Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley follows the life of a 22-year-old man named Scott Pilgrim who falls in love with an American woman, Ramona Flowers, who is 24 years old. When Scott starts getting more and more comfortable with Ramona, he has to defeat her seven evil exes to keep dating Ramona.
The book starts with Scott telling his friends that he is dating a high schooler named Knives Chau. He is in a band called Sex Bob-Omb with his previous high school ex, Kim Pine, who is the drummer, and the lead vocalist Stephen Stills. Scott is enjoying his time making music with his band and spending time with his new girlfriend. He then goes home, where he meets his roommate, Wallace Wells, who makes fun of him for dating a high schooler and then immediately tells Scott’s sister. Scott then gets scolded by his sister, wondering why is he dating someone, and then talks about his previous ex, which Scott refuses to talk about. The next day, Scott takes Wallace to the high school where Knives is leaving, and when Knives says hi to Wallace, Wallace then warns Knives that she is too good for Scott and should stop talking to him. Scott tells him to leave, and then the two enjoy the rest of their time together. On the next page, Scott is in a dream sequence where he is in a desert, wondering where he is, and he complains about how lonely he is. Then a random woman appears, rollerblading past him saying how he isn’t alone and he is just dreaming. He wakes up confused, and then on the next page, he is with Knives, feeling weird in the library. When they walk downstairs, he sees the girl from his dreams, and he stares into nothingness, not remembering what is happening, from him being at his band practice, forgetting his girlfriend is there, too, then skipping to a party and asking someone if they have seen this girl before. He finds out the girl is Ramona. He is then seen looking around trying to find the girl at the party, which he then does.
In the next scene, he goes up to her, trying to talk to her but is too scared to make an actual conversation and then walks away from her but stalks her for the rest of the party up until she leaves. He finds out she works at Amazon and orders something just so he can see her again. He has a dream of delivering her the package, and when he wakes up, there she is with the package delivered. After some small talk, he successfully asks her for a date, which she agrees to. They go out and then they share a night in bed, essentially cheating on Knives. The next morning, he invites Ramona to a gig he is performing where Ramona is there waiting, and then Knives shows up and kisses him. He is then scared about what to do and proceeds to run away. After a while, his band goes on to perform, and Knives passes out at the pure sight of seeing the band go on stage.
While performing, a random man bursts through the wall and attacks Scott. Scott protects himself and fights back. The man explains how he is Ramona’s first evil ex-boyfriend. After a bit of fighting, Scott asks why they dated, which Ramona explains they only dated in the second grade. After more fighting (and some magic), Scott wins. Ramona leaves with Scott and goes on the bus, where Ramona explains that if he is going to date her, he has to fight her seven evil ex-boyfriends, to which he agrees.
This book is about cheating, fixing mistakes, and moving on from the past. The art is unique and is similar to a game and does have some inspiration from video games like Street Fighter. The reason why I like this book is because the story is unique and does not hold back the elements they try to show of trying to learn from the past. What I find meaningful about the book is the way the author tries to make Scott a good guy, all the while Scott is messing up his own life by the choices he makes, like cheating on Knives with Ramona, but showing how Ramona is not that good of a person. Some literary devices the author uses are dreams. Dreams are a main plot point in Scott Pilgrim and can only be seen by Scott Pilgrim. You get to see how Scott truly feels and how he is feeling in terms of trying to move on from the past.
I highly recommend this to other people. This has not only been made a comic but a video game, a movie, and just recently an anime on Netflix, which takes a completely different turn than the books.
Get the book! Check out Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley at BMCC’s library, the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, or the Queens Public Library.
About the author This review is by Steven Moreno.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
