All My Friends: 01/31/22

All My Friends by Hope Larson is the third and final book in the Eagle Rock graphic novel series. Bina's come a long way in her burgeoning music career and now she and her band, Fancy Pink are about to get their first big break. There are just a few snags: parents, school and money!

This book covers the months between a successful (more or less) first live show and the release of the band's first album. Along the way Bina gets pushback from her parents (as do her bandmates). She makes the decision to go behind their back to further her career and her band's but her parents aren't that blind to what she's doing.

Fortunately Bina is written as a character with agency and common sense. Sure — some of the risks she take are extra risky given her age. But she's working in a fairly safe, close-knit subset of the Los Angeles music scene. She's a fairly good judge of character and over the trilogy has amassed a group of trustworthy friends and supporters.

Therefore, All My Friends isn't a more typical cautionary tale of a young woman being taken advantage of as she pursues her art and career. This isn't a middle grade Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann (1966). Nor is it like Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson (2018), although I half expected it to go that direction a few times.

Although this is the end of Bina's arc of becoming a musician, I would definitely read more to see how she and her band are doing further down the line.

Four stars

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