BEFORE WE WAKE

A girl faces grief and finds romance in her dreams.

Four years ago, Alicia Campos’ father passed away. Her best friend, Marisa Garza, was there for her, and Alicia believes Marisa is the only one who really understands her. The light-skinned teens, who are implied Latine, are different in many ways. Marisa is always thinking about boys and sex, while Alicia is preoccupied by a recurring dream—in it, there’s a house in the distance that draws her, but she can’t get any closer to it. She reads a book on lucid dreaming and slowly learns to control her dreams. Over the summer, while Marisa is away working as a camp counselor, Alicia bonds with Quintin, Marisa’s brown-skinned basketball player boyfriend, who works at a video rental store. When Alicia and Quintin develop a romantic connection in their dreams (which are portrayed in full color), the waking world (which is depicted in a muted gray and pale yellow palette) becomes more complicated. This graphic novel gently explores grief after losing a loved one. Glock thoughtfully and realistically portrays Alicia’s unresolved feelings of shame and guilt and delicately handles her changing relationships. While there’s a strong focus on internal character development, the art is less visually engaging; many of the facial expressions are similar and repetitive, but sincere emotions still come through and drive the story. The ending feels somewhat too easy but is still satisfying.

An affecting tale of love, loss, and dreams.