Everything is Flammable
Everything is Flammable
By Gabrielle Bell. Published by Uncivilized Books.
Hardcover, 160 pages, Colour, 2017.
160 pages, full-color, Hardcover, 6 x 9 inches
“Everything is Flammable is sometimes frightening, sometimes funny, sometimes incredibly sad, and always deeply engrossing. The center of Everything is Flammable is Bell's complicated relationship with her complicated mother-a person who lives a lot farther off the grid than most people's mothers. But there are many other characters in this book, and we want to know about all of the them. Bell is an acute and compassionate observer of her fellow humans.”—Roz Chast, author of Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?
“No one but Gabrielle Bell can so quietly traverse a single raw nerve for 160 pages. Just brilliant.”
—Tom Hart, Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir
In Gabrielle Bell’s much anticipated graphic memoir, Everything is Flammable, she returns from New York to her childhood town in rural Northern California after her mother’s home is destroyed by a fire. Acknowledging her issues with anxiety, financial hardships, memories of a semi-feral childhood, and a tenuous relationship with her mother, Bell helps her mother put together a new home on top of the ashes. A powerful, sometimes uncomfortable, examination of a mother-daughter relationship and one’s connection to place and sense of self. Spanning a single year, Everything is Flammableunfolds with humor and brutal honesty. Bell’s sharp, digressive style is inimitable.
Gabrielle Bell’s work has been selected several times for Best American Comics and the Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction, and has been featured in McSweeney’s, The Believer, Bookforum and Vice magazines. Her story, “Cecil and Jordan In New York,” was turned into a film by Michel Gondry. The Voyeurs was named one of the best Graphic Novels of the year by Publishers Weekly. Gabrielle Bell currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Praise for The Voyeurs:
"As she watches other people living life, and watches herself watching them, Bell's pen becomes a kind of laser, first illuminating the surface distractions of the world, then scorching them away to reveal a deeper reality that is almost too painful and too beautiful to bear."
— Alison Bechdel, Fun Home
"The Voyeurs is the work of a mature writer, if not one of the most sincere voices of her literary generation. It's a fun, honest read that spans continents, relationships and life decisions. I loved it."
— Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library
"A master of the exquisite detail, Bell provides a welcome peephole into our lives."
— Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker
"One of the Best Nonfiction Books of the year."
—Kirkus Reviews
"One of the Best Graphic Novels of the year."
—Publishers Weekly
"Best Graphic Memoir."—The Atlantic Wire
"One of the best things going in auto-bio inflected comics these days."
— Art Spi