Cinematic Point Of View

I recently discovered Gabrielle Bell‘s semi-autobiographical comic book “Everything Is Flammable.” It is so flippin’ good! It’s hands down the most intimate and gently human book I’ve read in years.

In “Everything Is Flammable,” Bell reflects on a year of her life when she left New York for rural Northern California to help her estranged mother rebuild her home after losing everything in a fire. Her mother is fiercely resilient, independent, and some might say eccentric. Meanwhile, Gabrielle wrestles with her own anxieties, depression, and creative struggles.

On the opening page we meet Gabrielle at home in New York. She struggles to grow sugar snap peas on her patio. She lives alone. She has anxiety and depression that keep her up at night. She researches cures online and blends healthy drinks, trying to cure the “brain fog” brought on by her depression. She also uses a block of ice and a fan for A/C and she’s broke.

In the final frame on this page, she is sitting on her couch in her living room that’s filled with dark water up to her chest, while she drinks coffee or tea and holds up a sign that reads “Help.” All the while, she narrates that everything is “fine, really,” and she’s on the verge of a “major breakthrough” this time.

All of this is on a single page!

So what have we learned in these first six panels, titled “I’m Doing Fine?” We learn that Gabrielle is a kind and thoughtful human being. She struggles at times like everyone, but is resilient, resourceful, and maybe independent to a fault. Nobody likes to ask for help. I get that. It is truly a masterful amount of character work in a single panel and beautifully sets the stage for the story to come.

At it’s heart, this is a story about rebuilding and survival. Rebuilding a home. Rebuilding a relationship between a mother and daughter who are very alike in more ways than one. Surviving life off the grid, surviving poverty, and surviving the echoes of childhood.

There is so much love and humor and consideration on every page, from the delicate, observant artwork to the way Bell handles the most personal and sometimes painful details of real life. The further you read and get to know the people in her world, the more you realize how each quiet moment or ordinary conversation adds up into something very rich and deeply human.

I have to admit that I was surprised by how comforting I found the panel layout. Maybe it’s the quiet consistency and steady rhythm? Each panel gives you the ability to observe life from a calm, deliberate distance. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a comic quite like it.

At times, the story can be pretty raw and even painful, yet by the last box you’re left with a strange sense of humor and peace, as if you’ve been allowed to share a private understanding.

“Everything Is Flammable” is more than a comic memoir to me. I can’t even imagine what it took to put this book together. Trying to shape a story full of so many personal moments. Bell succeeds masterfully though. It’s a real testament to resilience and forgiveness. It’s also a story about the fragile beauty of trying to keep the flame of love alive.

If you’re looking for something different, something to connect you to the world and feel good about people again, I highly x 100 recommend it. Just can’t say enough good things.

Pick up a copy on Amazon or on the Uncivilized Books website.