Breakwater

by Katriona Chapman

A loner and an introvert, Chris has worked in one of Brighton's movie theatres for years. It's the kind of job that people drift through. When a new colleague joins, Chris feels she's found a real friend to spend time with and share things with.

But as Chris and Dan become closer, she realises that he's dealing with complicated mental health issues that are playing havoc with his ability to work and take care of himself. As she becomes a bigger and bigger part of his life, and he becomes less stable, she's the only one who's there for him -- and the only one who can decide how to help him have a better future.

With gorgeous, lush pencil artwork, Breakwater tells the story of a woman abruptly plunged out of her depth, and her struggles to be a good friend when friendship is complicated.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Mental Health, Bande Dessinée, Graphic Novels Comics, Friendship

160 pages, Paperback

Published November 11, 2020

About the author

I'm Kat... an illustrator and comic artist/writer living in London. Most of my work is based around graphite - usually pencil with digital elements. I started out working as a children's book illustrator and have worked with publishers all over the world. I publish small-press books and zines under the name of Tomatito Press and in 2013 I co-created the graphite anthology Tiny Pencil alongside artist/writer Amber Hsu. My latest project is a collection of comics, illustration & writing called Katzine. It comes out twice a year. I am most inspired by travel, day to day life and the natural world.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really lovely and sweet and thoughtful slice-of-life graphic novel in surprisingly expressive charcoal. On one level it is the story of a small group of people that work at a movie theater, where a new guy is hired. This small, service industry story reminded me a little of Mimi Pond's semi-autobiographical stories of her work in a restaurant, The Customer is Always Wrong, and Over Easy, though Ponds' work is played often for laughs and Chapman's story is played for empathy.

Chris is middle-aged and perfectly content to be working at this movie theater in Brighton (England). Oh, the boss goes off every night to drink while they stay on the job, but eh, they can all handle it. Chris has no real social life, but is okay with it. She likes being alone. At one time she considered social work, but that dream seemed to fade away, and she's okay with that, too. She's not all that ambitious. Until Dan comes to join the staff, and is so nice. A romance for Miss Lonelyhearts? (spoiler alert): No! It's a story of friendship, and it's kind of a relief that it is not a romance, I think, and it's nice to see they encourage each other to be their best selves. Dan encourages Chris to consider social work again. They go out and get drinks once in a while, they take a short vaca, all seems fine. . . though Dan drank too much one evening. . . but hey, no biggie, lots of people do that. We like Dan, we're on his side, he's so sweet.

Then we see Dan in a more serious light; he has what he calls borderline personality disorder (though now [or here?] we might call it bi-polar disorder, and it has some scary dimensions. And he's a lot for Chris to handle. She needs help and that's where it kind of ends, though Chris has been touched by Dan, and she is reading social work books, he's changed her. Will we see Dan again? It's not clear. But we have been to a sweet place with them, and they have been friends for awhile. No dramatic resolution, which I am fine with. I would be happy to work in this place with these nice, flawed people that make up a small world together.

PS: I just got the 2018 Follow Me In by Chapman and it features two friends that look suspiciously like Chris and Dan, on a trip to Mexico, where the guy is drunk and problematic. That project, in color, is more ambitious, does a lot more visually, as it is a travel narrative as opposed to Breakwater, which is a kind of small closed set story. Both deal with mental health/addiction issues.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forty-year-old Chris Williams is living a small, comfortable, drama-free life, working an unchallenging usher job at a three-screen movie theater in Brighton, England. Her new, easy-going co-worker seems to fit right into her groove, but as she brings him more deeply into her life he begins to upend her tidy little apple cart.

Very, very low-key domestic drama unfolds in a slow but satisfying manner.

Trigger warnings: suicide attempts, mental health issues, borderline personality disorder

[Becca]

cw: abuse, addiction, suicide

Not giving this a rating. The ending really didn’t sit well with me. I’d be interested to know what a mental health professional would say, but for me I didn’t think Chris made the right call by taking Dan to his parents after he explicitly said that wasn’t healthy for him. I know she was literally scared for his life and didn’t know what else to do, but ... I don’t know. I wish they’d shown her consulting a mental health professional or something.

[Marielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean, I don't hate it, but I also don't like it.
A person becomes friends with a person who struggles, and then dumps them because of their struggle. Is it a journal entry? Is it a cautionary tale to not be friends with people that struggle? I don't know. But I know this - this was not for me. Sure there were scenes that were nice, but the overall moral that I felt it presented was..unlikeable.

[Kaethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how I feel about this. Well, the setting was fabulous. But otherwise, I think I need some time to let it sink in before I start throwing stars around.

Library copy

[Rachel Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful look at friendship and love, and it’s limits. Found me at the right time.

[Skye Kilaen]

Perfect example of a book that needed cotnent warnings because the blurb obscures the very serious subject matter, So, CWs: domestic violence, suicide attempt, threat of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization, and a gay character estranged from family for unkown reasons is tricked into reuniting with them during a mental health crisis by a non-queer character.

[sheribubble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not what I expected but I did very much enjoy this, was both comforting and heartbreaking at the same time.

[Jaclyn Hillis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Williams lives a simple life, and is content working as an usher at the local three-screen movie theater. Dan is the new guy, and they hit it off right away. Chris starts opening up and going out more, and Dan even encourages her to continue her schooling to become a social worker. Then she slowly starts realizing that Dan is not okay.

First of all, I loved that this story was about a friendship and not a relationship. And it was way deeper than I anticipated. It was a great look at how mental illness also affects the ones around you. And sometimes there is only so much you can do to help. I know some people may not agree with the decisions Chris made, but I feel like I would’ve done the same thing in her situation.

I loved the movie theater setting, and the charcoal, monochrome illustrations. The art really suits the mood of the story.

Also, it's never too late to go back to school or focus on a new career path!

CW: suicide attempts, substance use, domestic violence, mental illness, borderline personality disorder

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

The thing graphic novels are so good at is portraying emotions. This one is all about the emotions involved in a new and complicated friendship. The gray-scale pictures are beautiful to look at and ponder. The friendship felt very real, both liberating and painful.

Content notes: Intimate partner violence (we see the after-effects); addiction; suicide attempt;
"Sectioning" which is putting someone in a mental health facility against their will.

[Elena Varg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story left me feeling conflicted... I love stories in which the friendships are the main focus, but I really don’t know if I liked the ending or not.

[Saturday's Child · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed the illustrations but not the story.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a seaside town, in the south of England, Chris, a thirty-something loner, works at an art deco theater. She started here part-time and never left this low-level job. Her quiet, mundane life is interrupted by the arrival of a new employee Dan, a gay, troubled outsider and they spark up an instant friendship. He will change her life. I loved Chapman's latest GN, Follow Me in and wanted to try her earlier book. I was not disappointed.

[augustreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 / 5 ⭐️

A (mostly) sweet slice-of-life graphic novel. Enjoyed the art style a lot, but I’m not really sure what I feel about the ending. Dan definitely needed help, and Chris could not take care of him herself, but I don’t think calling his parents was the right move after what he had told her about his relationship with them.

Trigger warnings: suicide attempt, bad mental health, alcohol abuse. Includes a main character with borderline personality disorder

[Annie L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beaux croquis. Belle histoire d'amitié et de santé mentale.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a decent read about friendships and how mental health issues can affect them. It also demonstrates setting boundaries and standing up for yourself. I think this is worth the read.

[Cat Hulme]

I have no idea how to rate this.

I went so quiet after finishing and chewing over the question about whether it gives a damaging message on 'helping' those with borderline personality disorder at the end or whether it is just the representation of the actions of a character and I'm overthinking things.
Either way it's heartbreaking.

Are we supposed to think that she did the right thing?


My opinion of the book hinges on that question, and on how other people are likely to perceive it.



I would have given it at least 4 stars until we reached the ending.
The characters had subtleties and I loved them.
I have nothing against cosy books turning dark.
I have nothing against awful things happening to characters I like.

My issue is : does this book tell people to turn friends in crisis over to family members who they have identified as "toxic", is it okay to abuse somebody's trust in doing so?
Is the story telling us that she did the right thing in blocking his number ? He already told her that he doesn't have many people he is close to, he has recently been the victim of partner violence and overdosed (!!) And now his closest friend blocks his number as soon as she's left him with his family.

Are the scenes where she's looking up his mental health condition online meant to show the reader that she is doing the most appropriate thing which her research suggests?

I do get that she was in a very tough situation and know there isn't an exact right or wrong response to being in her situation.

The book ends there (I guess it's more powerful that way?) Which makes me think that that's it, she's moved on, chapter over.

[juliette]

subtle, yet impactful. to the people saying they don't like the ending and that it didn't sit right with them, that's the point. mental illness is complicated and every person and situation and relationship is different. chris did the absolute best that she could, but knew that she couldn't single-handedly provide a long-term sustainable solution without giving up her entire life. and that wouldn't be fair. it's not her fault and it's not dan's either. she cares about him deeply and that's why she ultimately made the choice she did. as for why she blocked him, there could be so many reasons and they're all understandable and none of them make her a bad person or a bad friend. she was quite literally the perfect friend to dan, going above and beyond to take care of him. stories are complicated and morally ambiguous, chris acted as a real person might. she didn't "dump" him when he got "too difficult" to deal with, she saved his life and then realized that there was no way she could help him forever on her own and took him to the people who know his entire health history who also have the resources to help him as long as he needs.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meancholic story about friendship, decay, and disguises...love the black and white drawings...they capture the mixed emotions and difficult decisions in the graphic novel...Chapman's beautifully grey palette is perfectly suited to the text - especially highlighted by her use of shading - particularly where light filters though windows or over the ocean.

[gio · Rating 2 out of 5]

not sure what to say. the end was a little .. hm. raises a lot of questions for me abt the authors thoughts on these subjects. the book wasn't bad, but im not sure what point they were trying to get across.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet, heartfelt picture of a friendship with lovely illustrations.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something didn't quite sit right with this one.

[Mjhancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris works at a local movie theatre and generally lives a pretty solitary life. When Dan starts working there, he pushes her to open up and take a bigger place in her life. The two grow closer, and she attempts to take care of him when his own issues rear up.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It reminded me of the kind of slow-paced, quiet desperation stories that the early 2000s independent comic scene was full of--things by Seth and Brown and Clowe and such. (Or maybe the early 2000s is just when I became aware of them.) The big difference between those books and this one is that this actually feels quiet, as if Chris is existing without it being angst or despair, which honestly makes it more meaningful when she breaks out into something new. Chapman's face expressions and scene establishing shots are beautiful, and some of the cuts feel so ripe with their possibilities of what could have happened. There are maybe some creative licenses taken regarding the size and scale of this semi-derelict theatre, but it's haunting and beautiful, so who cares?

A lot of the more negative reviews online are particularly critical of the ending, and I can understand that. There's no internal dialogue in the story, so we're left guessing why Chris made the choice that she did. For my money, it's not like she didn't try to support Dan's way first, and he proved himself to be a fairly unreliable narrator of his own life events on a few occasions. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a selfish choice on her part. It's a messy ending, and I appreciate it for that.

In general, it left me wanting to check out more Chapman.

[Keegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book in a moment of insomnia. I thought the slow, melancholy story and muted art might help me unwind so I could sleep.

That was a mistake.

This was a surprisingly compelling story about mental health and the difficult choices we have to make for the ones we care about. Do we abide by a person’s wishes even if that person is incapable of making good choices? How long can you watch a person hurt themselves even if the alternatives might hurt as well? Should we cut a toxic person from our lives even if that person helped us grow and develop as a person? There are so many questions at the core of this story, and none of them have clear or obvious solutions. While it certainly wasn’t action packed or a story full of plot twists, the characters were deeply relatable and very human.

It also helps that I went to school to study comics in a very similar seaside village in Wales, and the art made me achingly nostalgic for my time at Aberystwyth. Even all the grays and blurred textures were reminiscent of the often-overcast, gloomy days that were possible on the coast.

This was honestly one of the more surprising comics I’ve read recently. I wasn’t very familiar with Avery Hill as a comics publisher, but the sample of this they posted on Twitter caught my eye, and I am glad it did. I’ll likely start buying from them more freely now. If even half their books are as good as Breakwater, I will surely not be disappointed.

[Nathalie Vanhauwaert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bienvenue au "Breakwater", un cinéma de quartier de Brighton. Un cinéma à l'ancienne dont une partie est désaffectée. C'était d'antan la plus grande salle à l'extérieur de Londres, somptueuse, un amphithéâtre aujourd'hui refuge des pigeons, une autre salle style art déco, malheureusement désaffectée depuis les années 90. Aujourd'hui, il reste 3 salles, quelques habitués. Toujours en activité de manière indépendante, gérée par Ted, un vieil alcoolique.

Le personnel qui y travaille est un peu comme une petite famille, il y a Rose à la billetterie, Ben, Craight un jeune de 16 ans et Chris, 40 ans diplômée en sociologie mais qui a arrêté ses études et bosse comme ouvreuse.

Un nouveau collègue débarque, Dan. Il est sympa, il n'a rien en commun avec Chris. Chacun a un parcours complexe, Dan fuit un peu sa réalité. Chris est repliée sur elle-même, très casanière, et pourtant une amitié va naître de façon naturelle et leur vie va basculer.

Un très beau roman graphique au dessin très expressif, tout en noir et blanc. Les personnages sont attachants, sensibles. Second roman graphique pour Katriona Chapman, le premier publié en français et considéré comme la révélation britannique et l'un des dix meilleurs romans graphiques de l'année par The New York Times.

J'ai adoré.

Ma note : 9.5/10

[khaz. · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know what? It was really good. And I say that because I saw some two/one stars comments that were like "you befriend someone mentaly-ill and then you dump them? rude" and no.
Breakwater is a good story about well, friendship mostly - and it is a good frienship also yes for the main character, Chris, being a 40-something who actually likes her solitude, I needed that woman in my life -, but also mental disorders and a very important message:

friendship and kindness alone cannot cure it.

Dan, our second main character, is bordeline. Chris do her best to help him, in so many ways. Until she is exhausted, scared for his life and starting to putt her own life on the side for him, when clearly he is not getting better. She is just one person. She cannot take the full responsability of Dan's health and life onto her.

So for me it was a good story, about people who cares but also the limits of what we can do. Not mentionning that the setting is so good, with the black and white art style.

[Jessica Rosner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quiet and introspective graphic novel about the choice to be a solitary person when our world pushes communal activity.
Chris has an easy job at a movie theater. She is very intelligent and compassionate but has lost any urgency to ‘get ahead’, be part of a couple, to go out with friends. Her contentedness is jarred by a new hire at the theater named Dan. He helps her to be less acquiescent in dealing with rude customers and reignites her long abandoned desire to study social work.
He also encourages her to go out, to dress up a bit. But Dan ends up needing her help in a way that brings her into the deep end of a pool she is not sure she can handle.
The drawing is beautifully moody and the story is deep without being murky.

[Preston Stell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful black and white illustrations and so much emotion in the drawings. I love a “normal” friendship story and this was beautifully expressed. The development of the characters’ friendships were interesting and touching. It’s wonderful to see how friends help each other in their most insecure times and this story illustrates this exceptionally. A perfect book post-COVID lockdown, seeing how isolation can come so close to self-care alone time…at least that’s the way it’s been for me. I was able to connect to the main character so well. She disappointed me, in the end, but only because she displayed characteristics like I have so often. It was easy to love all the characters and empathize with them. This was a splendid read. Thank you for writing and illustrating this.

[Ancolie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une belle BD sur les amitiés que l'on noue au travail, les rencontres que l'on y fait, mais aussi sur les troubles mentaux et la difficulté d'y faire face, pour ceux qui en souffrent et ceux qui accompagnent ces personnes en souffrance. Le portrait juste et sensible du BPD rappelle à quel point ceux qui en souffrent sont vulnérables (et cela vaut pour de nombreux autres troubles psychologiques) et finissent victimes de prédateurs.
L'incroyable amitié qui naît entre Chris et Dan est marquée par une trajectoire du déchirement : l'un s'élève, renoue avec ses anciens rêves ; l'autre tombe en proie à ses démons, sombre dans l'abime.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an understated, special story. The art is lovely and absolutely matches the content and tone of the book, the dialogue is spot-on in terms of reflecting how people actually speak, and the content is relevant and meaningful. I was touched by the compassion Chris showed others (and eventually herself) throughout the story and by the difficult yet important boundaries she put in place when needed. I picked this up from the library on a complete whim and I am so thankful I did. It is a book that would lead to great discussion because it features very loveable, charming characters making tough decisions and acting imperfectly.