Flower and Fade

by Jesse Lonergan

Kyle has just settled in to his new city and job. He doesn’t know anyone around but it’s comfy enough in its boring routine. Erika, a pretty neighbor, catches his eye. They meet, they talk. Before they know it, they’re an ‘item.’ Before they know it, in fact, they’re very, very together. It’s a high but it’s frightening. Is it really the right choice? Are they really for each other or just escaping loneliness? There are great moments. There are doubts. In the midst of happiness, Kyle gets nightmares of pulling his teeth out.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

187 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

I grew up in Saudi Arabia and Vermont, attended Hampshire College, was a Peace Corps volunteer, and have always been an only child. I'll never be a real uncle, but I'll be a pretend to be one to my friends' children. I like Star Wars, Elvis, and black coffee. I don't like waiting in line, whistling, or writing biographies about myself. I'm worried about the state of modern America and the individualism and self-importance that has become the norm. There seems to be a lot of loneliness out there and a lot of anger too, but then again, maybe I just like to worry.

Reviews

[Seth T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flower and Fade is an inconsequential little book that offers the wax and the wane of a relationship, charted over the course of about six months through a chronological series of disjointed vignettes. Rather than create a sturdy narrative, these pericopae instead give the sense of emotional movement first toward relationship and then away from the same. In this inventive exercise in storytelling, Flower to Fade succeeds and gives the reader a sense of why this romance isn't necessarily going to make it.

Still, despite the book's success on these terms, it's rather slight and doesn't offer much to the reader. The characters (almost by necessity) are rather bland and don't leave the impression that they're the type you'd want to fall in love with (or maybe even befriend). The book's goal is subdued and not really all that ambitious (not that it seems intended to be). Some may criticize my review, concerned that I'm complaining that the book was not what I wanted it to be: this isn't the case. More, I'm simply concerned that the volume doesn't merit the pricetag on its rear cover.

I borrowed Flower to Fade from the library, which was good because I wouldn't have felt satisfied paying $13.95 (retail price) for the work. It's not that it's bad; more just that it's not powerful enough to resonate in any way that will stick with the average reader. My personal thought is that this project would have been better realized as a webcomic. As a bound book, there's just too much out there that tells similar stories in more indelible ways (if not in the same way).

[Raina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an earlier, less mature work by the author of Joe & Azat, which I LOVED.

In some ways, this is a more poetic piece. There are some really fantastical sequences from a party, there are some dream depictions which make good use of visual metaphor.

For me, I think the main weakness here is panel size uniformity. Almost all the pages (except for title pages for chapters) have six panels, in roughly the same proportions. There are some moments and sequences when I really wanted to rest my eyes, but the pacing here kept me flipping pages. Also, Comics Lit published this in a relatively small size and some of the pages feel like they'd be more impactful in larger scale.

The story itself is pretty par for the course for a reader who partakes in a lot of semi-autobiographical graphic novels. Bitter-sweet, wistful, two-freaks-stuck-in-a-doomed-cliche. I feel like the characters could have been fleshed out a bit more - the work and goal drama is a little out of the blue. But maybe everypeople are what Lonergan's going for here.

I find his drawing style more aesthetically pleasing here than in Joe & Azat, and though the storytelling is a bit more experimental, it also feels less mature than in that other work.

[eRin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kyle is a lonely twenty-something--an aspiring writer, just moved to a new city, hates his job, and has a mediocre apartment borrowed from his traveling uncle. He soon meets Erika, a pretty girl next door and the two quickly fall into a relationship built more on convenience than anything else. Kyle and Erika's quarter-life crises conicide. A graphic novel for those searching for...something.

I'm not the biggest fan of graphic novels (I know that looks weird considering I have a category devoted to them), but I thought this looked interesting. It was fine. Nothing spectacular, but a good look at the mentality of the quarter-life crisis that's all the rage these days (I'm still having a bit of one at 30). I have to admit that the dream sequence just plain freaked me out; but other than that, a decent book.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kyle moves to a new city, is lonely, and unsatisfied with his job. Then he meets Erika and it's good, right?

Throughout my entire reading, the movie 500 Days of Summer kept flitting back into my head. It's maybe, but not entirely, a fair comparison. The "I thought I'd have more than this, be more than this" is a very, um, now sort of feeling. Or a twenty-something feeling. Maybe both.

The book does a good job toying with the idea of love vs lonely/convenience. The nightmare scene was surprisingly intense.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flower and Fade isn't attempting anything epic. The characters drift through life, not really sure of what they want (or don't want), wondering, to quote Miss Peggy Lee, "is that all there is?" In the end, though, I was looking for something a bit more engaging--no decisions are made, no actions taken until the very end, and the characters' ambivalence bled over into my feelings about them and their story.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, happy-then-sad quarterlife crisis relationship story. I was hooked to this book once the main character, alone in his apartment, downs five shots in the first three pages, while toasting his crappy life. Then he finds a neighbor girl, and is happy. For a few pages.
The storytelling is reminiscent of Adrian Tomine, though the art is not nearly so polished.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well paced, subtle but not boring. I love the way eight panels of seemingly nothing can suddenly make a point. I really should be rating it higher, because it is very good, but I never really invested in the relationship. I'm inclined to come down on the side of "two lonely people trying not to be lonely".

[Derek Royal · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can tell this is a first work, not as mature as his last two books. But this one is more heartfelt, in many ways, than his later and more developed narratives. The episodic nature of the story gives it a photo album feeling, that the relationship between Kyle and Erika is best preserved in a series of brief stills.

[Emilia P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh hey, emo boy comic.
Pretty nice, understated, about the je ne sais quoi's of love and loss.
It gets four stars for three things: dishwashing, crossword puzzles, and the book Minor Characters. I read that book at a sad time. I kind of adored it.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yet another story of 20somethings disenchanted with the world and wanting more out of life (Is he a writer or is he just an office drone?) Thought this had more potential after reading the review but not that I read it, I can't say much about it because it's not very memorable!

[Printable Tire]

Pretty good. Reminded me sometimes of incidents in my life. Have no idea what's with the forgettable title though.

[Potassium · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kyle and Erika are lonely till they meet each other.

Meh... The drawings are okay and I liked the overall story but the author chose kind of a weird way to tell it...

[Paolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A black and white comic about loneliness and how people fall into and out of it. I've seen other folk tackle the subject matter better than Lonergan has, but this is still pretty good.

[Sav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good.