"Using the pressures of adolescence and indoctrination of the church as a framework, Campbell captures the stress endured by young women and their bodies."—
Hyperallergic
"Canadian cartoonist Jessica Campbell delivers a gracefully laconic graphic novel about a teen girl in the early aughts wrestling with faith and sexuality."—
Electric Literature, Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2022
"This is a story to leave readers melancholy, wistful, and wondering what could have been if only the world weren’t so cruel or full of hypocrisy."—
Booklist
"Powerful and poignant."—
Broken Frontier
"Unfolding at the intersection of budding sexuality and evangelical Christianity, this gripping graphic novel from Campbell depicts a quietly tragic coming-of-age."—
Publishers Weekly
"
Rave is a thoughtful, painful coming-of-age tale with gravitas, wrapped in a deceptively charming package."—
The Comics Journal
"
Rave presents the timeless teenage struggle to understand the world inside a vivid portrayal of the strange times of the early 2000s."—
Blog Critics
"Campbell uses the freedom of fiction to expand beyond her personal lived experience, delivering a more generalized story about the pressures of adolescence that takes advantage of the standard set of comics tools to be more accessible."—
AV Club
"Campbell effectively shows how the roots of the ugly, extremist policies have been in existence long before our current polarization, through the tentacles of Quotidien Sunday mornings in so many lives, not planned movements."—
SOLRAD
"When someone asks me why I don’t go to church anymore, it’s because stories like
Rave are all too real."—
ComicsXF
"[Campbell's] satire is as trenchant as ever in
Rave, but its surprising emotional depths point to her evolution as a cartoonist."—
High-Low
"The darkly comedic graphic novel looks to skewer the American and Evangelical treatment of queer relationships, and the messages given to young women as they reach the threshold of maturity."—
Multiversity Comics"Rave takes a melancholy glimpse into small-town life, where the church casts a long shadow. For the teenagers of this town, dogmatic teachings offer no salvation. But turning away feels impossible when religion is a pillar of the community. Jessica Campbell's Rave is a beautifully told story about the harm of conditional love."—Aminder Dhaliwal, CYCLOPEDIA EXOTICA
"Reading Rave reminds me of the way the days felt when you were a teenager. Terribly long, and yet incredibly short. Jessica Campbell has captured the essence of being young and lost so completely, that I know the story will stay with me for a long time to come. Read it, and you won’t forget it either."—Tillie Walden, ON A SUNBEAM
