Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood

76 reviews

snapeygan's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

WOW. That graphic novel was simply great. I loved all of it. I won’t say it was relatable cause I think the author heard that enough, but it helped me put words on feelings I have since forever. Thank you for your art, thank you for being you.

That graphic novel is about being human, simply. I recommend it to everyone. It has great illustrations, it’s funny, inspiring, it makes us think about life, it’s short and yet I would have took more.

I will definitely be reading everything she ever did and everything she ever will make.

Content Warnings

reedmorebooks's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

The art is very good, highly stylized, and gets across the feelings trying to be conveyed very well. The narrative is a bit of a mess. As self reflective auto-bio pieces on mental health go, it takes a lot to even do, much less to really open up about the less than flattering parts of ourselves. However, it's a very delicate tight rope to walk between self reflection, and wallowing, between constructive analysis and trauma dumping, and it's particularly difficult not to come off like a pretentious art snob who wants everyone else to know how much you suffer so.

Sadly, for all it's artistic merit, It's Lonely seems too often to be an echo chamber of misery the author allowed herself to wallow in, unchecked, all while reassuring us of what a great artist she is. While the latter is true, pretention isn't a virtue, and putting a hat on it, drawing attention to it and making a joke about it, doesn't change that, and it loses the element that makes it easy to connect with the author more often than it should.

It COULD in some ways be a modern No Longer Human (one hopes with a different outcome of course), what with the very personal exploration of depression, it just becomes swallowed by the author's intense focus on herself pulling back only for a brief clarity about those around her.

*ARC provided by NetGalley & Image Comics*

Content Warnings

booksanna's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

5.0

Very trippy and well-written. This helped me understand how it feels to be in a poor mental state. I hope I can connect and understand people’s struggles with this new perspective. The art in the book is chaotic, emotional and bone-chilling. Truly a roller coaster ride that I would go onto again.

Content Warnings

mabellene's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Within the first two pages, I was hooked. This is such a dark, emotional, real graphic novel. This definitely isn’t a feel good read, but I loved that about it. It dark times, I don’t want to read something where everything magically works out and everything gets better at the end. I want something heavy and gritty, and that’s exactly what this book gives you. The potato scene in particular was so painfully relatable.

I’m not sure enjoyed is the right word to use, but I am really glad to have read this and that it exists.

Content Warnings

zozo624's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

I really like this artist work. Having multiple versions of Zoe in the situations she’s in. Sometimes our young version start speaking when we don’t mean for them to

Content Warnings

illtakethenightshiftx's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I wasn't sure what I was expecting from this graphic novel, and I'm left feeling a bit empty, but fulfilled. I liked the mixed media elements and illustration style in the novel and the asides enriched the story as it progressed. I related to some of what Thorogood discussed about loneliness and it felt comforting to know that I wasn't alone. This graphic novel is heavy (very heavy), but there are glimmers of hope and small pockets of joy sprinkled throughout. Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel and I'm definitely interested in reading more from this author!

(I had some issues reading this on the NetGalley Shelf app, so if you're a NG reader who wants to request this, be warned it might be difficult to access.)

Content Warnings

garvsy's review

Go to review page

dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

plainjanereads's review

Go to review page

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

rosie_valadez's review against another edition

Go to review page

Content Warnings

nettles's review

Go to review page

dark funny

4.5

A really unique memoir but not one I can safely recommend to my friends.

I'm interested in how different art styles depict different ways the author sees the world with time. Conversations with her younger selves, search for meaning as an artist. A lot was explored and it was funny but SO dark

Content Warnings

More...