"An Existentially Excellent Crisis"
Review by Brayden (they/them)
Other Favourite Titles Include:
First up we must let you know of a few Trigger Warnings! This book contains discussion of self harm, thoughts of suicide, implied animal abuse and a sequence on a chicken farm that is highly unpleasant but all too real.
Now to the point: Zoe Thorogood is f***ing excellent at what she does. What does she do you might ask? Well how about taking to creating an auto-biography following her life, only to have the making of the book become the core complication to work through, all while talking directly to the reader and with the artistically distinct aspects of herself representing her personality and mental health issues. Plus what can only be described as an incredibly fun moment of the graphic novel, half way through you are presented with the cover again on the idea that we are just starting the whole book over from scratch alongside her!
Where Zoe really shines is when she is exploring just what an illustrator, a cartoonist, an artist can do with their canvas. The reality bending aspects of storytelling and the creation of art are really well explored, all while placed on the backdrop of trying to finish art for a different project and developing your own original work. Do make sure to go check out Joe Hill’s ‘Rain’ to see Zoe’s previous work, as well as ‘The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott’.
Whether you enjoy slice of life stories, dark humour explorations of growing up in our incredibly depressing modern world, or you just like artsy art-filled art books, It’s Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth gives you everything you could possibly want.
All while having the tone of someone trying to poetically reflect on poignant and inspirational take-aways on how to truly live a life, while also thinking that sounds super pretentious and not wanting to be an asshole about it.
