Cecil and Jordan in New York

by Gabrielle Bell

Short stories, including the adapted-to-film original Cecil and Jordan in New York

 

Gabrielle Bell splits her cartooning time between creating wry sketchbook autobiographical comics, such as those included in her 2006 graphic novel, Lucky, and working on more detailed fictional short stories. This collection represents her short comics work that has been published in various anthologies over the past five years, including Kramer’s Ergot, Mome, and The D+Q Showcase Book Four. The surrealist title story, in which a young woman turns herself into a chair so as not to be too much of a bother to those around her, is being adapted into a short film, Interior Design, by director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep) as part of the forthcoming Tôkyô! trilogy set for fall 2008 release.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Short Stories, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix, Bande Dessinée

148 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 2008

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

[christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a linear story. Now imagine cartoonist Gabrielle Bell studying it with her hands on her hips. She takes a giant scissors, the kind used by mayors at ribbon cutting ceremonies, and makes two incisions into the tale. A snip here, a snip there. What's left is a short story without context, unfettered by fatty back story and neat closing statements. Like walking into the middle of a conversation and then leaving before it ends -- or before being told, for instance, it was all just a dream.

"Cecil and Jordan in New York" is a collection of short stories by Bell. It's a mix of real low-impact slices of life, twisted tales in which a woman transforms herself into a chair or a giant man plucks a woman out of thin air and keeps her in a cage in his home, eventually filling it with a pet and a friend, an artistic re-telling of a Kate Chopin story and seemingly autobiographical coming-of-age stories. These stories are all told in the same steady no-panic voice -- whether a woman is getting a potty-mouth bird caught in her hair or an artist is tutoring another artist's neglected young son.

At the center of these stories is usually a woman who stands unblinking in the face of the absurd or cruel, almost aware that in three panels things might change again.

The best of the collection is "Felix." It opens with an art class in which an instructor is talking about negative space. When he lands on Anna's painting of a nude woman with her feet in water, he describes it as "... Everything I dislike in painting."

A visiting professional artist's young son, Felix, digs Anna's work, though, so the professional -- who can pull in a cool million for an egg-shaped sculpture, hires her to help the kid make art. Anna's unsure how to respond to a 12-year-old boy, so she lets him tag along while she works with a nude model. They work on flower arrangements. In his spare time, Felix works up portraits of Anna, which he stashes under his mattress. Things get wonky when Felix overhears his arty father telling Anna about neither he nor his ex-wife wanted a child.

Gabrielle Bell is my favorite of favorite graphic novelists. Her brain lacks boundaries and you get the sense that she can get real weird with herself. The ordinary moments slant to wonky digressions. Then, like in the case of "I Feel Nothing," the sort of bizarre encounter between a morning drinker who owns a trendy bar and the normal friendly girl downstairs, everything just goes back to normal.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I only doled out a meagre 2.5 stars to Gabrielle Bell’s Everything is Flammable which I understand was her Long Awaited Big One, I probably should have left it there, but no, a burst of clickmania brought this earlier collection to my door. Of the 13 stories in here, it could be that G Bell would be less than thrilled if I said that the two best are “One Afternoon” and “Tobermory” because the first is based on a short story by Kate Chopin and the second on a short story by Saki. So I think that would be a case of damning with faint praise.

Otherwise these slices of my life as the odd kid of odd parents were perfectly acceptable, nothing at all to complain about, the graphic novel as room temperature. But I was always feeling an enormous restraint in these stories, and that G Bell could be telling us SO much more if she wanted to.

[Hungry Bug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Цей комікс я почала шукати після перегляду фільму, одна історія з якого була екранізована по ньому. Знайшовши його я вголос розсміялася, бо з 150 сторінок моя історія займала лише 4 😁, так я стала заручницею інших історій, які не хотіла читати, але прочитала, бо (ненавиджу це!) треба доводити справи до кінця і тому я сильно зла на цю книгу, і тому ніяких половинок, просто 3 ⭐️

[Juan Naranjo · Rating 3 out of 5]

La autora Gabrielle Bell abraza lo raro, lo incómodo, lo que suele esconderse, en “Cecil y Jordan en Nueva York”. Se regodea en llevar al papel pensamientos y acciones que casi nunca suelen salir de nuestras cabezas.

Esta recopilación de historietas cortas tienen un cierto aire underground, pero es lo autobiográfico lo que sirve de hilo conductor de esta selección. A Gabrielle no le da miedo quedar mal ella misma o retratar de forma descarnada a las personas de su entorno, y esto convierte a este libro en una obra de gran valor confesional.

Me encanta lo que cuenta (y como lo cuenta) en varias de estas historietas. Pero, como soy un obseso de las autobiografías, casi que me da rabia que las historietas no sean más lineales y que dejen huecos que, como lector, me habría gustado descubrir con mayor profundidad.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to give a book only two stars - it's not like I hated this, I just didn't like it all that much. EVERY time a story finished I was again shocked to realize I was at the end - they all just seemed cut off in the middle as though Bell was too lazy to write a real ending. The more I liked where it was going, the more this pissed me off.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading this collection, I had one of those experiences where time and space stop completely only to deposit you at some future point an hour and a half later in life, your neck and shoulders sore from total absorption. When you come to, all the bones in your body crack in unison.

[Raina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I REALLY like Gabrielle Bell's stuff.

In small servings.

I know, I feel like a bad comic fan, a bad autobiocomic fan.

I consistently adore Bell's stuff in collections like The Best American Comics 2010 and Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age, but I think that's because they sit like little moments in time in the midst of more wacky, wild styles of illustration.

When I'm reading a whole bunch of her stories all at once (like here), I begin to notice how fixed her figures feel. How similar all the faces are. How little actually happens. But mostly the fixed thing. I want to like her stuff, but I feel distanced by the stiffness, and have a hard time connecting with what she might really be thinking. It's beautiful, but suffers without contrast.

[Kaelin O'Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short comic stories. Somewhat enjoyable at times, but not much to tie the stories together. They also often end ambiguously and without much punch. One reviewer of this book mentioned how the characters tend to look alike and I agree, similar faces, same body types. I was also confused whether some of the characters featured in one story were the same characters in other stories; that was hard to tell due to the similar faces, hairstyles. Overall the collection was underwhelming but I probably would have enjoyed an expansion on a few of them, particularly Felix, Gabrielle the Third, or I Feel Nothing.

[Dov Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The more I read Gabrielle Bell, the more I appreciate her particular humor and style. I would write more, but the book is at the library and I missed my opportunity to write about it while it was still fresh in my mind. Perhaps I'll get it out again some time soon.

[Jesús · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short comics by one of the medium’s best creators. A few of these stories are excellent. A few are interesting experiments. A few are great seeds for much longer works. All are worth reading.

[Larry C · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read Gabrielle Bell, I feel like I am not an outsider looking in.

Felix stands out as my favorite story in this collection.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked these later, more developed short stories than the shorter stuff in Lucky, though I did like that work, too... Looks like Bell alternates between memoir and fiction, which is cool...I liked the story about Anna working with a famous artist's son a lot. Again, nothing much happens, as with her memoir work, but that's the point, and the attraction, really. The artwork here is far more elaborate than in Lucky. I like both kinds, again, but I liked the art better here. Fun stuff, likable flat persona for all the mina characters and narrators, as with Lucky!

[Hannah Garden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I feel like an alien with how obsessively and chronically I feel compelled to go in and examine my mind and relationships and during those times rereading some Gabrielle Bell is always grounding. We are all doing this, is my belief I guess, but some of us are devoted to it as our primary vehicle. She's so beautiful at it, she honors the project so peculiarly and with such tenderness.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this for a long time, but I'm only now getting to it. To be honest I was put off by Gabrielle's artwork. I found it boring. But, things change, and I see it differently now. I actually appreciate how much work she must be putting in to her pages.
The stories are interesting, a mix of fiction and autobiographical.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable collection of short stories in graphic novel form. Gabrielle Bell is able to capture very associative characters in just a few frames. I really liked how each story ends so definitively. I never felt like any story went on too long, and she's not afraid to be ambiguous.

[Althea J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to take a break in the middle of reading this, because of life-reasons, not because I wanted to... and then I was slow to pick it up again. But finishing it, and especially those last few stories, reminded me that this is brilliant stuff and a 5-star read.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really delightful in its surprises and imaginative leaps. Some stories feel underdeveloped, but I think that's because this was fairly early on in Bell's career. Looking forward to reading more of her work!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, honest book of short pieces, compellingly drawn. I slept on Gabrielle Bell for awhile and now I'm really looking forward to reading more from her.

[Sophie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was perfect and fun and so quirky and weird! I loved that there were lots of stories. Some I didn't really see the relation to New York but it was super great and I loved all the stories!

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Bell's style.

[Aileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were great others weren't my cup of tea. The three stars are because the great stories lifted up the others.

[Westward Woess · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading this I didn't realize that it was going to be short stories. I thought I was going to be about the adventures and misadventures of Cecil and Jordan in New York. I wasn't disappointed, but it did take some time to get my head around how the stories weren't exactly coherent. They were all snapshots of minute details and unexpected turns in different peoples' lives. The art style was simple, but effective. Overall, it was very enjoyable, though I do admit to entirely "getting" the stories in the second half of the book.

[Kelly Provan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished this collection of short stories in the form of comics within an hour or two. Some of the stories inspired a bit of a giggle. My personal favourites were 'Felix' and 'Robot DJ'. I didn't have any expectations going into the read and came out of it with a smirk but for the most part I felt a little unsatisfied at the end

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Gabrielle Bell. That's all.

[Livia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty read. The pics were indie. The stories were sweet. I finished in about 20 minutes, tops. She gave me some good ideas for my own stories.

[Colleen Weatherly · Rating 4 out of 5]

sometimes i'd rather be a chair too.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect. Intelligent, silly and sophisticated stories very expertly drawn. Gabrielle Bell deserves the hype and awards.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joy

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bell's vignettes are perfect: sweet, succinct, a bit manic and manically rendered. I look forward to her first book-length work.