YMMV / The Illustrated Mum

• Heartwarming Moments:
  • The ending - in the TV adaptation, Marigold actively shows signs that she's recovering. She's the most coherent and grounded she's been throughout the entire story, actively taking responsibility for her bad decisions.
  • Star telling Marigold that she wants her to keep her tattoos - after spending the entire story telling her how awful they are, she finally accepts that they're part of who Marigold is.
  • "I love you, Mum." - Star's final line in the TV adaptation.
• Jerkass Woobie: Star. She can be pretty harsh to Marigold and abandoning Dolphin to be with Mickey was a selfish move, but as she angrily points out in a rant to Dolphin, she's been cleaning up after Marigold and trying to protect her little sister since she was younger than Dolphin's age. Marigold's illness robbed Star of having a normal childhood and it's no surprise she grew resentful of Marigold, especially as Marigold refused to get treatment for a long while. Going to live with her biological father is understandable since it's clear Star just wants someone to take care of her for a change, and she did try to persuade Dolphin to come with her before Dolphin furiously denounced Mickey. It may have kickstarted Marigold's downward spiral, but Star was put in a position that was simply too much for a fourteen-year-old girl to handle and she does apologise when she reunites with her sister and mother.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The scene where Dolphin discovers Marigold after her mental breakdown once Star leaves them to live with Micky. Having painted herself completely in toxic lead paint, Marigold mutters to herself about removing all of her tattoos via using a razor, to make herself look "normal". It's disturbingly graphic.
  • The film doesn't make this any easier, with an eerie ambient playing while Dolphin slowly approaches the bathroom.
  • Made even worse when the first noise that raises alarm within Dolphin is made from something knocking over.
• Tearjerker:
  • In sad and happy ways. Star leaving Dolphin and Marigold to live with Micky. The film really drives home how devastating this is to Dolphin and Marigold, particularly when Dolphin sticks little stars on her cheeks and tells Marigold that she is Star, and that she'll look after her. Star's leaving sends Marigold into her mental breakdown.
  • Marigold going into hospital at the end to get treatment for her illness. This is where the book ends, but it's on the positive and hopeful note that Marigold recovering will be the start of a much better life for the three of them.
• Values Dissonance: In 1999, when the book was published, it may well have made sense that Marigold's tattoos would have been unusual enough to be a huge embarrassment to her teenage daughter. However, twenty years later, now that tattoos have been normalised and the younger generation who would have been getting them in the 90s have reached Marigold's age themselves...her arm and chest tattoos on the cover seem comparatively tame, and certainly not representative of her erratic behaviour and parenting style.
• The Woobie: Poor Dolphin - she's The Unfavorite to her mother, whom she adores, and is frequently stuck in the middle between Star and Marigold. She's bullied at school because of how weird Marigold is and when Marigold tracks down Star's father, Star abandons them to be with him. Then Marigold goes off the deep end once Star leaves and Dolphin gets put into foster care. The girl is only ten and gets put through the wringer.

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