Be Careful What You Wish For: Anya is immensely jealous of Elizabeth for seeming so perfect all the time, and wishes for proof that Elizabeth isn’t as flawless as she presents herself as. But when she finally finds out that Elizabeth is so insecure that she would rather help Sean cheat on her to keep him around than lose him, Anya is less than thrilled at the revelation. Ghostly Goals: Anya discusses with Emily trying to help solve her murder, planning to research what happened to her killer so she may be able to rest in peace; Emily agrees it might be worth a try. The truth is, though, that Emily's real goal is to live a perfect life she never got to have, and she plans to do this by living vicariously through Anya—making her chase after boys, dress up, and be popular. Ultimately, Emily is only able to rest in peace after she understands that the perfect life she wants doesn't exist, and there's no point to envying other peoples.

But the whole story with Emily, the ghost, didn’t really move or excite me (I do have to admit that I couldn’t read this at night—Ghosts scare me!). Ambiguous Situation: Emily claims to have died after fleeing from a maniac who murdered her parents and then falling down the well. Actually, she was hunted down by an angry mob after burning down the house of the guy who rejected her with him still inside, but we don't know if she was killed by the mob and her body was thrown into the well, or if she fell into the well while fleeing and died of starvation/dehydration in there instead. And as for the ghost, I’ll refrain from talking too much about her, simply because her role drives the story. We’ll just leave it at this: I was surprised by what Brosgol did with what could have been a terribly cliched device. And that I could be so pleasantly pleased speaks highly for Brosgol’s product here. Matheson, Whitney (May 17, 2011). "Comics recs: 'Anya's Ghost', 'Change-Bots', more graphic goodness". ISSN 0734-7456. Archived from the original on December 25, 2011 . Retrieved February 12, 2023.

IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:

Smoking Is Cool: Anya and Siobhan think so at the start. Anya begins to realize it just makes her look like a jerk when seeing Emily smoke. YMMV • Radar • Quotes • ( Funny • Heartwarming • Awesome) • Fridge • Characters • Fanfic Recs • Nightmare Fuel • Shout Out • Plot • Tear Jerker • Headscratchers • Trivia • WMG • Recap • Ho Yay • Image Links • Memes • Haiku • Laconic • Source • Setting

Anya's Ghost is a single-issue graphic novel by Vera Brosgol. It features Anya: an insecure, dowdy teenager, born of Russian immigrants, who finds herself struggling with the day-to-day trials of high school life, like her crush Sean and mouthy friend Siobhan. One day, she falls down an abandoned well and discovers the bones of a young girl who fell down there before her... As well as the ghost of said girl, still haunting the well she died in ninety years prior. The ghost, Emily, turns out to be pretty friendly, and the two eventually become good friends, as well as partners in crime. (Anya uses her invisible buddy to cheat on tests, keep watch while she's smoking and spy on classmates.) Of course, these sort of things rarely end well, and soon Emily proves more of a problem than a friend. I'm not feeling very eloquent today, so I thought I'd post a transcript of how I sounded as I read Anya's Ghost: Required Reading: 50 of the Best Kids Comics". Paste. Avondale Estates, Georgia: Wolfgang's Vault. April 7, 2017. ISSN 1540-3106. Archived from the original on June 15, 2017 . Retrieved July 28, 2017. Anya’s Ghost is a coming-of-age ghost story by Vera Brosgol. It was published in graphic novel format in 2011, though Brosgol, who both wrote and drew the story, has said that it took four years to complete. Sympathy for the Devil: Anya feels this for Emily after she takes control of her own skeleton and drags herself out of the well, bones falling apart and incapable of even forming any words with her decommissioned jawbone. Anya admits to her that she understands what it's like to want another person's life, but that neither of them can actually know what's going in someone else's head, and that they might be hurting just as much as you. She comes closer, puts her arm out, and gently tells her that what she wants, a chance to live again vicariously through Anya, doesn't even exist. Emily sheds silent tears and dissipates herself into the night sky.Class Princess: Deconstructed. Elizabeth is beautiful, blonde, popular, and dating the Big Man on Campus, and Anya and the other girls hate her for being so nice and perfect. However, Beneath the Mask, she is so insecure she lets and even helps her boyfriend find other girls to cheat on her with because she’s afraid he’ll leave her if she doesn’t let him do whatever he wants. Who Dunnit To Me: How the story seems to initially go, as Emily claims to have been killed by a traveler who stayed at their house and she never found out what happened to him. Subverted however, as Emily's death was caused by her own accident. And even then, she was the villain. Insecure Love Interest: Deconstruction. Elizabeth Standard is one of the prettiest, most athletic girls in school, dating one of the more popular boys, Sean. Everything about her seems to be perfect, and despite how jealous Anya and the other girls are of her she appears to be a nice and carefree girl. Then at a party Anya learns that Sean is a creep who sleeps around with other girls (even his friend's girlfriend) with Elizabeth not only knowing but keeping watch; Anya, who come to the party to steal Sean from Elizabeth, couldn't bring herself to sleep with Sean and hurt Elizabeth. Before Anya leaves the party, she asks Elizabeth why she lets Sean treat her like that, and Elizabeth tells her that while she appears happy, she really is miserable and insecure, and the only person that makes her really happy is Sean. Because she loves him, or as she admits, thinks she loves him, she's willing to do anything to keep him in her life, even though his cheating and her covering for his cheating is hurting her. Character Development: Largely with Anya, she comes off as a moody and unlikeable character at the beginning of the story, only caring about herself. As she goes through her encounter with Emily, she begins to realize her own faults and how she previously thought of others were wrong. Ultimately growing to become a more caring character. Cute Ghost Girl: She's more of a mousy, spindly kind of cute, but still distinctly adorable. Most of the time, anyway...