Book Review - Men I Trust

You know, maybe it’s an  unjust assumption that all men are untrustworthy. Sure, there’s a lot of us who for various reasons have a couple of black marks on our resumes, burnt exes on a warpath, or an overly sympathetic ear to our own vices… But that doesn’t mean we’re all bad. Just take it from Eliza, someone who has been thrashed by all sides of the gender spectrum while living to survive. And you know who sits in the centre of this personal labyrinth? Her son, who is a stand-up guy and official representative for everything we have the potential to be. 

The rest of the world in this novel, in a place I’m presuming to be Melbourne, is an absolute slog, with one gut-punch after another over the course of around 200-pages. Luckily, the distinct art style eventually grows on you and the symbolism of its features begins to stand out as colours fade from characters and stencils begin to fill the room.

Though it did take a while to grow on me, this is the first graphic novel I’ve read in maybe ever and if I can dedicate two hours to Hollywood’s finest then I can certainly give this comically oversized book a fighting shot. However, before I move on, I will note that this book has effectively ruined my bookshelf and my aesthetic will never be what it once was due to these dinner-plate-sized pages. Fortunately, the captions are very easy to read even when they do sometimes happen to be the same colour as the background. 

As far as the story goes it’s a real slow boil, fermenting over its first two-thirds before revealing who the real protagonist is and what resolution beholds their future. For the first large swath of Men I Trust I found an intentional ambiguity in its narrative, one in which  we can sympathise with its characters and their ill-fated mental health because we’re just as confused as they are. Who can we trust? Are all men bad? Oh no, does it spread to the women in this story too?

These lingering questions all find bittersweet resolutions, for only in agony can we truly appreciate the banality of existence and the consequences of others’ actions. For some, life isn’t fun. The skies are cloudy and it rains quite often, with only fleeting rays of sunshine preventing the darkness from looming large enough that it could get lost in. But boy, those rays of sunshine are absolutely worth sticking around for. 

Men I Trust is available from Scribe Publications from the 1st of November. For more info, click here.