Tootfinder

my problem with many posts

Just finished "It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth" by Zoe Thorogood.
CW: Frank/graphic discussion of suicide and depression (not in this post but in the book).
It feels a bit wrong to simply give it my review here as I would another graphic memoir, because it's much more personal and less consensual than the usual. It feels less like Thorogood has invited us into her life than like she was forced to put her life on display in order to survive, and while I selfishly like to read into the book that she benefited in some way from the process, she's honest about how tenuous and sometimes false that claim can be. Knowing what I've learned from this book about Thorogood's life and demons, I don't want her to feel the mortification of being perceived by me, and so perhaps the best thing I could do is to simply unread the book and pull it back out of my memories.
I did not find Thorogood's life relatable, nor pitiable (although my instinct bends in that direction), but instead sacred and unknowable. I suspect that her writing and drawing has helped others in similar circumstances, but she leaves me with no illusion that this fact brings her any form of peace or joy. I wonder what she would feel reading "Lab Girl" or "The Deep Dark," but she has been honest enough to convey that such speculation on my part is a bit intrusive.
I guess the one other thing I have to say: Zoe Thorogood has through artistic perseverance developed an awe-inspiring mastery of the comic medium, from panel composition, through to page layout and writing. This book wields both Truth and Beauty.
#AmReading #ReadingNow

Relatable 🤣
#calvinandhobbes

Day 24: Yvonne Adhiambra Owuor
Owuor wrote "Dust", a novel that follows a scattered family's struggles with intergenerational trauma through a vivid tapestry of Kenyan history. Not only is it full of carefully rendered complex characters who both deal with their own issues and who are entangled in larger threads, but it also depicts a series of deeply personal reactions to and interactions with historical moments that give a gestalt sense of the painful history of Kenya both during and after the colonial era.
It's a gripping read despite not having a traditional suspense structure, where in the last third of the book every chapter seems to be tying up one more loose thread you had almost forgotten about, only to leave a little more still to discover, right up to the end. Owuor's skill at constructing such a detailed and complex plot and especially in navigating it to a satisfying conclusion is impressive, and her depictions of human foibles and struggles in the face of grief and not-wanting-to-know are relatable.
CW for domestic abuse, state murder, genocide, torture, etc.
#30AuthorsNoMen