasy and midlife transformation, with its heart worn boldly on a beautifully tailored sleeve. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

New Yorker cartoonist Marchetto's Ann Tenna is an engaging graphic novel with a powerful message. Ann Tenna is on top of the world. She is fabulously thin and fashionable and commands a hoard of followers, fueled by the scandal she propagates. She has propelled herself to the pinnacle of her industry-feared and revered by socialites, brownnosed by greedy companies, and lackeyed by those she deems friends and family. However, one small act of defiance against her brand spirals into a messy exit culminating in Ann's body stuck in a coma and her soul transposed into a state of "Science Fashion Heaven," where Ann's disembodied Higher Self challenges her to change her ways and live up to her true potential. Marchetto's art is colorful and inventive. She clearly builds the ambiance of the book to be technologically, culturally, and aesthetically relevant. Ann's story explores not only the quest to self-betterment but also such social issues as celebrity worship, consumerism, and complicity. Verdict A classic second-chance story repackaged in a smart and evocative way that will appeal to a wide range of readers. Marchetto (Cancer Vixen) pushes her audience to think for themselves and defy others' perceptions of success, unhipness, and happiness. Though the protagonist herself is middle-aged, the message of rejecting societal pressures can make a great impact on older teen or YA readers.-Laura Gallardo, St. Louis © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A high-spirited graphic novel skewers the Twitterati. Like Roz Chast, Marchetto is known for both her signature cartoons in the New Yorkershe's the one who does rich ladies in sunglassesand for a deeply affecting graphic memoir (Cancer Vixen, 2006). Her new graphic novel tells the story of Ann Tenna, a shallow, mean-spirited, media-obsessed NYC gossip columnist, founder of a Gawker-like website called Eyemauler. She trash-talks live from Ann Cams embedded in her powder compact and in a baguette on her Fendi bag, and despite/because of how awful she is, she's constantly beset by a crowd of sycophants: "Kiss! Kiss! Come to my club! There's a 24-carat rose gold jeroboam of pink champagne in the VIP room with your name on it!" After a near-fatal traffic accident, Ann ascends to the astral plane, where she meets Super Ann, her eternal self and spirit guide, who gives her "full body, mind and spiritual, mental, emotional and electromagnetical treatments designed to remove your earthly layers so you can see who you ideally are," and visits with Coco Chanel, Gianni Versace, Jimi Hendrix, and her dead mother. Ann is allowed to return to Earth in order to repudiate her evil media-mongering and become a "transmissionary" of the truth, but her drama draws her right back in. There's her two-faced little stepsister, Farrah, who speaks entirely in text message-ese, written in a phone-type font: "we're sooooo srry 2 hr ur nt doing 2 wll!!!" There's her sleazy celebrity photographer boyfriend, Declan Zimmerman, who is trailed by starlets begging to get "zimmed." There's her webmaster, Mirra, who grabbed the mike herself the minute Ann went down, and the evil media magnate Rolf Fanger, who bought Eyemauler from Ann and now is jockeying to edge her out. Will Ann come to her senses and save the world from its cellphones in time? Zany with a touch of uplifting. You will be measurably hipper after reading it. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.