Sylvie & True
by David McPhail
FSG
This odd pairing of a zaftig rabbit and a hapless water snake in four short stories reminds me too much of an old lesbian couple. Okay, so most lesbians don't sleep in the bathtub, like True, the snake. There's just something about their level of comfort together--plus the kinda frumpy way they're drawn--that whispered that in my ear.
Sylvie's the one who cooks and goes off to work and is generally the useful husband-type. She and True wear matching bowling shirts--I mean, c'mon, is that not a clue right there? True cheats at bowling, burns whatever horrid concoction was supposed to be dinner, watches TV through the smoke alarm blaring, and is generally not self-sufficient.
It's humorous, to be sure, the same way the Honeymooners would be a scream if remade today as a same-sex couple, maybe Alice and Ralphine Kramden (Book Buds Instant Challenge--who would you cast in it? No points for suggesting Ellen Degeneres--let's be original.)
I'm having fun with this for reasons the author didn't intend, of course. It might've helped if we knew why Sylvie stays in this friendship, but maybe that's something we should leave untouched in a kids' book.
Rating: *\*\
Oh heavens, thanks for the laugh. I've got this one and like it, though my mind never went to old lesbian couple. Now, I'm reading it in an all-new light.
Posted by: jules | December 19, 2007 at 11:55 AM
I like it too, I just like it better as a lesbian sitcom. Heh.
Posted by: Anne | December 19, 2007 at 02:48 PM