Library Finds: Bottomless Bellybutton

As a child, there is only one kind of sand: sand. The beginning of Dawn Shaw's Bottomless Bellybutton explains what we come to know: there are many different kinds of sand in the world. Dry sand, wet sand, sand in the wind, sand being swept off a deck, etc..

As we grow, we accumulate experiences and knowledge. We come to know all the different kinds of sand, clouds, and water; we begin to think we have it all - life - figured out. We know what a family is, what love is, until something monumental shakes us up so bad we don't know where, or even who, we are.

The graphic novel tells the story of the Loony family and grandpa and grandma Loony's decision to separate after forty years of marriage. Each of the Loony children, Dennis, Claire, and Peter react differently to the news as they gather at the Loony family's house.

Like most families, each of the children (and their children) are different in personality, appearance, and experience. Through their reactions, we begin to understand that love is not a singularly defined thing. Like the different kinds of sand catalogued at the beginning of the story, there are different kinds of love. As children, we define romantic love by the only relationship we directly experience: the love between parents. Growing up, we experience love differently, complicating our view of love in our minds, yet often never reconcile that new definition with our parents' relationship . Bottomless Bellybutton is the story of a family individually attempting to reconcile those views, reminding us that we're never really grown up enough to know everything, we can grow up enough to accept it and maybe even appreciate it.

The graphic novel, like any good book, is alternately funny, sad, and insightful. It's also long and weighs a ton; though there are no page numbers, I would wager that it's nearly 600-700 pages long. The simplicity of Shaw's artwork and his pacing allow him to evoke complex emotions someone not familiar to the medium would think impossible from a graphic novel (I initially wrote the starkness of the artwork and narrative off myself). One three-page sequence in which a character undresses in front of another character is surprisingly sensual, while the austerity of the final pages in which the characters say goodbye to one another is devastating.

While part one (of three) may appear to be more emotional navel-gazing (pun intended) from another male with sexual and emotional hang-ups, the novel is every bit as complicated and rewarding as love. Or at least our understanding of it.