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Flamer
Tập tin:Flamer (2020 graphic novel) cover.jpg
Thông tin sách
Tác giả	Mike Curato
Quốc gia	United States
Ngôn ngữ	English
Thể loại	Graphic novel Semi-autobiographical
Nhà xuất bản	Henry Holt and Company
Ngày phát hành	September 1, 2020
Số trang	368
ISBN	978-1-2508-0394-8

Flamer là một tiểu thuyết đồ họa bán tự truyện của Mike Curato. Sách lấy bối cảnh vào năm 1995 tại một trại hè của Hội Nam Hướng đạo Mỹ, kể về câu chuyện của Aiden, một cậu bé bị bắt nạt vì ngoại hình và cách hành xử bị xem là khuôn mẫu của những người đồng tính nam. Nhà văn Curato cũng từng là một hướng đạo sinh và dựa vào kinh nghiệm của mình khi phải sống khép kín trong khoảng thời gian là một thiếu niên để viết nên bộ tiểu thuyết.

Quyển sách đã được xuất bản vào năm 2020 bởi Henry Holt and Company và được ca ngợi cả về cốt truyện giàu cảm xúc cùng góc nhìn nghệ thuật mà cuốn sách mang lại. Việc sử dụng tông màu đỏ cho những khoảnh khắc cảm xúc thay vì tông màu đen trắng phần lớn xuất hiện trong quyển sách cũng được ca ngợi. Năm 2021, Flamer đã nhận được Giải thưởng Thư viện Lambda cho hạng mục thể loại sách dành cho thanh thiếu niên.

Cốt truyện

The novel is set in 1995, when Aiden Navarro, a 14-year-old Filipino American teenager, goes through the last week of a Boy Scouts summer camp, before having to return home. Having just finished Catholic middle school, where he was constantly bullied for being overweight, biracial, and queer, Navarro is excited for his trip to the summer camp, where he has always felt appreciated by his friends as a good scout. Aiden considers the Boys Scout camp to be a safe space, where things are peaceful and predictable. He also enjoys going to the summer camp since it means being far from his abusive father.

Things are different this year, as the other boys he is spending time with are going through puberty, and spend their time trying to prove to each other who is more manly, which includes the use of homophobic slurs. Although Aiden attempts to be like these boys, his inability to fit in leaves him especially frustrated and upset.

While there, Aiden also writes to his pen pal, a girl named Violet, with whom he is very close and feels comfortable sharing more intimate subjects. In his letters, Aiden talks about the things he was taught in Catholic school, how homosexuality is morally wrong, and his romantic feelings for another camper, Elias.

Throughout the week, Navarro attempts to suppress his feelings towards Elias and himself, which leads to self-loathing and suicide ideation. Although Aiden manages to fight off the negative thoughts and emotions inside him in the end, he leaves the scout camp with the understanding life for him wouldn't be easy.

Chủ đề

Một trong những chủ đề xuất hiện trong tiểu thuyết đồ họa đầu tay của Mike Curato chính là vấn đề nam tính độc hại và kỳ thị đồng tính mà Navarro gặp phải, điều đã xảy ra trong thời gian anh học tập tại một trường Công giáo và khi ở trại hè. Vấn đề này sau đó cũng đã được miêu tả khi Aiden cố gắng hòa nhập cùng các bạn bè đồng trang lứa bằng cách bắt chước theo các hành động dị đính và bắt chước hành vi "nam tính, kỳ thị đồng tính".

Flamer cũng đã đề cập đến những cuộc đấu tranh vì bản sắc, khi nhân vật chính, người được nuôi dưỡng theo Công giáo, không hoàn toàn hiểu được cảm xúc của mình đối với các cậu bé khác và gặp khó khăn trong việc chấp nhận bản thân của mình là một người đồng tính, vì anh đã được giảng dạy rằng đồng tính là một tội lỗi. Sự bắt nạt mà Aiden phải chịu đựng ở trường học lẫn trại hè đã làm gia tăng sự căm ghét đối với bản thân, cuối cùng dẫn đến khoảnh khắc anh có suy nghĩ về việc tự tử.

Bối cảnh

Mike Curato began writing the script for Flamer in 2011. He worked on it as a side project for a few years, and in 2014 he worked full-time on Flamer and finished it. In 2015 he sold the publishing rights to the same editor responsible for his Little Elliot picture books. Afterward, Curato continued working on other projects until around 2018, when he returned to the graphic novel and began working on the illustrations in preparation for a release.

Aiden's experience includes being bullied for his effeminate voice and insinuations of being gay, which is based on Curato's own experiences as a closeted scout. Part of Curato's writing process involved looking at his old journals, sketchbooks, and photographs to relive old memories. He also had access to the letters he sent to his old pen pal, ranging from 1992 to the early 2000s. The same pen pal served as inspiration for Violet.

Curato lacked experience producing works similar to comic books. After sending the mockup for the novel to his agent, he had to add around thirty new pages to the final version for lack of space for the speech balloons. This alteration led to him expanding on the original story. Despite that, Curato was able to use his experience with picture books at other aspects of the creation process, such as "pacing, page turns, and compositional know-how." Graphic novels not being bound to the same limitations in page numbers as picture books also gave some additional freedom to the author when compared to his usual production.

The majority of the art in Flamer was made using black pencil and ink washes. For the pages where a fire was present, Curato utilized colored ink, which was then overlaid on top of the black and white art through Photoshop. Curato sought to use an art style he called "kind of rough", which was chosen to match the themes present in the book. This style differed from his usually polished one used for his children's picture books. While experimenting with this new style, Curato used other graphic novels as inspiration, including Stitches and The Kampung Boy.

Title of the book

Curato initially chose the word Flamer for the title of the novel due to its usage as a slur towards gay people, which was also used against him when he was a kid. The word is also integrated into the story both through its relation to fire, and also as an allegory to how certain words that used to be derogatory, such as queen, were eventually reclaimed by the LGBT community.

Giải thưởng

Flamer won the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature in its 33rd edition, held in 2021.

The book was also in The Horn Book Magazine's list of the best books of 2020, which states that it "winningly captures the joys of camp and young love while at the same time exploring the hopes and fears of the human heart."

Phản ứng

Đón nhận

The writing and design in Flamer were commended for the author's ability in conveying the emotions felt by the main character to the reader. In his review for The Horn Book Magazine, Roger Sutton mentions how the book "speaks so well to those kids currently undergoing the ordeal." Sutton also comments on the slow build-up of the story, showing the activities Aiden partakes in the camp, which "fully pull readers into Aiden's psyche". The review published by School Library Journal mentions the struggle that Aiden goes through in accepting himself by instead imitating the "macho behavior of other campers" to appear straight.

In her review for the NPR, Juanita Giles mentions the main character showing signs of not being able to accept being queer, and calls it "an astounding moment in an already astounding story." Giles also comments on the ending of the novel, and how, instead of all of Aiden's problems being solved, it shows him persevering over the challenges life had imposed on him. A review for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books goes over the suicidal ideation scene, and the powerful style shown by Curato in it. They also praise the "emotional wallop" caused by Curato's narration of Aiden's life and his use of "incendiary" colors alongside the black ink.

The Publishers Weekly review mentions how through the use of "straightforward, thick-lined art", the author "interweaves surrealistic, emotionally charged moments". Kirkus Reviews, in its verdict, called Flamer "a story that will be read and reread, and for some, it will be the defining book of their adolescence." Sarah Hunter, for The Booklist, wrote: "Masterfully nuanced and stunningly told, this is visual storytelling at its finest."

Curato's use of black and white for the everyday moments and red and orange tones for moments of intense emotion was specially praised by reviewers. Sarah Hunter writes that "deft artwork meticulously balances between blazing feelings and quiet contemplation." For the School Library Journal, the usage of colors to signify Aiden's "passion, rage, desire, and shame" is made even more explicit against the black and white illustrations. Kirkus Reviews called the illustrations "timeless moments of a remembered childhood." Roger Sutton also commented about the use of smaller panels for the storytelling, and the "full-page and double-page spreads for big moments", calling it "wonderfully effective."

Tranh cãi

Flamer has been subject to widespread criticism by proponents of an unprecedented wave of book banning in the United States. PEN America reported that it had been banned in schools in at least six states during the 2021-2022 school year. In 2022, the American Library Association named it as the year's fourth most banned and challenged book in the United States due to inclusion of "LGBTQIA+ content" and "claims that it is sexually explicit." The following year, it was named the year's fifth-most banned and challenged book in the United States.

Flamer was listed among 52 books banned by the Alpine School District following the implementation of Utah law H.B. 374, “Sensitive Materials In Schools," many of which were considered to contain pornographic material according to the new law.

After a district parent filed a criminal complaint in August 2022 against Flamer's inclusion in the Jordan High School library in Katy, Texas, district police temporarily removed the book for an investigation. The book had already been deemed appropriate for high schools by a book review committee in March, and the police concurred with the committee's evaluation of the book's content.