Everything is Flammable

Everything is Flammable

<div><p>“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, <I>Fun Home, Are You My Mother</I></P><p>In Gabrielle Bell’s much anticipated graphic memoir, 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, <I>Everything is Flammable</I> unfolds with humor and brutal honesty. Bell’s sharp, digressive style is inimitable.</P><p>Gabrielle Bell’s work has been selected for <I>Best American Comics</I> and the <I>Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction</I>, and has been featured in <I>McSweeney’s, the Believer, Bookforum</I>, and <I>Vice</I> among numerous other publications. Her story, “Cecil and Jordan In New York,” was adapted into film by Michel Gondry. Bell’s previous graphic novel, <I>The Voyeurs</I>, was named one of the best books of the year by <I>Publishers Weekly</I>, <I>Kirkus Reviews</I>, and <I>the Atlantic</I>. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.</p><BR></div>