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Sacred Heart
The children of U.S. small-town Alexandria are just trying to live like normal teens until their parents' promised return from a mysterious, four-year religious pilgrimage, and Ben Schiller is no exception. She's just trying to take care of her sister, keep faith that her parents will come back, and get through her teen years as painlessly as possible. But her relationship with her best friend is changing, her younger sister is hiding a dark secret, and a terrible tragedy is coming for them all. Filled with teenage loves and fights and parties, Sacred Heart is a wonderful coming-of-age graphic novel set against the threat of a big reckoning that everyone fears is coming but has no proof.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2015
19 people are currently reading
1186 people want to read
About the author
Liz Suburbia
8 books44 followersLiz Suburbia is an American cartoonist, best known for her alternative comics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 277 reviews
April 4, 2016
(Between 3 and 4 stars.)
Spoiler alert! This review reveals things that happen in the book.
Though "revealing" things in a review of this book is unlikely to diminish the pleasure of reading it.
Sometimes I like to read reviews before reading a book and I doubt that would have made this reading experience any less intriguing. It might even have enriched a first reading, as this book is eccentric, disjointed and layered. Then again, maybe it's best to read the book once or twice before reading any reviews? I can't imagine reading this book and not, afterward, wanting to look at interviews and reviews for help in decoding.
So far I've read "Sacred Heart" twice and I'm still unsure of my interpretations, but here, a link to an interview that was pretty illuminating and gave me a lot to think about. Also, I am very relieved to see, in the interview, things are acknowledged that I haven't so far seen addressed in the GR reviews.
http://www.tcj.com/a-conversation-wit...
1) The first time we see Otto, he's licking the bottom of someone's sneaker (that someone with those sneakers happens to be sitting on the bleachers watching a football game, and Otto stands stealthily under the bleachers face-to-shoe.)
2) The first time Otto and Ben hook up, Otto is wearing a dress.
3) There is a lot going on thematically with questions of love and care-taking.
4) There are a lot of references to horror flicks in this book.
5) Music plays a large role in this book as do familiar structures of teenage daily life (which provide a sense of the familiar or the 'normal' even as what is normal shifts very quickly and the structures themselves are reduced to pure, pared down, naked, frame-like bodies.)
One thing I'm really interested in right now is the way that this book honors the power of horror genre films to offer high schoolish aged kids an acknowledgement of the absurdity and unfairness of their social worlds, and to offer some small catharsis as the social situation is taken to its absolute imaginable limits, a kind of burlesque. And simultaneously, this book turns the horror genre inside out, takes horror and says, how can we humanize the concerns of the horror film? Because there are real concerns.
It's a kind of odd de-burlesquing of horror and yet it calls into question biblical tropes relating to horror. There is a sense of humor here in connection to messianic religious beliefs and religious fanaticism (which often turns into real murder and real horror in real life, and certainly turns into real murder in this fictional world) and at the same time, there is a fantastically unnerving look at social structures that stay in place as a sort of unsafe safety net.
In other words, this graphic novel opens up with a quintessential trope of both a coming of age teenage romantic comedy and perhaps a horror film? (I haven't seen very many.) The protagonist, Ben, a female bodied Jewishish cis-female type (ish?) person, going to watch a football game to see her crush, football player Dominic. What could be more normal? But this isn't a John Cusack situation. It's not Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles or Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It's not Undeleted Scenes or Awkward and Definition, though we're getting warmer with Ariel Schrag. But only a little.
Why is there a football game happening when all of the kids of this town have been abandoned by their parents, by all adults in fact, and when there are murders happening and life is as far from normal as can be? That's a great question. How is there even a football game? How is anything still running, how do people still have electricity and food and gasoline for their cars, how are their telephones still working, etc. etc.? It's not entirely clear, but it makes the book all the more eerie. Things are sort of normal and yet completely berserk. The kids are all going about their daily life, "mimicking" their daily rituals while waiting for their parents to return, which seems more and more unlikely to happen.
So, how is a regular football game being played under the lights no less in this most irregular of times?...Hard to say. But that's how this book opens. By contrasting the teenage mundane with chaos and horror. Ben is walking with her dog, she goes to the high school stadium and catches Otto in the act of covert shoe-licking, and on her way to Otto's house that night to hang out in a very regular teenage manner, she sees a dead body. It's not a pleasant sight for her, but it's also not so out of the ordinary. Almost everyone in this book has killed someone or seen a dead body or is in some way accustomed to violence. And a lot of them watch horror films, which is different, but thematically connected. It's not that watching horror films makes violence easier for these characters. It doesn't. It's just that there is a layering and interrogation of violence, and our way of processing violence, and the kinds of violence that are systemically acceptable versus those that aren't. There are no easy answers in here, but I find that there is some underlying critique of our way of managing, categorizing and relating to violence, both idealizing it and fearing it rather than acknowledging its reality in a way that allows us to, more clearly, see each other and all these systems and cycles of violence we are caught up in.
This book is working on many levels. We are closest to Ben and Otto, compelling, interesting characters and best friends who turn to each other as lovers at a certain point, which complicates their relationship in ways they are perhaps not emotionally ready for. And for them this is in many ways a typical coming of age story. But then they are set in a world that is uneasily dystopic and religiously allegorical. There are questions of how people present themselves versus how they actually feel inside. There are complications of how characters reveal themselves in terms of gender and sexuality and affection and how they do or don't gradually discover new things about their choices and behavior. And then, of course, there is that great existential premise of waiting (waiting for the big end-of-the-world type storm and also waiting for the parents to return.)
Sometimes I think there are too many plots forming and Suburbia doesn't know which road she wants to take, so she just throws in a lot of roads all going in different directions. And the ending of the book did feel a bit sudden and forced in terms of resolution. Did Ben's sister Empathy, who Ben feels overly-responsible for, really have to be murdering all the guys she's hooking up with? And did we really need Ben to develop stigmata? Really?
But the characters are complex and compelling enough and the art, too, that I look forward to the next installment.
Spoiler alert! This review reveals things that happen in the book.
Though "revealing" things in a review of this book is unlikely to diminish the pleasure of reading it.
Sometimes I like to read reviews before reading a book and I doubt that would have made this reading experience any less intriguing. It might even have enriched a first reading, as this book is eccentric, disjointed and layered. Then again, maybe it's best to read the book once or twice before reading any reviews? I can't imagine reading this book and not, afterward, wanting to look at interviews and reviews for help in decoding.
So far I've read "Sacred Heart" twice and I'm still unsure of my interpretations, but here, a link to an interview that was pretty illuminating and gave me a lot to think about. Also, I am very relieved to see, in the interview, things are acknowledged that I haven't so far seen addressed in the GR reviews.
http://www.tcj.com/a-conversation-wit...
1) The first time we see Otto, he's licking the bottom of someone's sneaker (that someone with those sneakers happens to be sitting on the bleachers watching a football game, and Otto stands stealthily under the bleachers face-to-shoe.)
2) The first time Otto and Ben hook up, Otto is wearing a dress.
3) There is a lot going on thematically with questions of love and care-taking.
4) There are a lot of references to horror flicks in this book.
5) Music plays a large role in this book as do familiar structures of teenage daily life (which provide a sense of the familiar or the 'normal' even as what is normal shifts very quickly and the structures themselves are reduced to pure, pared down, naked, frame-like bodies.)
One thing I'm really interested in right now is the way that this book honors the power of horror genre films to offer high schoolish aged kids an acknowledgement of the absurdity and unfairness of their social worlds, and to offer some small catharsis as the social situation is taken to its absolute imaginable limits, a kind of burlesque. And simultaneously, this book turns the horror genre inside out, takes horror and says, how can we humanize the concerns of the horror film? Because there are real concerns.
It's a kind of odd de-burlesquing of horror and yet it calls into question biblical tropes relating to horror. There is a sense of humor here in connection to messianic religious beliefs and religious fanaticism (which often turns into real murder and real horror in real life, and certainly turns into real murder in this fictional world) and at the same time, there is a fantastically unnerving look at social structures that stay in place as a sort of unsafe safety net.
In other words, this graphic novel opens up with a quintessential trope of both a coming of age teenage romantic comedy and perhaps a horror film? (I haven't seen very many.) The protagonist, Ben, a female bodied Jewishish cis-female type (ish?) person, going to watch a football game to see her crush, football player Dominic. What could be more normal? But this isn't a John Cusack situation. It's not Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles or Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It's not Undeleted Scenes or Awkward and Definition, though we're getting warmer with Ariel Schrag. But only a little.
Why is there a football game happening when all of the kids of this town have been abandoned by their parents, by all adults in fact, and when there are murders happening and life is as far from normal as can be? That's a great question. How is there even a football game? How is anything still running, how do people still have electricity and food and gasoline for their cars, how are their telephones still working, etc. etc.? It's not entirely clear, but it makes the book all the more eerie. Things are sort of normal and yet completely berserk. The kids are all going about their daily life, "mimicking" their daily rituals while waiting for their parents to return, which seems more and more unlikely to happen.
So, how is a regular football game being played under the lights no less in this most irregular of times?...Hard to say. But that's how this book opens. By contrasting the teenage mundane with chaos and horror. Ben is walking with her dog, she goes to the high school stadium and catches Otto in the act of covert shoe-licking, and on her way to Otto's house that night to hang out in a very regular teenage manner, she sees a dead body. It's not a pleasant sight for her, but it's also not so out of the ordinary. Almost everyone in this book has killed someone or seen a dead body or is in some way accustomed to violence. And a lot of them watch horror films, which is different, but thematically connected. It's not that watching horror films makes violence easier for these characters. It doesn't. It's just that there is a layering and interrogation of violence, and our way of processing violence, and the kinds of violence that are systemically acceptable versus those that aren't. There are no easy answers in here, but I find that there is some underlying critique of our way of managing, categorizing and relating to violence, both idealizing it and fearing it rather than acknowledging its reality in a way that allows us to, more clearly, see each other and all these systems and cycles of violence we are caught up in.
This book is working on many levels. We are closest to Ben and Otto, compelling, interesting characters and best friends who turn to each other as lovers at a certain point, which complicates their relationship in ways they are perhaps not emotionally ready for. And for them this is in many ways a typical coming of age story. But then they are set in a world that is uneasily dystopic and religiously allegorical. There are questions of how people present themselves versus how they actually feel inside. There are complications of how characters reveal themselves in terms of gender and sexuality and affection and how they do or don't gradually discover new things about their choices and behavior. And then, of course, there is that great existential premise of waiting (waiting for the big end-of-the-world type storm and also waiting for the parents to return.)
Sometimes I think there are too many plots forming and Suburbia doesn't know which road she wants to take, so she just throws in a lot of roads all going in different directions. And the ending of the book did feel a bit sudden and forced in terms of resolution. Did Ben's sister Empathy, who Ben feels overly-responsible for, really have to be murdering all the guys she's hooking up with? And did we really need Ben to develop stigmata? Really?
But the characters are complex and compelling enough and the art, too, that I look forward to the next installment.
April 27, 2016
Sacred Heart pulls off a sneakily brilliant slowburn. It starts out chronicling the quotidian punk rock lives of a bunch of small town high schoolers. You see their relationships, parties, hanging out watching cult movies, etc. And then the dread creeps in. Where are their parents? Why does it seem like they're waiting for the apocalypse? Why are so many teenagers in this town getting killed and why are their peers reacting to their deaths with what is effectively a communal shrug as if it is totally commonplace? As the mystery swells and swells with each passing chapter, Liz Suburbia keeps things opaque. She focuses on her characters, who, despite the insanity around them, are living straight-up normal teenage existences. They have sex, do drugs, go to punk rock shows, play in bands, play lacrosse, party party party, the usual. But the creeping dread, oh man. I thought this was going to be one of those books that was going to end up being weird for the sake of weirdness but nope. Ms. Suburbia deftly answers all of the questions with the last page of her novel, and it's great. Like Twilight Zone great. It satisfyingly solves the mystery while practically demanding a rereading as this knowledge paints these characters in a new light. And here I've gone on and on about the storytelling, which have I mentioned it's so good? I haven't even touched on Liz Suburbia's gifted sense of visual storytelling or her masterful artwork which is raw and yet possesses pinpoint control. Those should be contradictory descriptors but just trust me. It works. It all works. When I started reading Sacred Heart, I was a little nonplussed. It took a minute to grab me, and when it did, and when I tuned into the frequency of these characters and this weird world, I feverishly read to the novel's completion, and now it's haunting me the day after, and to be haunted by a piece of literature, well, I guess there's no greater sensation.
December 18, 2015
I didn't know anything about Liz Suburbia until I found this just in at the library yesterday. It's a kind of growing up in suburbia tale based on but (I now know) pretty significantly revised from her webcomic. None of the characters are particularly attractive; it's a kind of slice of life story of disaffected teens into sex, drugs and rock n roll. I think unattractive is part of the point. This is not a story of the popular in-crowd kids.
There's a punk sensibility to it (and actual punk music performed, too, for you punk rocker groupies!). Or, it captures the vibe of some unhappy, clueless kids sort of interested in punk and who get sick drunk and have awkward sex and bang around to loud music. All the time. And there's a little sense of lostness in it. Not just played for laughs, like Simon Hanselmann's stuff.
There's a metaphor of a flood that becomes central, take my word for it, and that figures in the Big Finish. It's almost as if the girl who emerges as our main character escapes the scene. I was reminded of the work of Jaime Hernandez in Love and Rockets, all those kids in the LA punk scene. Though it's not yet as good in terms of story, character and artistic rendition as Jaime. But there might be a little sacred-heartedness at the core of this story.
There's a punk sensibility to it (and actual punk music performed, too, for you punk rocker groupies!). Or, it captures the vibe of some unhappy, clueless kids sort of interested in punk and who get sick drunk and have awkward sex and bang around to loud music. All the time. And there's a little sense of lostness in it. Not just played for laughs, like Simon Hanselmann's stuff.
There's a metaphor of a flood that becomes central, take my word for it, and that figures in the Big Finish. It's almost as if the girl who emerges as our main character escapes the scene. I was reminded of the work of Jaime Hernandez in Love and Rockets, all those kids in the LA punk scene. Though it's not yet as good in terms of story, character and artistic rendition as Jaime. But there might be a little sacred-heartedness at the core of this story.
January 12, 2016
Turns out David Schaafsma had already written the very review I was still struggling to write myself, only better, so here you go:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thanks, David!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thanks, David!
October 14, 2017
A lengthy, hard to follow plot. But it's basically teenagers obsessing over sex. Same old, same old.
I hated all the characters from the start and wished they all die.
Speaking of which, it's hard to tell male and female characters apart. Poor drawing.
I hated all the characters from the start and wished they all die.
Speaking of which, it's hard to tell male and female characters apart. Poor drawing.
March 24, 2020
Holy shit...
Hope everyone is healthy, safe, and has plenty to read. Now’s the time to kill that ‘tbr’ pile.
xoxo
Hope everyone is healthy, safe, and has plenty to read. Now’s the time to kill that ‘tbr’ pile.
xoxo
January 6, 2023
I love lost teens with an aesthetical face n body.
Not ugly losers.
Others are what we are,or what I'm familiar. I used to experience some of it, after all, once I was an ugly lost teen and it's a story that teenagers are involved, however I can hardly say it's a coming of age. Or dystopian lol.
The first it didn't make sense why all faces especially eyes look like belonged to a monster, a freaky evil one. And for a long time I couldn't figure out who is who. After finishing I still can't but I think it serves the style and the story.
So there are teenagers look like abandoned by their parents.
There are murders going on that seem no one cares (?)
There is a rock band, palm readers, Ben (the main character) and her friend Otto.
The blurb says (at amazon) their parents r religious, terrible tragedy is coming.
There are lots of horror elements I don't want to elaborate.
Before I give any spoilers, I want to say that if there were nothing 'religious' in this comic, it would make more sense. At least, it will be just teenage drama. I would die for this comic if it just had weird, gothic as fuck scenes without any metaphorical shit with teenage drama.
Then, like why Otto licking some girl's shoes, there are more things I don't know if it's matters for comic's sake.
Like -please someone tells me if I'm wrong- what's the deal of some underneath canal monsters?
Or the fire at the cinema theater.
Or biblical flood at the ending which is not biblical flood.
So the town is actually a cult compound, and what? To me this adds nothing to the story. From the beginning some pages feel like catharsis, u can sense something wrong going on. And it's a good thing, very. I'm not saying it should give away or have to explain to me at some point, or these teens must be characterized as freak children of religious parents than just being punk; yet the taste is hollow.
I read the interview. I know now it's a webcomic and edited. So maybe this cause why
I know I said the style it served the comic, also it's black n white, like the matter of sexuality and gender, or friendship and sisterhood- all of its sharp edges, ying-yang, if it's ever as clear as monochrome. So you have to be careful to see details. I love b&w, just in this didn't work out so well for me.
Again I have to go back to monster-like-style, if the story itself is about those things, why all characters are ugly, I'm not being rude and I don't need to sugarcoat my words. To insult belief (so where are deep elements)? Or to make it more grotesque n horrified?
You can try to read between
You know what, this comic needs pigs
xoxoxo
iko
October 16, 2018
Grandissima scoperta e finora senza dubbio il fumetto più bello che abbia letto nel 2018.
Lo scenario è la classica provincia americana, una cittadina fatta di casette a due piani, una scuola, un cinema, un minimarket, la chiesa vecchia e quella nuova e un bosco tutto attorno, in cui si muovono la protagonista, una diciassettenne di nome Ben, e un nutrito gruppo di personaggi, tutti giovani come lei.
Ecco però la prima stranezza di questa storia: gli adulti sono assenti, spariti, andati via, per motivi che non vengono svelati e che spingono il lettore a formulare una sua teoria e a darsi una spiegazione da solo.
Di certo c'è soltanto che la situazione è quella da un po', e che i ragazzi, se da un lato si godono l'assoluta mancanza di controllo (per cui niente scuola, feste ogni sera, sesso, droga & rock'n'roll), dall'altro sono fondamentalmente in ansia per il futuro, annoiati e in attesa che cambi qualcosa.
In questo clima di disagio e stordimento iniziano a verificarsi degli omicidi, che però non inquietano più di tanto i ragazzi: il dispiacere dei primi minuti lascia presto spazio al disinteresse. E soprattutto sembra che a nessuno importi troppo del fatto che potrebbe essere il prossimo a morire.
La bellezza di Sacred Heart sta nell'equilibrio tra il racconto dell'adolescenza, a mio avviso tra i migliori che possa capitare di leggere, e il crescendo di inquietudine legata agli omicidi e ai segreti di questa comunità.
Il finale è spiazzante, ma la sigla TBC (“to be continued”) che chiude il volume lascia sperare che presto si potrà sapere cosa sia successo dopo.
Lo scenario è la classica provincia americana, una cittadina fatta di casette a due piani, una scuola, un cinema, un minimarket, la chiesa vecchia e quella nuova e un bosco tutto attorno, in cui si muovono la protagonista, una diciassettenne di nome Ben, e un nutrito gruppo di personaggi, tutti giovani come lei.
Ecco però la prima stranezza di questa storia: gli adulti sono assenti, spariti, andati via, per motivi che non vengono svelati e che spingono il lettore a formulare una sua teoria e a darsi una spiegazione da solo.
Di certo c'è soltanto che la situazione è quella da un po', e che i ragazzi, se da un lato si godono l'assoluta mancanza di controllo (per cui niente scuola, feste ogni sera, sesso, droga & rock'n'roll), dall'altro sono fondamentalmente in ansia per il futuro, annoiati e in attesa che cambi qualcosa.
In questo clima di disagio e stordimento iniziano a verificarsi degli omicidi, che però non inquietano più di tanto i ragazzi: il dispiacere dei primi minuti lascia presto spazio al disinteresse. E soprattutto sembra che a nessuno importi troppo del fatto che potrebbe essere il prossimo a morire.
La bellezza di Sacred Heart sta nell'equilibrio tra il racconto dell'adolescenza, a mio avviso tra i migliori che possa capitare di leggere, e il crescendo di inquietudine legata agli omicidi e ai segreti di questa comunità.
Il finale è spiazzante, ma la sigla TBC (“to be continued”) che chiude il volume lascia sperare che presto si potrà sapere cosa sia successo dopo.
May 13, 2019
I've been hearing about this comic for years, and I can see why. It's a gorgeously drawn, intense story about a very specific kind of teen experience. The story mainly follows tomboy Ben and the people she most interacts with: her sister Empathy, her best friend Otto, Otto's sometimes-girlfriend Kim, the members of Crotchman (the only band in town), Ben's crush Dominic, two oddball pre-teen girls who run a fortune-telling operation, the kid who runs the movie theater, the kid who runs the 7-Eleven... slowly, as these stories unfold, it becomes clear that the town all of these characters live in is completely devoid of adults. Ben and Empathy are alone in their house. Ben worries about Empathy staying out late, because there have been several murders recently. The teens still hang out at high school and enact many of its rituals, including football games and dances, but there are no teachers and no one goes to class. Every day is like a Saturday, in that all days are fair game to smoke pot, watch movies, drive aimlessly around down, head down to the creek, scramble together a punk show, make out, have sex, break up, give your friends haircuts and tattoos. Every now and then people reference "when our parents left" or "how long until they are coming back" but this thread of the story is left extremely open to interpretation. For someone who's teen years resembled this scene, this book is probably incredible. It didn't quite hit the spot for me, but I do think the black and white line art is some of the best I've ever read.
January 4, 2016
For a guy who reads a lot of young adult books, it's rare and weird for me to read a book and think "man, I'm too old for this." But that's how I felt about Sacred Heart, a book that is utterly drenched in a culture I don't know or relate to simply because I'm 20 years gone from it, but with a story that is certainly compelling to some and has a massive twist at the end that really brings a lot of it together.
If a graphic novel about teens getting by and doing their own thing in what comes across as a lower-income region with a lot of sex, drugs, and violence is your thing, this might be worth a pickup. It's not really for everyone, although I'm definitely happy I stuck with it given how it finishes up.
If a graphic novel about teens getting by and doing their own thing in what comes across as a lower-income region with a lot of sex, drugs, and violence is your thing, this might be worth a pickup. It's not really for everyone, although I'm definitely happy I stuck with it given how it finishes up.
February 8, 2017
This is a dark, disturbing work with a lot of emotional resonance and many mysteries that linger even after the apocalyptic ending. We find ourselves in a gritty suburban river town in an indeterminate time, watching grimy teenage punk kids hang out, drink, go to house shows, and argue among themselves about love and philosophy. We know something more than just teenage angst is up when our protagonist, Ben, stumbles upon the brutally murdered body of a classmate. No one really bats an eye and we come to realize that there’s something really wrong in this town, something our diverse band of misfit punks are trying to deal with by hoping everything just goes away. Their parents are gone, but are thought to return soon. They go to school, but there seem to be no teachers. A few kids seem to have taken up running shops and utilities, if only to keep up an illusion of normalcy.
It is like some eternal, menacing summer vacation has settled down upon the town and the kids’ own normal adolescent fears and angers have begun to spiral out of control, even as inexplicable, supernatural events grow evident. Ben and her sister Empathy may know more about things then they express, and everywhere there are intimations of some coming calamity, hinted at by the presence of watching, uncommunicative adults and passing helicopters. As more and more kids turn up dead and Ben struggles with her relationship with her sister and her best friend/mutual crush , there is definitely something scary in the air. Though we get to know the characters well, there is a grotesque magic realism infusing everything and there seems to be a lot left unsaid during this apocalyptic teenage wasteland. I think there are some interesting themes being worked around here.
It is like some eternal, menacing summer vacation has settled down upon the town and the kids’ own normal adolescent fears and angers have begun to spiral out of control, even as inexplicable, supernatural events grow evident. Ben and her sister Empathy may know more about things then they express, and everywhere there are intimations of some coming calamity, hinted at by the presence of watching, uncommunicative adults and passing helicopters. As more and more kids turn up dead and Ben struggles with her relationship with her sister and her best friend/mutual crush , there is definitely something scary in the air. Though we get to know the characters well, there is a grotesque magic realism infusing everything and there seems to be a lot left unsaid during this apocalyptic teenage wasteland. I think there are some interesting themes being worked around here.
November 19, 2021
Vamos a ver, cuando decidí escribir esta reseña pensé en que encontraría el libro en goodreads con menos de tres estrellas, porque no me imaginé que nadie le pondría más que eso, y ahora les cuento porqué.
No sabía las existencia de este libro, de hecho, hasta creo que de haberlo encontrado en alguna librería lo habría ignorado por completo. Pero resulta que lo gané en un sorteo random hace varios meses. El punto es que cuando llegó estaba ilusionada por tener un nuevo libro en mi estantería, pero en cuanto lo abrí todo se me vino abajo.
El “arte”, o simplemente las ilustraciones, no fueron en absoluto para mí. No estaba sola cuando hojeé el libro, así que podrían confirmar que estás fueron mis reacciones al verlas por primera vez: “eeww, aajjj, puaaaj, bleeaaaahh, ay nooo”. Y no, no es que es un libro para no sensibles, no, las ilustraciones no son mi estilo y prometo que tanto así a tal punto de sentir náuseas. Supongo que es un efecto visual, o no sé pero me hacía sentir mal.
Lo dejé, no lo terminé. Pensé en que era solo el hecho de que estaba con el periodo y que por eso podría haber tenido esas reacciones. Pero esta noche lo volví a agarrar y tuve exactamente las mismas reacciones, el problema es que esta vez hojeé mucho más el libro encontrándome así con escenas que puaaaajjj me perturbaron.
Un libro que jamás se lo recomendaría a alguien.
No sabía las existencia de este libro, de hecho, hasta creo que de haberlo encontrado en alguna librería lo habría ignorado por completo. Pero resulta que lo gané en un sorteo random hace varios meses. El punto es que cuando llegó estaba ilusionada por tener un nuevo libro en mi estantería, pero en cuanto lo abrí todo se me vino abajo.
El “arte”, o simplemente las ilustraciones, no fueron en absoluto para mí. No estaba sola cuando hojeé el libro, así que podrían confirmar que estás fueron mis reacciones al verlas por primera vez: “eeww, aajjj, puaaaj, bleeaaaahh, ay nooo”. Y no, no es que es un libro para no sensibles, no, las ilustraciones no son mi estilo y prometo que tanto así a tal punto de sentir náuseas. Supongo que es un efecto visual, o no sé pero me hacía sentir mal.
Lo dejé, no lo terminé. Pensé en que era solo el hecho de que estaba con el periodo y que por eso podría haber tenido esas reacciones. Pero esta noche lo volví a agarrar y tuve exactamente las mismas reacciones, el problema es que esta vez hojeé mucho más el libro encontrándome así con escenas que puaaaajjj me perturbaron.
Un libro que jamás se lo recomendaría a alguien.
July 24, 2017
This was one of the new books at my library and since I wanted to read more graphic novels, I said sure why not? The cover was appealing and I tend to enjoy random comics from Fantagraphics anyway.
I quite enjoyed it. I liked the grittiness and slovenliness of a youth left to their own devices and the illustration style. Reading Sacred Heart made me think back to the days I used to hangout with friends and/or significant others while the parents were away, going to house shows or band practices and just trying to get through high school in a lame Texan suburb. Lots of punk rock and hardcore music in the mix too. While the nostalgia and humor were already selling points, another aspect I enjoyed was the suspense and eeriness that wafted throughout the story. Some of the plot points were predicable, from the usual "will they won't they?" situations to the more of "who's killing people?," but I liked how they were revealed and where Suburbia took the story until the very end.
I still have questions, but I appreciate works that leave you wondering something instead of answering everything. Hope there will be other full length graphic novels to dive into down the road.
I quite enjoyed it. I liked the grittiness and slovenliness of a youth left to their own devices and the illustration style. Reading Sacred Heart made me think back to the days I used to hangout with friends and/or significant others while the parents were away, going to house shows or band practices and just trying to get through high school in a lame Texan suburb. Lots of punk rock and hardcore music in the mix too. While the nostalgia and humor were already selling points, another aspect I enjoyed was the suspense and eeriness that wafted throughout the story. Some of the plot points were predicable, from the usual "will they won't they?" situations to the more of "who's killing people?," but I liked how they were revealed and where Suburbia took the story until the very end.
I still have questions, but I appreciate works that leave you wondering something instead of answering everything. Hope there will be other full length graphic novels to dive into down the road.
April 25, 2019
Maybe it is because this novel helped me re engage with a crusty punk side of my life or maybe it is because I spend most of my waking moments thinking about my high school students, anyway, I THOUGHT THIS BOOK WAS INCREDIBLE. Suburbia's setting, character development, and art left me grasping for more and rereading it twice in two days! It is such an interesting take on teenage years and what could happen. There's action, romance, and plenty of punk. Also some serious friendships and navigation of ladies being friends with ladies as well as ladies being friends with dudes and the unique set of challenges that occur. I would highly recommend reading it more than once because Suburbia packs a lot of nuance into her story and doesn't give the reader time to figure it out all out. Def one of the best graphic novels I have read this year and EVER!
February 21, 2024
A contemporary masterpiece. You could skip grad school for comics and just study this book, imo.
November 21, 2021
Is it fair to criticize a work about teenagers for feeling juvenile? Maybe not, but there's something in Sacred Heart that really rubs me the wrong way, and I think it boils down to it somehow feeling immature. The story and subject matter seem like they'd be right up my street – I like coming-of-age stories, especially ones that depict adolescence full of sex, drugs and music – but there's something in this comic's tone that really irks me.
I can't help but compare Sacred Heart to Black Hole by Charles Burns: they’re both about suburban middle-class North American teenagers dealing with romance, sexuality and existential angst against a backdrop of parties and hanging out; they both use horror elements as devices to explore these themes; and they both focus on sub-cultural or counter-cultural milieux, with characters who are kind of misfits but aren’t nerds. The commonalities are quite extensive, I think, and yet the two comics feel completely different. Whereas Black Hole is heady, serious and utterly compelling, Sacred Heart feels trite, even twee at times.
I'm tempted to say that Sacred Heart's characters don't ring true – that they feel like goofy caricatures rather than real people – but on reflection it's probably fairer to just say that I can't relate to them. I find them annoying and dull, but I suppose I’d find it annoying and dull to hang out with most real teenagers, so perhaps that’s a sign of verisimilitude. I find the dialogue grating, but I've seen other reviewers praise the dialogue for capturing how teenagers really speak, so maybe I’m just too old and out of touch. Indeed, I have the nagging feeling that Sacred Heart may primarily be intended for kids (perhaps around the 12–14 bracket, a bit younger than the characters themselves). Alternatively, maybe the issue isn’t age; maybe this is just about (and for) a subset of people who I found lame and tiresome when I was a teenager myself: a certain crowd of loud, obnoxious, excitable kids with an unsophisticated, vulgar conception of rebellion.
For all of my complaining, I don’t really mean to criticize this comic. When writing a review, it’s obviously hard to distinguish one’s personal reaction from objective assessment, but in this case I really feel that an odd quirk of my personal taste is preventing me from enjoying what may actually be quite an accomplished work. In fact, the plot did keep me consistently engaged, which is quite an achievement considering my problem with the tone. Moreover, the visual storytelling is effective and often interesting. Basically, I don’t think Sacred Heart is bad, but unfortunately it isn’t for me.
I can't help but compare Sacred Heart to Black Hole by Charles Burns: they’re both about suburban middle-class North American teenagers dealing with romance, sexuality and existential angst against a backdrop of parties and hanging out; they both use horror elements as devices to explore these themes; and they both focus on sub-cultural or counter-cultural milieux, with characters who are kind of misfits but aren’t nerds. The commonalities are quite extensive, I think, and yet the two comics feel completely different. Whereas Black Hole is heady, serious and utterly compelling, Sacred Heart feels trite, even twee at times.
I'm tempted to say that Sacred Heart's characters don't ring true – that they feel like goofy caricatures rather than real people – but on reflection it's probably fairer to just say that I can't relate to them. I find them annoying and dull, but I suppose I’d find it annoying and dull to hang out with most real teenagers, so perhaps that’s a sign of verisimilitude. I find the dialogue grating, but I've seen other reviewers praise the dialogue for capturing how teenagers really speak, so maybe I’m just too old and out of touch. Indeed, I have the nagging feeling that Sacred Heart may primarily be intended for kids (perhaps around the 12–14 bracket, a bit younger than the characters themselves). Alternatively, maybe the issue isn’t age; maybe this is just about (and for) a subset of people who I found lame and tiresome when I was a teenager myself: a certain crowd of loud, obnoxious, excitable kids with an unsophisticated, vulgar conception of rebellion.
For all of my complaining, I don’t really mean to criticize this comic. When writing a review, it’s obviously hard to distinguish one’s personal reaction from objective assessment, but in this case I really feel that an odd quirk of my personal taste is preventing me from enjoying what may actually be quite an accomplished work. In fact, the plot did keep me consistently engaged, which is quite an achievement considering my problem with the tone. Moreover, the visual storytelling is effective and often interesting. Basically, I don’t think Sacred Heart is bad, but unfortunately it isn’t for me.
June 5, 2021
I am an absolute sucker for the high school love and angst / coming of age books, with added bonus of punk teens story, which is what I expected this to be - a ‘punk teens love and fights and parties where there are no parents around!’. This story ended up being more than that.
I got sucked into the story immediately just because of like teen drama and romance, but I stuck around for like the mysterious murders and religious like doomsday sort of undertones. There was much more of a world built than I initially realized, and which you don’t get the “full” picture of really until the last panel (it says to be continued on the last page and I am now on the lookout for a book two). I’m not gonna say parts of the story weren’t predictable - at least with the interpersonal relationships you see coming - but it was still fast paced and interesting enough to make me want to spend my free time reading it. There were a shit load of characters though and I grew to care about most of them.
I also just really liked the flat black and white, simple line work drawing and style of this book. The numerous characters were simply drawn but easy enough to tell apart. So, overall I think this is an enjoyable read.
I got sucked into the story immediately just because of like teen drama and romance, but I stuck around for like the mysterious murders and religious like doomsday sort of undertones. There was much more of a world built than I initially realized, and which you don’t get the “full” picture of really until the last panel (it says to be continued on the last page and I am now on the lookout for a book two). I’m not gonna say parts of the story weren’t predictable - at least with the interpersonal relationships you see coming - but it was still fast paced and interesting enough to make me want to spend my free time reading it. There were a shit load of characters though and I grew to care about most of them.
I also just really liked the flat black and white, simple line work drawing and style of this book. The numerous characters were simply drawn but easy enough to tell apart. So, overall I think this is an enjoyable read.
February 10, 2020
I loved this graphic novel even if I didn’t understand the overarching story line completely. I just loved existing with the teenagers of Bucknell High as they navigated their adult-free world. Otto and Ben are among my favorite comic couples of all time. But I liked virtually all the characters in the story.
The artwork matches the story perfectly. Little features like omnipresent graffiti added a lot to the atmosphere of the teenage town. At 300 pages, the book is long, but I could have happily read 300 more pages and wish Suburbia had left the story open to continuation.
The artwork matches the story perfectly. Little features like omnipresent graffiti added a lot to the atmosphere of the teenage town. At 300 pages, the book is long, but I could have happily read 300 more pages and wish Suburbia had left the story open to continuation.
October 19, 2021
This is the first book that I have read in almost 2 years, I believe. Reading this book was nice, but it included things that I have never seen in a book before. Nudity, sex, alcohol use, quite literally bloody murder. Their was really no story to the book, but plenty of interesting characters and plots.
August 6, 2023
I film/libri horror e coming of age sono decisamente my cup of tea quindi ho adorato questo fumetto. Il plot di base è semplice: in una cittadina gli adulti sono misteriosamente scomparsi e i teenager continuano a vivere la loro vita normalmente, tra scuola (non si sa chi ci insegni), partite di football, feste e concerti punk. Ci sono Ben e Em, due sorelle ebreo-filippine, Otto, il migliore amico di Ben, la band punk dei Crotchmen poi ribattezzata Sex Heretic, ragazzine incinte o indovine e corpi sgozzati abbandonati per la strada; nessuno si fa più domande, tutti vogliono solo divertirsi. Ma c'è anche uno stato di perenne attesa, l'attesa che gli adulti tornino, e anche di paura e incertezza, di rabbia e sudore adolescenziale.
I disegni di Suburbia sono semplici eppure incredibili, ci sono perfino riferimenti a vere canzoni punkrock e a film realmente esistenti per far immergere il lettore nella dimensione teen dei protagonisti. Peccato per il finale, a mio parere troppo veloce, e per alcuni dettagli "religiosi" che non credo di aver afferrato a pieno. Spero che la storia continui presto perché ho amato i personaggi.
Video sul fumetto: https://youtu.be/bW0Xd-Vvxjg
I disegni di Suburbia sono semplici eppure incredibili, ci sono perfino riferimenti a vere canzoni punkrock e a film realmente esistenti per far immergere il lettore nella dimensione teen dei protagonisti. Peccato per il finale, a mio parere troppo veloce, e per alcuni dettagli "religiosi" che non credo di aver afferrato a pieno. Spero che la storia continui presto perché ho amato i personaggi.
Video sul fumetto: https://youtu.be/bW0Xd-Vvxjg
November 22, 2015
This is my first exposure to Liz Suburbia's work. I hadn't heard of her before Fantagraphics released this book. But I discovered that Sacred Heart started as a webcomic, and that most (not all) of the story is still available on her website. The thing is -- and what I find most fascinating -- is that the art in the book is a notably different style than what originally appeared online. The latter had a more detailed and less cartoony (I don't mean this in a negative way) look, which is what defines the book's style. In fact, both in terms of style and content, much of Sacred Heart reminded me of Jaime Hernandez's Locas stories, especially the early ones post-Maggie the Mechanic. I wish I had read this book earlier when it first came out. It's something I definitely would have liked to discuss on the podcast, or perhaps even had Suburbia on for an interview. I've just got too much to read, as it is...especially with the podcast. But this is one of notable finds for this year.
February 7, 2018
The obvious art style and plot comparisons to Jaime Hernandez’s work on Love and Rickets I think hold true. This is not a unique perspective as i’ve read this critique several times. Having said that, I still got a lot of enjoyment out of this book.
I’m an aging punk and I relate to a teenage existence devoid of adult supervision although not to the extreme of this book. In the 80s I roamed my town and countryside wildly getting into all kinds of misadventure. Our soundtrack was punk and we lived for the types of parties and rebellion portrayed in the book.
I should also say that the art is fantastic. It’s a tad cartoonish but it’s nonetheless very good. Reminded me a bit of JT Yost of Birdcage Bottom Books fame.
I’m an aging punk and I relate to a teenage existence devoid of adult supervision although not to the extreme of this book. In the 80s I roamed my town and countryside wildly getting into all kinds of misadventure. Our soundtrack was punk and we lived for the types of parties and rebellion portrayed in the book.
I should also say that the art is fantastic. It’s a tad cartoonish but it’s nonetheless very good. Reminded me a bit of JT Yost of Birdcage Bottom Books fame.
July 28, 2016
This has echoes of both Paper Girls, Vol. 1, SuperMutant Magic Academy, and Black Hole in terms of it being a graphic novel combining teens, sex, horror, and a looming mystery that may or may not be otherworldly.
October 18, 2017
Grunge as heck; punk af.
I love this stuff: realistic fiction about directionless, high school-aged teens tryin hard to be cool, with just a hint of the occult (something’s weird, but they’re not telling what it is). Very Stephen King—particularly Children of the Corn.
The art is perfect. From things like the way the story is laid out into panels or the way music is drawn, you can tell the creator knows how to use the medium, and use it well.
I love this stuff: realistic fiction about directionless, high school-aged teens tryin hard to be cool, with just a hint of the occult (something’s weird, but they’re not telling what it is). Very Stephen King—particularly Children of the Corn.
The art is perfect. From things like the way the story is laid out into panels or the way music is drawn, you can tell the creator knows how to use the medium, and use it well.
May 20, 2016
Solid first graphic novel effort. Ambitious and adventurous in content- punk teenagers having sex, getting into trouble, no parents anywhere, tidal waves, murders, all kinds of shit. My favorite chapter was the one that was from the perspective of a dog. Looking forward to watching this artist grow.
January 2, 2021
I don’t understand why this isn’t more well known in the graphic novel world than it is. This is a must read! — its a story about punk teens and their sex drugs and rock and roll filled world but with an eerie and horror filled undertone to it with a twilight zone kinda ending. My god I will never stop hyping this book up. SO UNDERRATED
February 1, 2016
THIS BOOK IS INCREDIBLE!
I don't want to give anything away, because piecing together what's going on was part of the intrigue, but you should definitely read this one. Plus, fantastic artwork that serves the story well.
I don't want to give anything away, because piecing together what's going on was part of the intrigue, but you should definitely read this one. Plus, fantastic artwork that serves the story well.
March 7, 2016
I usually hate aggressively edgy things like this book because I'm not that edgy and it makes me feel like a square but this was a good exception I think. It's heartfelt enough and weird enough for it to make me feel sad and inadequate in a good way for once. Still feel like a square though.
August 4, 2020
I just got it in the mail today. I couldn't put it down.
It really brought me back to my own teen/young adult punk scene. The characters are all so recognizable and real. Also, the underlying story is delightfully slow in revealing itself.
It really brought me back to my own teen/young adult punk scene. The characters are all so recognizable and real. Also, the underlying story is delightfully slow in revealing itself.
March 6, 2016
not sure this one is really my style. but I have some ideas about who I'd recommend it to, so that's good.
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