Indestructible

by Cristy C. Road

The follow up to Greenzine #14 ; Cristy Road now offers up a novel about her years in grade school and high school in Miami - valiantly trying to figure out and defend her gender identity, cultural roots, punk rock nature, and mortality. You know that the artwork alone in here makes this a page-turner and the whole package more exciting. Cristy has always existed to remind us of the strength and ability of punk youth - for addressing things like rape, homophobia, and misogyny. This is no exception; giving voice to every frustrated 15-year-old girl under fire from her peers for being queer or butch or punk.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Queer, Memoir, Comics, Nonfiction, LGBT, Punk

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

Cristy C. Road is a Cuban-American artist, writer and musician who’s been supplying creativity for punk rock, publishing, & social justice movements since she was a teenager in Miami, circa1997. Road self-published Green’zine for ten years, and has since released three illustrated novels which tackle gender, sexuality, mental health and cultural identity; truthfully spoken with curse words and bathroom humor: “Indestructible” (2005, Microcosm), “Bad Habits” (2008, Soft Skull), “Spit and Passion” (2013, Feminist pRESS), and her most recent project, The Next World Tarot (2017 Self Published, 2019 Silver Sprocket), a traditionally illustrated Tarot deck depicting resilience and revolution. C.Road’s illustrations has been featured in New York Magazine, The Advocate, The New York Times, Maximumrocknroll, Razorcake, Bitch Magazine, Bust Magazine, and countless other publications; as well as on shirts, record album covers, concert and political advocacy posters worldwide.

As a musician, Road is a songwriter and guitarist. She fronted the pop-punk group The Homewreckers for eight years, and currently fronts her new project, Choked Up.

Road has been touring nationally and internationally on her own, with her punk rock bands, and with Sister Spit: The Next Generation since 2001. Cultivating a performance trajectory with a consistent show of defiance, she performs at bookstores, record stores, basements, bars, college campuses, and beyond.

She is a Gemini and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Reviews

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

aieee. very nice artwork, very thin story. excellent shading, very poor dialogue. love cristy's drawings, can't deal with her writing. maybe she should stick to art, or establish a relationship with a very tough editor. sorry. ah, i guess the story is an autobiographical account of growing up queer, of color, female, & punk in miami. lots of skipping school, doing drugs, making out, etc. there was an idea to work with, but the execution story-wise was a mess. the drawings were great though.

[andrea]

"Love was sharing what the deepest wounds meant. Now, love is allowing those wounds to scab and heal. Love was talking about connections, now it's talking about those connections, compassion, consensual sex, and privilege. Love was and is acknowledging the need for space and personal growth. Talking sometimes, leaving one another alone sometimes, missing one another sometimes."

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a lot of important, positive ideas about growing up, learning who you are, and being that in defiance of others' expectations. Unfortunately, these ideas are scattered, flat, and unfocused. Instead of stories, this is mostly platitudes that, while earnest, lack any real impact because of the delivery. The illustrations that punctuate the book are great though, as one would expect from Cristy C Road.

[Lilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Miami punk scene in the 90's, dissected and questioned and used as a filter of strength to figure out the world at large, written in that classic introspective 'ziney way. Perceptive, smartass, lots of "yeah!!" throughout.

[b bb bbbb bbbbbbbb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it more charming in smaller zine sized amounts. (more thoughts later)

[Tina Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Cristy Road's writing and art. You can buy this book at microcosmpublishing.com as well as several issues of her zine, Green Zine.

[Zane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think every teenager should read this, because it talks about teen sexuality in a way most people won't or can't.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorite memoirs ever...

[Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

the art work is great. this would have made an amazing graphic novel. as a story, it falls flat. it's not written with the raw hard insights of teenage angst. it's like more like a 30 something's letter to their teenage self long after they've forgotten how to relate to teens. I wanted to like this. Cristy's art is a story on its own, deep details with rich visual seriously. I enjoy their instagram but the book wasn't as interesting. I never felt like I was there, even though I lived in Miami as a older young punk kid at about the same era in which this was written. anyway, disappointed but glad I read it. it's the first queer book I've read this year. which I'm dedicating to reading only queer authors.

[Calciferocious]

"So it's okay that stupid shit saves me sometimes?"
"It isn't stupid shit if it can keep you alive."


read it in one go. Microcosm is a zine imprint at heart and Road came up as a zine creator - people trying to review this as if it's gone through the editing gauntlet of a mainstream press are missing the point. super real and raw personal account of those rough teen years, I'm also a queer punk of color and I felt every chapter in my bones. let it be what it is, a perfect reflection of those years and feelings.

[jude · Rating 3 out of 5]

reflective and raw stream-of-consciousness. feels a lot like reading a perzine, and the layout and design of the book is obviously meant to reflect this. each short chapter stands on its own so it's really easy to whip through.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Harder Challenge 2017 #21: Read a book published by a micropress.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nearly perfect memoir/manifesto/graphic-novel that beautifully captures what it is to be angry and sad and powerful and fearful and horny and adolescent.

[Madelynn Nieves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brought me back to the struggles of coming to terms with my sexuality. Beautiful writing.

[Kel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have appreciated this more in my early 20s

[Lyn Jensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Combines elements of a graphic novel, an illustrated autobiographical novel, and a punk zine rant. For being a story about troubled youth growing up "queer, Cuban, and punk in Miami," there's little insight into any of it. It portrays a young life that never seems to get much beyond thinking about sex, taking drugs, and littering sentence after sentence with profanity. Then again, whadaya expect, it's straight outta the alternative punk comics/publishing scene.

[Tobias Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indestructible was an unapologetic account of growing up and creative survival of capitalism, homophobia, gender discrimination, racism and class. Road's art is indisputably real and moving. I enjoyed the honesty of her narrative and found that some of it brought me back to my own youth, while other sections allowed me to consider others. Probably my favourite quote was the last one:
"Growing up happens within each heartbeat. We can't bestow, let alone understand, our changes, although they trigger our every gesture. We learn a lesson from every mistake, every apology, every assumption at love, every new friend, every lost friend, every reconciliation, every death, every bout of belligerence, every bad decision, every kiss, every fuck, and every failed attempt at starting that stupid punk rock band. And while we abandoned the idealizing of adolescent outcast culture, a harmless identity was still, never meant to be. And it wasn't invincibility, but we were surviving outside of those conditions we had fought off for years. In the end, we remained poised while doing what we were never meant to do. And people often told me that teenagers were never meant to love themselves."

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cristy Road recounts events during her teenage years in this graphic novel set in Miami in the 1990’s. The first page illustrates her mixed feelings about her identity; the author describes herself as androgynous. Road bluntly describes her experiences dealing with sexual orientation, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, death, cultural differences, family morals, and views of society. I was a bit shocked by the amount of obscene language, but let’s face it the vast majority of teens talk that way, at least from my experience. Just about every page uses profanity or mentions sex or drugs. I am sure many would find this book controversial for young adults and I highly doubt it would be found in a library. I personally would not recommend it to teens under fifteen. Although the flow of the book is a bit rough, I was able to read the entire book in less than two hours. Overall, Road does a great job addressing real-life challenges that young adults face in modern society.

[elstaffe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pull quotes/notes
"For myself, then and now, there was never any gray area. Although my months were sectioned off into black or white, the nooks and pockets that lay between brilliance and madness never saw that gray area. My diagnosis was never tampered towards meds and psych wards; I kept quiet. I liked the lapse of static and electricity. I caressed intensity, but every aspect of hate, romance, production, and both visible and invisible change performed these polar opposites. The polarity didn't only exist every six months, but in my every nerve and every sinute. I hated the ends of distress, the dark ends. But I knew it could be worse; it could be gray." (83)

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the review that I wrote of Indestructible for issue #24 of Zine World.

This short illustrated novel by long-time zinester Cristy C. Road tells the coming-of-age story of a young, queer, punk woman of color having adventures and struggling through adolescents in the 1990s. I found the writing to be unremarkable, but the illustrations are phenomenal. The book is worth the asking price for the artwork alone, but the whole thing is very slick and obviously not produced at the local copy shop.

[Eric]

I'd hate to give stars to this book. It was great as a quick read and as a zine, and it had some amazing dialog. It made me want to be more punk again and got me excited about the future and doing shit and how the world is kinda fucked but some people aren't. But I'm not gonna give it stars because its totally cooler than that.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

totally weird, I mean not the book but me. I woke up at 9 exact on Wednesday and looked to my left only to see this book sitting on the top of my too read pile. I picked up and started reading it and finished it in under 2 hours, it's pretty rare when i can just sit down and read a book start to finish. I hope I can do this more often.

It really wasn't too bad either.

[Gg · Rating 4 out of 5]

while tabling at the rva zine fest yesterday I eyed this book on our own table willing it not to be bought so I could buy it at the end of the fest which I did. Commence reading.
I liked it not as much as the other but i liked it

[Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, easy read with wonderful illustrations. The author recounts her youth, sexuality, and relationship with class.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the art in here. The writing itself was interesting but didn't blow me away.

[BRAIN_QUEEN · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was like reading about my life.

[Sophia Frida Ahumada · Rating 5 out of 5]

chrisy road IS sooo amazing!

[Lorra · Rating 5 out of 5]

wicked awesome. love the art + intensity. i related a lot since it takes place in the 90s, so my nostalgia is like ZING.

[Zoë Birss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Cristy Road's illustrations, and those alone were enough to carry the book.

[Manuel Betancourt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Proof that gender studies musings and identity politics platitudes alone do not a (good) novel make.