Cannon

by Lee Lai

We arrive to wreckage―a restaurant smashed to rubble, with tables and chairs upended riotously. Under the swampy nighttime cover of a Montreal heat-wave, this is where we meet our protagonist, Cannon, dripping in little beads of regret sweat. She was supposed to be closing the restaurant for the night, but instead, well, she destroyed it. The mess feels a bit like a horror-scape―not unlike the horror films Cannon and her best friend, Trish, watch together. Cooking dinner and digging into deep cuts of Australian horror films on their scheduled weekly hangs has become the glue in their rote relationship. In high school, they were each other's lifeline―two queer second-generation Chinese nerds trapped in the suburbs. Now, on the uncool side of their twenties, the essentialness of one another feels harder to pin down.

Yet, when our stoic and unbendingly well-behaved Cannon finds herself―very uncharacteristically―surrounded by smashed plates, it is Trish who shows up to pull her the hell outta there.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Friendship, Graphic Novels Comics

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2025

About the author

Lee Lai is an Australian cartoonist living in Tio’tia:ke (known as Montreal, Quebec). She has released two graphic novels, Stone Fruit (2021, Fantagraphics) and Cannon (2025, Drawn & Quarterly).

Reviews

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW WOW WOW. Lee Lai knocks it out of the park with this beautifully drawn and deftly realized story about queer friendship set in a hot humid Montreal summer. Two queer Anglophone Chinese Canadian kids who met in high school are still friends in their late 20s, but are growing apart. Is Lucy aka "Luce Cannon" finally going to live up to her nickname and stop taking shit from the girl leading her on, her friend talking over her, her shifty restaurant boss, and her ailing abusive grandpa? Well, YES and it's beautiful to watch.

[Méli · Rating 5 out of 5]

more like Can-oui

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5*

Labai (į)tiko man šis komiksas apie jauną virėją, dirbančią prabangiame Monrealio restorane. Streso kupinas darbas virtuvėje ir mirštančio senelio priežiūra leidžia jai kaip ir pabėgti nuo savęs, kol galiausiai bėgti nebėra jėgų. Na, dar ir apie jos jausmus kolegei ir vaikystės draugei.
Labai patiko autorės grafika. Pagrinde visi kadrai nespalvoti, tačiau nusidažo raudonai tie, kurie išreiškia vidinius išgyvenimus.
Paprasta ir jautru.

[Javier RC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterpiece!! Probably the best comic I’ve read this year 🙌🙌🙌

[Megan Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this! I think it's rare to find a comic that is so grounded in modern reality while also telling a compelling story. This book would have been successful in any narrative format--movie, novel, tv show, etc--because the story at its core is so good. I read it in two sit-downs on a Saturday afternoon.

The book follows Cannon, a cook at an upscale restaurant who staunchly keeps her cool while her life starts crumbling around her. There are several relationships explored--all with surprising depth given the length of the book--but the core is her friendship with her best friend Trish. Lai gives characters room to breath--and contradict and overlap and evolve. Plus, the beautifully inked panels are always easy to follow. Lai also has a knack for snippets of dialogue, often with text bubbles overlapping or running off the page.

Anyway! Really enjoyed this one--still thinking about it a few days later.

[Sole]

Brilliant. Probably the comic of the year. I wish I could write like this.

(And I can totally imagine this as a movie)

[jp arsenault · Rating 5 out of 5]

i feel like i just lived this.

the characters felt like friends and i was so emotionally invested in their lives. i can't believe .... well.

i really enjoyed the dialogue, felt real af, the dynamic between the two main characters was also real. i can see myself, my friends, i don't know. it just felt like reading a memory, from my journal, somewhere between 2010 and 2017.

it was like a documentary.

speaking of memories. as i worked in a restaurant for like almost 10 years, i don't know what i felt reading all those scenes that happened in a restaurant. sometimes i missed it, other times it was just triggering ? i guess it was also very real. sketchy boss, yelling at each other during rush, waiters messing around with kitchen staff, after a shift, over a beer... i know people like that, i've been someone like that.

good old memories. stay memories.

but it good sometimes to read about it and realise how much you've grown.

anyway. this isn't the topic.

lee lai.

i really liked stone fruit. but i absolutely loved cannon.

[Book Riot Community]

This is one of Book Riot’s Best Books of 2025:

After Stone Fruit, I longed for Lai’s second graphic novel about Cannon, a cook, and Trish, a writer, from Lennoxville. Every week, the best friends—“on the uncool side of [their] twenties”—watch a scary film until distance threatens their bond of 14 years. Opening in a trashed Montreal restaurant with a regretful Cannon, the story returns to three months prior. Featuring mostly black-and-white art, I devoured this, obsessed with the use of color, horror influences, and complex relationships. As I reread this stunning meditation on breath, intimacy, and care, I observed what appears in red, which frames birds populate, and how they converge.

- Connie Pan

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

set in mtl <3 and packs an emotional punch 🥊

[Angus McGregor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cannon covers a lot of ground quickly, but I found reading the graphic novel in one sitting to be a unique reading experience.

In particular, the form allowed Lai to represent the power dynamics present in conversations between friends and family. The use of speech bubbles and attention to facial expressions persuaded me that Cannon could only be told visually.

Lai must also be congratulated for being the first book to get a book club consensus since The Safekeep!

[Meggie Ramm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cannon’s grandpa is ill, her mom isn’t helping, her best friend is secretly using her life as writing fodder, and her job sucks. Cannon is just a ticking bomb.
Lai is the new champ on quiet memoir comics, this rocked. Cannon is dealing with so many pressures, and Lai uses imagery and overlapping speech balloons to racket up the tension between her and her circumstances. Also, if you’ve ever worked a shitty job in the service industry, you will wonder if Lai was there taking notes, because the restaurant scenes are spot on. This novel is lazy and introspective when it’s not shrieking with anger and ratcheting up the tension. Another 10/10.

[Laurent De Maertelaer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vijf sterren voor een zo goed als perfecte graphic novel. Het recept is even simpel als vakkundig: een heerlijke tekenstijl, een ingenieus verhaalritme, onderkoelde humor, emotionele zeggingskracht, twee ijzersterke en bijzonder innemende personages (Cannon en Trish) en hedendaagse thema’s (racisme, gender, identiteit). Top!

[ariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

bookclub 5star 🙈

[kate j · Rating 4 out of 5]

everyone sees everyone in this book and there is still story leftover. what a gift lai gives us: a demonstration of how to handle rage and forgiveness and the nuance in between.

i love, love the way she draws bodies and bikes. read for that, too.

[Callie Lirakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words fail

[Meena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing. Like a breath of fresh air. It’s been yeaaaarrsss since I’ve read a graphic novel, but what a way to start again. Summer in Montreal is just around the corner. There is something about the summer heat that releases all the emotions that aren’t quite ready to be squeezed out in the cold.

[Erik B.K.K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A calm, pleasant read.

[Kira S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Topical with stress and feeling overwhelmed

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Binged the graphic novel in one sitting. It’s an easy read and I did enjoy the little snippets of Canada woven throughout. I had a satisfying “aha” moment when I finally understood the book's title - t'was simple.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read this together with blu in his bed while he recovers from his herniated disc. it was so beautiful, we both laughed, we (almost) cried, and talked about which pages we want prints of. cannon is a complex character who is relatable and the relationships are beautifully portrayed.

[Lisa Chetteau · Rating 5 out of 5]

La qualité de l'écriture est assez impressionnante. J'aime lire ce genre de personnages complexes, attachants et très réels.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smart and sensitive look at friendships, queer love, family. Very sweet. Read in one sitting.

[LV · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes Chef!

[Vika Reads Occasionally · Rating 5 out of 5]

DAMN. On NPR’s “Books We Love” list for 2025, and I see why.

Cannon has a demanding job, an avoidant mother, a sick and difficult grandfather who she cares for, and a childhood best friend who just isn’t quite getting or respecting her anymore. She does a lot of emotional work for many of the people around her, often without receiving much back, and she’s lauded for her calm, level-headed demeanor despite her circumstances. But man, does she eventually fucking lose it, and it’s glorious. This story is a great portrayal of what it’s like to be in the later stages of early adulthood—on the cusp of thirty, where you still don’t quite have things figured out but you have more pressing responsibilities. It’s also an excellent reminder that you are allowed to completely fall apart and fuck up, and that’s not shameful. Amazing art, especially those shocking and impactful red panels that elicit some jolting emotions. The frames where they are smashing shit while the mindfulness meditation plays in the background are incredible. The handholding scene immediately brought me to tears. Ugh!

[Natalie (CuriousReader)]

Cannon is a pretty intense graphic novel depicting the total overwhelm and crisis of its title protagonist whose life is just a little too much at the moment. Her grandfather is sick and ailing, her mother avoids her at all costs and does nothing to help with taking care of him. Work is hectic to say the least, a potential romance blooms when a new girl starts working at the restaurant. Cannon's longtime friend Trish dumps all of her shit on Cannon after a messy break-up. Everyone expects Cannon to be the relaxed, suave, collected friend/colleague/mate and she is, until that composure cracks and they all see her for what she actually is - a human being, who has been fighting HARD to keep it together. An intensely relatable depiction of mental crisis at the very edge before a fall, dragging yourself away from the pit by actually letting the facade crack.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I think the most compelling part of the story here is how real it all is. Work sucks, sex is complicated, friendships are hard to maintain, family relationships even more so, and the practice of advocating for yourself can be explosive (no matter how many guided meditations you listen to and how many runs you go on). The art is expressive, with a creative use of color and metaphorical birds to show a slow descent into coming to terms with rage. Along the way, there is life, death, avoidance, connection, mundanity, eccentricity, and everything in between.

[Nuha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lee Lai's newest graphic novel, CANNON, is a stirring portrait of a young, queer chef who is close to boiling over. As a quiet, introverted person myself, this book really captured the inner turmoil so well! I also really enjoyed the complex friendship between Trish and Cannon as well as the questions about whether artists should write about friends and family. I love that we get to see how friendships age and tackle conflict.

[Shhhhivawn]

Very good! So sweaty, you can feel the heat of the summer through the page. I have to assume Lai was inspired by Essex County, specifically The Country Nurse, what with the birds and Gung Gung. My one small small critique is I think that some of the illustrations could have been a bit more experimental/interesting. Also I don't think we needed the explanation for the birds to be spoken aloud. But I liked it!

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this graphic novel about two Asian-Canadian queer women friends in Montreal in their late 20s. The characters are struggling somewhat in their lives, work, other relationships, and their friendship with each other.

It reminded me a bit of Sally Rooney’s work and also Weike Wang’s but also brought a totally fresh and unique energy. I felt it pushed the edges of what can be done with a graphic novel. There was lots of nuance and strong character development. I loved watching these characters grow.

5 enthusiastic stars for this one! Go read it!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cannon (aka Lucy, aka Luce, aka Luce Cannon) is a cook at a busy restaurant with a sleazy owner and she is holding it together by running while listening to calm breathing audio tracks. Trish is her high school best friend and she is a writer struggling with her current project. They bond over Australian horror movies but their friendship has shifted in recent years and is about to be tested.

I really enjoyed the messy realness of the characters, and the depth and nuance of their friendship. The themes in this graphic novel are explored with honesty and without shying away from complexity. I liked it!