I was surprised to find out this graphic novel was written by a guy because I think it captured teenage girl angst pretty well. The biggest obstacle that teenage girls face is losing friendships. When people grow up and change, the relationships become fragile. I was also impressed because these girls were fully fleshed out characters who arced. They were not ideal cookie cutter teen girls. They weren't stereotypical either. Daniel Clowes made sure that they had realistic flaws. The interesting thing is that the girls tend to overpower the men throughout the novel.
Ghost World reminded me of the graphic novel, This One Summer, by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki. It also navigated the twisted path of adolescence for young women. Interestingly, these two girls did not dominate men as much. It was more about discovering the special side of the world that females deal with. For Ghost World, the novel focused a lot on characters who don't fit in with normal society. They don't find satisfaction interacting with normal people. Instead, they find the outcasts similar to themselves. I guess that everyone tends to feel like an outcast at some point. Maybe that's why they were able to make a movie out of Ghost World.
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