Synopsis
When MariNaomi first meets Mirabai in grade school, Mirabai seems to be more of a bully than a friend. But over the course of time, their relationship shifts from tense to friendly, to drifting apart, to reconnecting and finding something much deeper.
I Thought YOU Hated ME is a comics memoir about female friendship, a story that doesn’t involve stale tropes like acrimonious competition or fighting over boys. It explores the complexity and depth of this particular friendship through snapshot-vignettes of relevant moments over thirty years, painting a portrait of something unique but relatable, common but extraordinary.
From: Retrofit Comics
Notes on This Title
I Thought YOU Hated ME depicts underage drinking and smoking.
Awards
None.
Reviews
“MariNaomi has a precise eye for small moments of big change–the sleepover where a wee-hours conversation reveals that another person shares some of your weird thoughts, that time you gave a friend bad advice because you were wrapped up in your own too-cool-to-care-ness, the realization that a friend had spent years feeling guilty about something that wasn’t actually a big deal.” (Source: Brooklyn Based)
“MariNaomi’s latest comic is a fascinating story of friendship spanning decades. Published by the consistently excellent publisher Retrofit Comics, I Thought YOU Hated ME retraces the friendship of Mirabai and Mari and moves from their initial meeting in a schoolyard in 1981 to today. Told in slice of life style, never running longer than a page, allows MariNaomi to briskly move through time and focus on specific events that marked the friendship. From the seemingly inconsequential moments, all the way to the heavier moments, I Thought YOU Hated ME is a fantastic portrait of how friendships are born, how they blossom and eventually wither.” (Source: Comics Beat)
Interviews
Catapult: “The Making of a Comics Memoir”
LA Mag: “This Cartoonist Perfectly Captures the Highs and Lows of Friendship”