All the Sad Songs

by Summer Pierre

In her first full-length graphic memoir, Summer Pierre takes us on a journey through the soundtracks that shaped her. Through mix tapes, boyfriends, late nights in Boston folk clubs, and ill-fated cross-country road trips, Pierre weaves a moving meditation on music, memory, and identity.

Genres: Comics, Memoir, Graphic Novels, Music, Nonfiction, Womens, Autobiography

104 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2018

About the author

Summer Pierre is an American cartoonist and educator living in the Hudson Valley of New York. She is most notably known for her autobiographical comics, such as the series Paper Pencil Life and the graphic memoir All the Sad Songs (2018). Her work has appeared in The New York Times, NewYorker.com, PEN American, The Comics Journal, among other places.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oooh, this is so good! Why didn't I hear y'all raving about this when it came out a couple years ago?! This is a graphic memoir with a focus on music and its relationship to the development of Pierre's twenties identity, including lots of break-ups. She's a musician, so that's central to her life, traveling around, performing, writing (mostly break-up) songs, performing, in and out of relationships with various men, but it is also specifically about mixtapes as the site of the now forty-something Pierre's sort of archaeological dig into her own life.

I really like how Pierre shares the lists of songs on various key mixtapes she makes for would-be boyfriends, old friends, family and how she analyzes her life through those choices. One turning point for her in her life occurs in 1994, when she listens to Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville and Hole's Live Through This, as she sees for the first time that someone else's music can speak directly to her own experience. Then throughout the book women musicians seem highlighted, though, interestingly enough, in the acknowledgements to key musicians she lists Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Neil Young, and then one woman, Gillian Welch.

As a person who for decades made and gave away my own mixtapes, you had better believe I was digging through old musty boxes for those (now unplayable? Hey, maybe I can find a cassette player at a yard sale this summer!) mix tapes. Who was that guy, and how do my fave songs reveal who I am? More mellow, acoustic stuff for me, for sure. I always liked to dance, but there is almost no dance music on this stack of tapes. Folk, blues, Dylan, CSNY, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Motown.

Anyway, fun book with some deeper mining with therapists's help, of Pierre's emotional struggles. I think this is a completely relatable book, though I especially think she is speaking to younger women in lots of exploratory relationships, trying to figure her younger self out, inviting us to join her in reflecting on our own relationship choices. One of my fave graphic works I have read this year.

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who’s ever cried their heart out among hearing the first few chords of a yet unfamiliar song, this book is for you. It captures beautifully the emotional power music can have on you. The book is also a beautifully told personal memoir about the struggle with anxiety and panic attacks.
Read it while listening to Low’s “Hey What”, which to me is one of the most emotionally cathartic albums ever produced.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soundtrack to this book was Jawbreaker’s “24 hour revenge therapy”. I love autobio comix and Summer’s music themed art and writing was a perfect match. I’m in my late 40s so mixed tapes were a reality for me. I made them for girlfriends at first but after I started listening to punk I made tapes for friends as part of the underground tape trading scene. Regardless, I loved this book. Retrofit with another hit !

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really excellent autobiographical comic structured around music and how we use it to process our emotions—especially those that are difficult or painful. Pierre really bares her soul here, and it’s just a really well told and beautifully drawn story.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d kind of like to read this again before really deciding what I want to say about it so for now I’ll just strongly encourage you to buy a copy because OMG SUMMER YOU DID IT, this book is a SUPERSTAR.

[Adrián Ciutat · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Robert Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard of Summer Pierre until I heard an interview with her on a podcast talking about All the Sad Songs. She described it as being about making mixtapes, which is a thing that people of a certain age used to do, me included. She depicts herself now (a woman in her 40s, I think) with a streak of white in her hair. (I looked up her photo online, and while she has some grey, she doesn't have a streak of white--that was presumably an artistic device to help the reader distinguish now Summer from young Summer). She talks about how she made mixtapes for herself, her friends, boys she had crushes on and even her parents while she was in college. She lists the contents of some of them, and her tastes were eclectic but unformed. But in 1994, she hears Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville and Hole's Live Through This and they change her world. She becomes obsessed with girls with guitars and gets one herself and teaches herself the rudiments. Shortly after that, she meets Tom, who becomes a serious boyfriend for her. She's living in Boston and going to open mic nights to play her songs, becoming familiar with the singer-songwriters on the scene. She does a great job depicting this subculture, but what she really does well is depict her terrible relationship with Tom, who is kind of a cad.

The story alternates between the folk scene and Pierre's disastrous love life and the two sides of the story become completely intertwined. After her breakup with Tom, she suffers anxiety and starts seeing a therapist. Her sessions with therapists is a third stream in this memoir, and Pierre makes it interesting, using interesting visuals to depict her state of mind. The memoir ends in 2005 when she falls in love with a man name Graham (who also falls for her) but they never become a couple because Graham knows he is moving away shortly. The feeling the reader is left with is that because Summer doesn't freak out about this, she has learned to handle her romantic anxiety. I would say this book as a whole is ample proof of that. In the "about the author" at the end, you learn that Pierre is now married to a man and they have a son.

The art is simple but tells the story well. It seems to come out of the tradition of other autobiographical cartoonists like Chester Brown, Julie Doucet and Joe Matt, and has hints of classic pre-War comic strips like The Bungle Family and Gasoline Alley. It's light-hearted even in the most emotional parts, which works really well for this book.

[J.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to write/draw books about music and make them appeal to a wide audience. Usually it's necessary to share that author's taste in music to truly enjoy the book. Although Pierre provides precise lists of what artists & albums affected & influenced her throughout the book, it's not necessary for the reader to be familiar with them (although my high school & college era musical tastes intersected with hers quite a bit).

"All The Sad Songs" is more about how music affected her life, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively, and propelled her into writing, performing, friendships, relationships, etc. It's challenging to visually impart the emotions felt while listening to music, but Pierre does an excellent job of conveying her feelings through abstract waves & light emanating from (or being absorbed by?) her body or by simplifying/discarding her facial features when feeling extreme anxiety or trauma.

Although music is the vehicle, this book is primarily about Pierre's early development and relationships. She explores how music brought her closer to certain people, helped her battle anxiety, provides a catalyst for nostalgia & memories and even invoked trauma.

[rossygram_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

GENIAL (4/5)
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Mi recomendación de hoy es para este #cómic de corte autobiográfico, obra de la artista norteamericana Summer Pierre. Cuenta con ilustraciones en blanco y negro, de líneas sencillas.

Es su primera #NovelaGráfica, y en ella nos muestra un poco de su vida junto con las canciones que la marcaron (¿os acodáis de las cintas/casetes? Aquí hay muchas. ¿Quién no grabó una?).

Las canciones, irremediablemente, forman parte de nuestra vida. De muchos momentos, buenos y malos. Y Summer, la autora, nos muestra las que más la marcaron mientras se iba encontrando a sí misma.

Sus amigos, sus novios, la universidad, sus padres…, y hasta los ataques de ansiedad que sufrió y sus terapias psicológicas. Toda una vida con su banda sonora particular.

Se lee de un tirón y me ha gustado bastante.

El cómic fue nominado, en 2019, al premio Elsner a «Mejor obra basada en la realidad».

Por cierto, la edición es una maravilla. Tapa dura, de tacto sedoso; guardas ilustradas; calidad del papel…

UN PLUS: Varias listas de reproducción («playlists») de la autora.
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¿Qué encontraréis en este libro? La banda sonora vital de Summer Pierre.
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Erratas encontradas: 8 {🤦🏻‍♀️ ¡psicoanalista ven a mí!}
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#LeoYComparto #bookish #DimeUnLibro #bookaholic #booklover #instalibros #bookworm #bookstagram #LibrosWalden #SummerPierre #AllTheSadSongs
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#Libros / para #blogloqueleo / #TodasLasCancionesTristes @libroswalden @summer.pierre / Traducción: #ManuelMoreno
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#HastaElTotoDelCoronavirus

[King]

This book has such a moving nostalgic quality as Pierre reflects on the music that shaped her youth and on her struggles with mental health. You can't help but reflect on your own. The quality of cartooning added to that atmosphere of cozy with a sense of tension, doom. Really enjoyed it.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

All The Sad Songs is a very touching auto biography involving music, relationships, mental health and growth.

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this comic, Pierre talks about how some songs make you feel *seen*...parts of this book made me feel really seen, especially the parts about anxiety and PTSD. The whole book is moving and masterful. Pierre and I are almost the same age so a lot of the music referenced took me back to being in my 20s in the 90s.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet, sad, deeply personal and lovely... I came away from this book with a sense of wistful melancholy and a sense of nostalgia for the present. Great illustrations, a straightforward voice, and an interesting look at music, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to sharing it with others!

[Katie Voss · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I love that this is in black and white; it gives power to the words and lyrics. Second, I love that this was more than just a story about female empowerment. (There's nothing wrong with female empowerment, it's just not what I'm in the mood for at the moment. )
This comic explores the relationship between music and our emotional experiences. The "mixtape" is iconic for the author's generation (and mine!) and the exposition of this powerful icon was phenomenal. She says exactly what we've all felt: he/she was thinking about me when they added this song to the tape! There is a transformative element of a mixed tape or CD, something of a confession and promise combined-- it's a modern day love letter. In that, the author shows how such a love letter can help a relationship thrive or flounder, or become a testament to something deeper than romance.
There is also a perfect description of Post-traumatic Syndrome with anxiety, and an exposition of how such a disorder lives in the mind and body.
For such a short book I really got a lot out of it. I won't say more. If you love music and have ever made/received a mixtape or mixed CD, you should read this book.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good!

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant, worth it for the spot on early-mid 90s playlists referenced alone.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm obsessed with this book. I thought it was going to be about nostalgia, and it is, but it's also about anxiety, love, art, the complexities of the human mind and how we're often strangers even to ourselves. But most of all, it's about MUSIC--especially the seminal music of the 90's/early 2000's. I would have loved Pierre's graphic YA memoir for the Liz Phair and Hole tributes alone, but it ended up being so much more than that. LOVE.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eisner Award Nominee 2019

A deep, introspective look at how music shapes the people with become. Pierre's lighthearted dialogue and artistry balance perfectly with her explorations into romantic anxiety, PTSD, and therapy, and how music was the thread that helped guide her back to the light.

[Gig Wailgum · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great graphic novel and personal memoir conveyed through mixed tapes and the memories they entail. Funny, painful and honest with excellent artwork and flowing panels.

[Matthew Noe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so good it deserves a 6th or 7th star. I'm full of ideas for integrating it into a medical humanities course that blends music and comics.

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like Pierre, I grew up in the age of the mix tape. I, also, made collections based on moods, important events in my life, my feelings toward the mix tape recipient, etc. Over the last decade, many comic book writers and artists have been including playlist suggestions based on the music that informed their work, the music they listened to while creating the work, or what they imagine the soundtrack would be. Even another book released this week, Royal City Volume 3 by Jeff Lemire, included a list of mix tapes in the back matter.

The mix tapes listed in this book are all Very Obvious Songs Of An Era, and it's an era when I was a teen, so I wanted to love it, but all the mixtapes listed were incredibly pedestrian and uninspired. If I received these tapes from a friend or someone with romantic interest, I would look at the list of songs and never bother putting the tape in. I *like* many of the songs, and they are evocative of the era but they're all things heard on the radio a billion times with no artistry to the rise and fall of a musical narrative.

I felt similarly reading this book. The bones of an interesting story are there, there are expected emotional beats that occur, a character has realizations about their relationships. But none of it felt different from any of a thousand stories about how music affects emotions.

This book is a boring mix tape made by someone who doesn't really know the person they're making the mix for, and so they have created the most generic collection of songs to describe their feelings. I understood precisely what Pierre was trying to accomplish but it completely failed to stir anything in me.

[Steph]

This is a graphic memoir that recaps Pierre’s twenties and the soundtracks that accompanied her life throughout those years. Music had a direct impact on her identity and life, not only having been a music lover but also a musician and mixtape-fanatic. It is wound into every experience she has, with both positive and negative impacts. She revisits the songlists of mixtapes she made for various people in her life and analyzes what those songs meant to her and how they related to each piece of her life. Pierre also recounts the process of working through anxiety, depression, and PTSD with a therapist.

The artwork is a hit with me, especially when Pierre is documenting the dark moments - it’s a beautiful, abstract, and intimate expression of the pain, loneliness, and out-of-body sensations that a person can experience when feeling extreme anxiety or when processing trauma. Even if you aren’t of the age group that can identify with these songs (mostly 80s/90s hits), you’ll still really relate to the sentimentality and the ways in which music and memory are strongly tied together. If you have an appreciation for expressing your feelings through music and have ever made/received a mixtape/CD for someone, you should read this book.

[Rachelr · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5? i read this super quickly. it was v fun and engaging, though of course at times was sad as the author was battling pretty serious anxiety and depression. while she was about 10 years older than me, i too still have a few of my mixed tapes and can recall all the planning and thought that went into making the perfect tape, even if i was likely to only make them for myself. i also loved how synched up were location wise! she was originally from cali, and then came to boston after undergrad. true that was still 10 years before i got here, but she also spent tons of time in santa cruz! could OBVS relate when she talked about how her bf at the time couldn't resist the urge to become a slacker/stoner. and i loved that there was a drawing of marianne's ice cream! most of the locations she mentioned in boston/camb/sommerville were closed before i got here, or closed during quarantine (RIP Cantab lounge), but there's just something i find so satisfying about truly knowing/understanding a place in a book.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fan-f*cking-tastic graphic memoir!!! I grew up making/receiving mixtapes so I very much enjoyed this act referenced. Speaking of references, all the songs/artists totally mentioned made me smile. The ones I’m not aware of I’m definitely going to look up and listen to. For being a memoir that discusses coping with anxiety there were many laugh out moments or written dialogue by the author. I shared this book in a post to all my musician friends who write/perform their own songs at small venues as they’d enjoy/relate to this book on a whole different level than I am able to. The book itself is short as I was able to read it in one sitting and I felt it was fitting the two LPs I listened to while reading were Petal “Magic Gone” and Anna Burch “Quit the Curse”.

Thank you Summer Pierre! I will be following your work (and music) from this point forward!

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wise and wistful graphic memoir that hit me where I live, because I could relate to so much of it. A look at how the directions of our lives are affected by possibilities and limits inherent in creating and consuming art (in this case music). While her story is universal, you'll get an extra pang if you're a child of the mix-tape generation - set lists of the tapes she both gave and received are lovingly rendered. The net result is nostalgic without being twee, a personal and idiosyncratic memory-tape of its own.

[Rafa Arjona]

Maravilloso. Lo compré para el cumpleaños de un amigo pero he tenido que quedármelo para mí. Ella habla de que hay canciones que llegan a la vida de uno por sorpresa y que le marcan. Con este comic ha pasado algo parecido. Me ha gustado muchísimo el relato sobre su historia y la sinceridad que contiene. Es realmente conmovedor y me produjo cierto alivio leer esta historia, me hizo pensar de qué manera podría exponer yo mi vida y mis problemas en una historia sin que tuviese que tener un carácter trágico. Me lo volveré a leer algún día seguro.

[Caleb Lail · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took such a long time reading it mostly because I didn’t want to end it, but I also wanted to check out all the recommended songs in the book haha. It’s highly readable. It’s obvious Pierre is just as frustrated trying to describe the emotions music makes as anyone else and that maybe its weakest point. But it tells human tales very well, it gives the reader music without taping a mixtape to the back of the volume, and it’s just, ya know, cool!

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

(identified so closely w pierre that i'm not sure i can really review.)
if you want to read a graphic memoir with mixtape liner-notes lovingly recreated, and for those mixtapes to include a whole bunch of pj harvey, liz phair, the breeders, and bikini kill, then you will probably love the hell out of this book.

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminds me a lot of a zine collected into book form. A lot of very relatable scenes in this one, and the tight, close panel work makes you feel like she's ensuring that no page she's scamming from Kinkos gets wasted. Good stuff.

[Bryanzk · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good memoir
definitely will listen to the songs mentioned~~