Drawing a Blank
by Daniel Ehrenhaft; Illustrated by Trevor Ristow
Published by HarperCollins Publisher
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Reviewed by Jenny Salyers
Subtitled: Drawing a Blank: Or How I tried to Solve a Mystery, End a
Feud, and Land the Girl of My Dreams
Told through the eyes of 17-year-old Carleton Duane (the IV), the story takes us from a boarding school in upstate Connecticut, to New York City, to Scotland.
Carleton is a rather reserved teen who has been sent to a ritzy boarding school. He is artistic and spends time in class doodling and drawing his comics (which are printed in the local paper under his father's name--whom the editor to believes he is).
Carleton's life is thrown into chaos when he receives a late night phone call from Scotland telling him that his father has been kidnapped, and the only way to free him is to bring the "proof" of this age-old feud between two Scottish clans. The problem: Carleton believes his father was nuts, that the feud was made up. He has no idea what the "proof" required is. What follows is a wacky tale of Carleton's travels to try and rescue his father.
Carleton sneaks out of school to go home to New York City, usetting off a panic about his disappearance. His apartment was ransacked by someone else looking for the "proof" his mysterious caller had mentioned. A very strange last will and testament written by his father years earlier (which refers to the feud but does not explain it at all) was in his father's desk drawer usually kept locked. He flies to Scotland, and is almost run over by a van. A girl, who might not be what or whom she seems to be, rescues him.
Author Daniel Ehrenhaft and artist Trevor Ristow have collaborated to make an intently humorous story. Ehrenhaft's delightful tale is punctuated with Ristow's drawings that illustrate how Carleton looses himself in his drawing and uses his comics to explore his emotions at the time of drawing. While not a graphic novel, but fiction with inserted illustrated comic pages scattered throughout the book, it might also interest fans of the graphic novel genre.
Armchair Interviews says: Readers will have a fun time reading about Carleton's travels; finding out how he manages to solve the kidnapping mystery; end a feud that has lasted generations; and find the time to meet the girl of his
dreams.