The Amazing Camel Toe by Claire Duplan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

Release Date: May 16, 2023

This graphic novel tells the tale of a misandrous artist who draws a comic book superhero who is meant to be a hero to harassed and harrowed females everywhere. From reading the blurb, one knows this is going to be a book with a message and a bit of edge. However, one hopes from the apparent whimsicality of title and cover that there will be enough humor to balance the anger and vitriol and make it an entertaining read. There is not.

I use the term misandrous not based on the dastardly characters her comic’s heroine kicks around, but rather based on the protagonist’s interactions with her “boyfriend.” This is the one man in the book who isn’t presented as a complete jerk, and, perhaps, the only man on the planet the protagonist doesn’t want to straight up murder (all the time.) Still, this “nice guy” can do nothing right except to always apologize and except full responsibility for every argument. The couple has a falling out at one point, and I suspect the author saw their reuniting as some sort of rom com “awe” moment, but the reader knows it’s a doomed relationship because the protagonist has a seething contempt for the boyfriend character and the fact that he went away once before means he’s probably got an iota of self-esteem in there somewhere that will not go gently.

If you enjoy the emotional pacing of being stuck in an elevator with a tantrum-prone two-year-old, this book may be for you. Otherwise, it’s kind of a one-dimensional character who’s angry all the time, and not that fun to read.


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