Afortunada

Lucky

by Gabrielle Bell

Afortunada es un fascinante documento sobre los detalles de la vida precaria de la autora, una veinteañera residente en Williamsburg, el barrio bohemio de Brooklyn, Nueva York, narrado con un sutil sentido del humor. Su estilo de dibujo simple y austero, su fuerte narrativa generan una crónica ácida en la que se retratan situaciones como la de unos compañeros de piso que se comunican únicamente a través de Post-its; aspirantes a artistas que a penas pueden pagarse el alquiler de una habitación y que viven en un entorno deprimente y cochambroso. Gabrielle Bell nos hace partícipes de su estado anímico depresivo y de sus pensamientos obsesivos acerca del fracaso mientras posa como modelo de desnudo para estudiantes de Bellas Artes, como también en todos los otros trabajos que ejerce para poder ganar dinero, ya sea como profesora de arte, ayudante de una dibujante de cómics muy popular o haciendo joyas en un taller. Todos estos episodios nos muestran su desesperación, aburrimiento y disconformidad consigo misma y la conducen a soñar con vivir una vida diferente que la saque de su vacío y en los que se vea tal y como ella quiere ser: una artista consolidada y respetada.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Nonfiction, Memoir, Comix, Autobiography

116 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Gabrielle Bell was born in England and raised in California. In 1998, she began to collect her “Book of” miniseries (Book of Sleep, Book of Insomnia, Book of Black, etc), which resulted in When I’m Old and Other Stories, published by Alternative Comics. In 2001 she moved to New York and released her autobiographical series Lucky, published by Drawn and Quarterly. Her work has been selected for the 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 Best American Comics and the Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction, and she has contributed to McSweeneys, Bookforum, The Believer, and Vice Magazine. The title story of Bell’s book, “Cecil and Jordan in New York” has been adapted for the film anthology Tokyo! by Michel Gondry. Her latest book, The Voyeurs, is available from Uncivilized Books. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
(source: http://gabriellebell.com/contact/)

Reviews

[Agathafrye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing happens in this book. There is a lot of apartment hunting, worrying about financial situations, and procrastinating. I adored it.

[Sarra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had heard good things about Bell, and I excitedly requested all of her work offered by my library. I settled down with "Lucky", in anticipation. I got to page 15 and closed the book in disgust. The inner dialogue in the first panel of page 15 reads: "After reading the entire thing three times, the illustration still looked retarded. I had no choice but to send it off anyway and pretend I was a retard. DEER SURS, HEER IZ THE PICHUR THAT I DRAWED. I HOWP THET YEW LIK IT."
This is not okay. It's dehumanizing hate speech, plain and simple. People with mental and developmental difficulties are still human beings, deserving respect and decency. Using words like "retard" and "retarded" is profoundly hurtful, demeaning, belittling, and dehumanizing. I have no interest in reading anyone who uses such thoughtless, ugly language. I'm returning this, as well as her other books, to the library today, and I won't attempt to read her again.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read, July 2012: I love Gabrielle Bell.

Third read, February 2020: I love Gabrielle Bell.

[Dov Zeller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally have a bit of a grasp on what makes Gabrielle Bell's work so compelling to me. The last few books I read of hers I wondered, "why do I like this so much." Because there's something very matter-of-fact and plodding about it. Dailiness and repetition.

After reading a bunch more graphic memoir type stuff -- several books by Jeffrey Brown, and "The Hospital Suite" by John Porcellino, "El Deafo" by Cece Bell, "Letting it Go" by Miriam Katin, "An Age of License" by Lucy Knisley...I read "Lucky" and not only loved it, but felt in awe of Bell. I don't now that comparing her work to other graphic memoirs necessarily makes sense, because they are often very unique in terms of their aesthetic, materials and philosophies. But a lot of graphic artists write memoirs about being graphic artists, and among these artists who art about arting, she does something distinct.

I think for me Bell's brilliance lies in her rhythm, pacing, her peculiar sense of humor that unfolds through a kind of sly, witty, peripatetic repetition. She takes a motif and comes at it from different and almost similar angles until the narrative turns become exasperating and hilarious. She sort of chips away at your defenses until you feel her frustration and wonder at life's offerings, and see laid out in front of you, the hopeless, helpless comedy of every day stuff -- which, however mundane in terms of life experiences (dealing with meals, roommates, apartment-hunting, modes of transportation), always blurs the sacred/holy/mundane/profane lines.

Not that her life, her mundane, is quite like anyone else's. But she plays with the notion of what constitutes the mundane like a cat batting around a toy, with a sort of dry, wry, obsessive watchfulness and wonder, her performed aimlessness gives the impression of a certain kind of innocences, while just underneath the surface is is a razor-sharp, very directed commentary of life, work, art, money, love, and the experience of being a female comic artist in a largely male-dominated homosocial comic world.

[Fernando Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me ha costado entrar en el rollo hiperrealísticamente anodino de Bell; aun así, el último tercio del libro me ha gustado bastante, es decir, aquellas historias más trabajadas y con cierto interés en contar algo más que la simple rutina. Es una tipa que cae bien.

[Raina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed that Bell explains the evolution of the book in the introduction. The three sections of Lucky are different in tone, and it's fun to hear her address that. You can definitely see the changes. I was impressed by her drawing style - she could get a lot out of very line-based drawings. And I'm always fascinated by roommate drama (i.e. He Died with a Felafel in his Hand), especially since I have friends living the NYC version. She has great reflections on art, although I wish she'd go further with them.

[Alasondro Alegré · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★½

[Aneesa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes I think people publish mediocre comics because they take so long to write and so short a time to read that there's just not enough supply. And people write mediocre comics because they've already invested too much time by they realize it.

She used the word "retarded" and imagines pretending to be "a retard." I kept reading to see if she addressed it later, maybe she acknowledges the mistake, I thought. Then I thought, this book was written in 2003 with a 2006 copyright date, so why didn't she edit this? Then I got to the end, the stories added for this collection, and she uses the word again!!!

[LeGrand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book while waiting for an appointment with my therapist. This book goes nowhere and has no point. The drawing are simple and pretty much just nice illustrations. While the author does not seem to be taking you anywhere or bringing you to an important understanding of why she wrote this book.. she does take you on a beautiful ride. I also found myself amused at various points by how she presents her life.. especially the mundane.

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Gabrielle Bell's various Lucky comics from nine or ten years ago. These stories are more overtly memoir-like than some of her other work collected elsewhere (e.g., Mome or Drawn & Quarterly anthologies), which explains why many readers see her work in the same vein as Jeffrey Brown, Julie Doucet, and Alison Bechdel.

[Sheikha · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved the melancholic undertones - brings refuge to those living the limbo of the artists life

[Teresa del Peso · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me decidí a leer este libro por la reseña en la trasera de Craig Thompson, pero no me ha gustado nada. Había leído buenas críticas sobre la autora, así que lo intentaré con otra obra.

A veces un silencio vale más que mil palabras, y no me importa que en un libro o película no “pase nada”, pero en este se hace muy pesado y todos los personajes tan artistas ellos no despiertan ningún interés, ni si quiera Gabrielle. Lo que si me queda claro es que encontrar apartamento en NY es muy difícil. 😏

[Adam Marquis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an autobiography about her life in the city and her insecurities she held. She would critique everything and notice every detail. So she started to dream and think how to change her insecurities, making herself more aware to reach her goal. She wasn't the luckiest person. I would not recommend this book to everyone as its a little confusing, but it was a good read.

[jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book I really wanted to love. I felt certain that I would love it. I adore the mundane everyday sort of autobiographical comics and graphic novels. I almost fell for a boy once simply because he drew three panel comics of his day every single day. I really go for that stuff, for better or worse.

Unfortunately, I felt like this book was "just okay." I like the drawing style. I like the dialog. I like the stories of someone living in The City, floating around between apartments, having a job or not having a job, going to parties or not going to parties. Trapped in the nothingness of my post-college twenties, this self-reflective, vast, absolute uncertainly is easy for me to empathize with. I enjoyed reading it, but the petty hopelessness was just too ordinary for me to wrap my arms around.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucid look at the state of being a young creative in a city that both values and mocks artists. Includes ongoing theme of that slender ring of hell that is real estate in NYC.

Andy: The yogis and holy men say that you have to make your journey alone. But that doesn't mean you have to spend your life in isolation. It means you have to rely on your own inner resources.

Gabrielle: Like what resources?

Andy: Like, if you're an artist and you only make art when inspiration comes, then inspiration will come less and less.

Gabrielle: What should and artist depend on then?

Andy: Oh ... determination ... intelligence. Talent.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A journal-type graphic memoir wherein Bell recounts her struggles as a twenty-something artist in Brooklyn to find a decent place to live, figure out relationship stuff, and to support herself as an art teacher. The drawings are fairly static and the narration is text heavy, but she nails the weirdness of roommates and the awkwardness of trying to appear legitimate to the great aunt of her private lesson art students when the students are twelve-year-old boys intent on drawing sexually explicit comics.

[J. Gonzalez- Blitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy Gabrielle's drawing style, though I think I prefer some of her more surrealistic works. It's not that scurrying for housing in NYC and struggling to be an artist while modeling nude for money aren't relatable topics. It's that they're COMPLETELY relatable to the nausea-and-reaching-for-anxiety-meds degree. But if you didn't ever do any of that stuff I think it would be interesting to read about what it's like.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Minimalist, young twenty-something artist going nowhere in New York City. Likeable, as in, this is basically about nothing, no big point, just getting to know a simple, nice person, emotionally flat... and in small doses this was wonderful for me, made me smile... As a whole, read in a day or so, I liked it a little less...This could just be a gendered thing in that I like Jason so much, and many women are not impressed with him as much as me...

[Frankie · Rating 3 out of 5]

ate this up - simple, honest, funny and quick. Lucky #3 ☁️🤍 great progression.

[Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell chronicles the cartoonists daily struggles in her twenties living in Brooklyn. From her relationship with Tom to apartment sharing adventures to various (rather dismal) underpaying jobs, the collection of stories paint a cynical, self-depreciating youth with enough ennui and deadpan humor to form some sort of fluidity and a complex narrative. Nobody is likable. As other readers have already commented, there are a few scenes that were in 2006 and still are in 2020 insensitive. This is done in total honesty, yet one wonders at the choice of being mean when the choice of being nicer wouldn't really hurt the story (or at least the artist could show some self-criticism at such moments, as she does at other moments, like pointing out she's being an asshole for taking a check from a guy without introducing him to her roommate as promised.) Bell's drawings aide the story, but at times I wondered if illustrated prose wouldn't be more fitting. Bell's panels are crammed with writing (dialog and narration) in most of the stories, though she's rather successful in panels with fewer words (the yoga pages, for example). Overall, Lucky is a great collection of stories, if you can handle the unlikable characters and the repetitive situations. Above all, Bell's sharp observations and her honesty keep these stories fresh and unique. Recommended for those who like Dia: Beacon, rooftops, jewelry, reincarnation, and moving.

[T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really, 3.5 stars. Almost 4. The reason it isn't higher is because it isn't really a full-length graphic novel; instead, it's more of a collection of stories that the author/artist divides into three sections: Lucky #1, Lucky "#2, and Lucky#3. Except, she also includes more stories at the end.

I was grateful that the collection starts with a little prologue to help the reader understand her influence/intentions with each section. That helps with the choppiness and shifts in narrative style/pacing.

My favorite parts of the collection are her physical panels, wordlessly depicting her physical struggles, such as moving her art and table to a sidewalk for a day and then retrieving and schlepping the lot back up stairs to her apartment. I could completely relate and the art here is perfect.

It's also strange to read her diary-like entries in 2025 and see that her work would be considered cancellable or objectionable in a few instances.

[Syntaxx · Rating 1 out of 5]

lucky #1 - annoying new yorkers with too many housing options continue to be dissatisfied with their lives for some reason?? why is this even a story??
lucky #2 - artists loses sketchbook at the airport, then whines about it for too many panels. tries to sell her book but no one likes it or is interested in reading it(can't imagine why.../s). ends with a terrible yoga class taught by a man who doesn't understand yoga or boundaries.
lucky #3 - this was the best one because of the scene with the two french tweens she teaches drawing to (pe-nis, va-gin-a!), and her fan letter to gerard depardieu.
absolutely nothing happens in this book.
why did it win an ignatz award?
idk why i keep coming back to drawn & quarterly publications: i rarely enjoy reading them. glad i got it from the library /shrug

[Shell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually love slice of life style comics but this one has not aged well.
Worryingly there are a number of times the 'r' word is used- the first instance almost made me stop reading "After redoing the entire thing three times, the illustration still looked r*****ed. I had no choice but to send it off anyway and pretend I was a r***rd." I mean fuck. I thought maybe Bell would address it at some point later in the book but no, she used the word AGAIN. That soured the book for me.

[Eulate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unas historias sencillas y desconcertantes, como los dibujos que las traman: limpios, sencillos, sin color, ingenuos. Gabrielle Bell cuenta en forma de comic-diario lo que pasa en su vida y lo que le pasa por la cabeza para conformar, como digo, un mundo naif y desconcertante de situaciones e inquietudes como las de cualquiera, y que quizá a nadie interese demasiado pero que cautivan por el encanto de su sinceridad.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Going by description alone, I should totally be all about this one, but I found it super underwhelming. Which is unfortunate, because I just checked out all the Bell that my library had, based on some enthusiasm for her latest ... maybe I'll like the others more, as this is pretty early work and she's obviously skilled. Just, kind of a person that I'd never actually like to be around?

[Jéssica Frabetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leí esta historia en español y, siendo aún intermedia en el idioma, me sentí satisfecha de haber elegido leerla en esta lengua.

Una lectura agradable sobre un momento de transición en la vida de la artista.

No es fácil ser artista, no es fácil sentirse humano y tener malos sentimientos, no es fácil muchas cosas, pero de alguna manera somos afortunados...
Me encantó!

[Esther · Rating 1 out of 5]

A precocious self-involved autobiographical graphic novel to properly engage in. Narrative is driven by text-text-text to explain EVERYthing that are going on in her thoughts, intents, dialogues as an illustrator living in New York.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bland collection of comics on everyday events with minimal insight or introspection.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book. I really enjoy the visuals of a good graphic novel/memoir, and Gabrielle Bell's work is accessible, thoughtful, and makes you think about your own life. Would recommend it!

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good portrait of modern millennial life in a first world country, nothing happens and nothing gets done, there's a lot of hanging around with friends and making smart quips though.