Graphic novel, 196 pages
English language
Published Nov. 15, 2022 by Image Comics.
A provacative graphic memoir perfect for fans of Allie Brosh's Solutions and Other Problems
The 2023 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award winning cartoonist, Zoe Thorogood (writer and artist of The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott, artist on Joe Hill's Rain graphic novelisation), records six months of her own life as it falls apart in a desperate attempt to put it back together again in the only way she knows how. It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth is an intimate and meta-narrative look into the life of a selfish artist who must create for her own survival. A …
A provacative graphic memoir perfect for fans of Allie Brosh's Solutions and Other Problems
The 2023 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award winning cartoonist, Zoe Thorogood (writer and artist of The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott, artist on Joe Hill's Rain graphic novelisation), records six months of her own life as it falls apart in a desperate attempt to put it back together again in the only way she knows how. It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth is an intimate and meta-narrative look into the life of a selfish artist who must create for her own survival. A poignant and original depiction of a young woman's struggle with mental health—through the ups and downs of anxiety, depression, and imposter syndrome—as she forges a promising career in sequential art and finds herself along the way.
Select praise for It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth:
"Thorogood elevates the dark material with her expressive use of the comics medium and the urgency of her voice. One to watch for the 2020s." —Forbes
“This has the force of a fist punching through the page." —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“Thorogood taps into sensation and the way that it is experienced in a way that is unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s astonishing.” —AIPT
"Tragic, funny and disturbing." —Connecticut Public Radio/NPR
"Unflinchingly stark and personal." —The Guardian UK
A tough read, auto bio where things actually happen always is. I enjoy the wide and relaxed approach to an art style to help shoe Zoe's internal conflicts between different parts of her mind, memory and personality. I also very much enjoyed the immediate feel of the comic and it's ability to break the narrative to start again, reframe a scene or break the fourth wall. In comics you can do anything.
I loved the art. The writing was interesting and I definitely connected to the feelings. I'm a committed fan of this author.
She probably hates the idea, but ... It is pretty "relatable". Sometimes it feels very much a book written by a 23 year old (not in a bad way, I can't wait to see how she writes about her depression, if she still does, at 30 and 40, god knows the way I examine mine has changed from 14 to almost 40), but other parts are extremely universal.
