Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22
Published by Harper PerennialIn this fresh and offbeat graphic memoir, MariNaomi chronicles her time as a misfit teen and young woman looking for love in San Francisco, while bringing to light issues of identity and sexuality.
Winner of the 2012 SPACE Prize
Read a deleted excerpt from Kiss & Tell at Howlarium: Undead Darlings #1
ISBN 978-0-06-200923-4
Published by Harper Perennial, September 2011
Buy it from HarperCollins.
Sample Pages
Praise for Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22
“MariNaomi is a true original. This sometimes harrowing tale of young love made me rock with laughter and wince with sympathetic mortification.”
—Armistead Maupin, author of Tales of the City
“Kiss & Tell gets love, sex and everything in between exactly right.Reading MariNaomi’s graphic memoir is like reading my own
childhood journal—if my journal were extremely funny and well drawn.”
—Amy Bryant, author of Polly
“Despite offering an abundance of convenient stopping points, Kiss & Tell insists on not being put down until you’ve read every sordid
detail. MariNaomi’s romantic resume is extensive and messy, but it’s a funny and rewarding wreck to watch.”
—Jeffrey Brown, author of Clumsy and Funny Misshapen Body
“This book isn’t merely a laundry list of men that Mari has dated over the years; it’s the earnest story of a young woman’s
tumultuous, hilarious and heartbreaking youth. It’s also smart, funny, original and compulsively readable.”
—Julia Wertz, author of Drinking at the Movies and The Fart Party
“The book’s charm lies in MariNaomi’s amused and loving perspective on her curious, tough, occasionally foolish younger
self: she knows she may have misunderstood the dynamics of her relationships, but she can still evoke the intensity of her feelings.”
—Douglas Wolk, The New York Times
“Girlish innocence and disarming candor mark this graphic memoir. Whether she’s writing about threesomes, foursomes or the possibility of moresomes, MariNaomi exudes a sweetness undefiled by experience…. Though there are some dark interludes, this is ultimately a celebration of a girl’s life, from larva to wings.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Picaresque, but down-to-earth, Kiss & Tell winningly marries its spare, gestural, black-and-white style to its capricious though thoughtful tone. The soulfulness and even loneliness she expresses is all hers.”
—Boston Globe
“Let’s hear it for a sexual coming-of-age that, for all its bumps, isn’t about victimology and regret. In Kiss & Tell, MariNaomi
outlines in bold, woodblock-style graphic nonfiction just how a girl does it in this day and age.”
—ELLE Magazine
“MariNaomi succeeds in documenting the genuine transformation of a confused young girl into a self-aware woman. She is honest about her mistakes… She effectively shies away from a pity party or woe-is-me girlhood. Her frankness…makes the book painfully and embarrassingly relatable. It’s a quick read but packed with wisdom and raw experience.”
—BUST Magazine
“Though it can be a painful read—who wants to be reminded of mistakes they made at 15—MariNaomi’s honesty and humor make it absolutely compelling.”
—USA Today, Pop Candy
“Reads like a Tales of the City for Generation X.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Fearless, funny, tender, unsparing… SF’s own MariNaomi shows us how it’s done.”
—SF Weekly
“A good-humored and bracingly honest memoir.””
—Seattle Weekly
“If you’re looking for an artfully constructed book about how we develop as sexual beings, you’ll be riveted.”
—The Stranger
“Never flinching from the down and dirty details of what went on with all these guys (and, eventually, girls), the author gives a refreshing and poignant look at early sexual experience and romance, including the actually dirty, the tragic, and the
semisweet.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This book is a beautiful example of where the graphic art movement is heading, to subversive narratives that ponder life while breaking all the rules. Accessiblity, humor, and self-deprecating wit are at the heart of these works, and MariNaomi accomplishes all those in spades, as well as doing a fabulous job of mixing in some San Francisco sex positivity to boot. Go out and buy this for the young person in your life that’s sick of being talked down to, but be sure to throw in some earplugs for yourself. You may be hearing from their parents. And that process is what will make this chronicle forever a treasured tome of teen rebellion.”