Adam de Souza’s graphic novel The Gulf, opens on a hot summer’s day in 2002. A young girl, asleep on the floor, is woken by the “FWIP FWIP” noise of a fan flipping some paper caught between two books. Curious, Oli reads the pamphlet, “Join our Community. We of the Evergreen community strive to live ethically. Our ethos is rooted in the soil of this precious island…”. Opening the pages, she scans the text, “Arbutus island, which is one [of the] southernmost island in the Gulf [Islands] Archipelago.” The illustrations show people farming and the natural beauty of the island. There is a blurry picture of a “mythic creature” the subject of tales from the ancestral Coast Salish people, a creature who is “often referred to as The Sea Ape.” Oli is intrigued and when de Souza fast forwards his story to 2007, we see she is still thinking about Evergreen, where communal life seems peaceful and uncomplicated.

With prom looming, and graduation only days away, Oli and her best friend Milo ditch school and leave East Van. Now with Alvin (Milo’s crush), in tow, their goal is to join the Evergreen Community. Alvin has been to Arbutus Island before and explains the history of the ancestral Coast Salish people who “moved between these islands for thousands of years.” There weren’t “any large predators and there’s plenty of wildlife and edible plants.” They had all they needed. Oli imagines the island as a place to live a life where you don’t “need money or a dumb job,” a home where there’s “no one starving on the street!” She sees the value and feels the belonging of “a community back then. It was too hard to be alone. You needed each other.”

De Souza’s poignant coming of age story, The Gulf delves into the bond between friends as well as the social pressure to fit in. We see with Oli’s friend Liam, this social cred sometimes comes at the expense of someone you care about. As the story unfolds, de Souza delves explores this theme of teen identity, and the cost of sharing a secret. The price of this betrayal leads to ongoing sexual harassment, both in person and online. When the victim retaliates, the author shows the action and the subsequent injustice, in a serious of powerful graphics. The reader understands it is the victim that is wanted for questioning, instilling the resulting shame and isolation to the story when teens are confronted with these serious issues.

Oli’s character highlights the pressure highschoolers feel: to do the right thing; to live up to others’ expectations; and to accept harassment as part of life. She is so overwhelmed by the noise of these expectations, that her only solution is to take time out to think, to do nothing, to escape a world. But when the trio arrive on Arbutus Island Oli is bitterly disappointed. It is expensive and crowded with tourists and as they begin to walk to Evergreen, she thinks: “I just…wanted to get away from this.”

When they finally reach Evergreen, they find Sunny and Charlie, still trying to live a life where “A tree is only a tree.” They welcome the three friends and describe life on the commune where people have come and gone over the years. Although they are living off the land, the routine of life got to be too much for many. Sunny describes community life, “It’s everyone’s responsibility and nobody’s job…” but “When you really get down to it, not everyone wanted to do the dishes.” Factions formed, and people left.

When she finally calls her Mom, Oli understands she does have her love and support. She comes to realize that maybe her feelings of uncertainty and the wish for a simpler life resonate with her Mom as well. Oli says, “I always wanted to know where the pamphlet came from…” to which her Mom answers, “A story for another time.”

The Gulf is a large sized book that begs for the reader to curl up and balance the richly illustrated story on their lap. This reviewer spent a happy rainy afternoon reading and thinking about Oli and her wish “… to love a life that makes sense and doesn’t harm anything.” Adult and teens alike will enjoy de Souza’s illustrations and this valuable story; readers may find that the feelings churning inside Oli are not so unfamiliar.

Adam de Souza is a Canadian cartoonist and illustrator. He has been drawing comics for as long as he can remember and self-publishing his work for the better part of a decade. His ongoing comic strip Blind Alley was 2022’s recipient of the Cartoonist Studio Prize for web comics. Outside of comics, he has illustrated children’s books and worked for publications such as the Globe and Mail. The Gulf, a YA graphic novel was published in 2024. 

De Souza appears as one of our Authors in the Schools, and also at the Firebrands, Runaways & Time Warps: Children & YA Authors Reading Event. Tickets are available now. 

Review is by Libby McKeever, who is a retired youth librarian, an avid reader and writer of both fiction and creative non-fiction.