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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
Oof. Tom Hart writes and illustrates coping with the sudden and untimely death of his baby daughter. It’s amazing how he writes about the days, weeks, and months that follow in a way that’s…somehow timeless. As in - as a reader, there are times when you really can’t tell how much time has passed - much how time likely passes when you are grieving.
It’s a brutal read just because it’s such a raw and true capturing of how a family keeps going.
It’s a brutal read just because it’s such a raw and true capturing of how a family keeps going.
This book was probably the saddest book I've ever read. It also made me cry the hardest. Tom Hart beautifully chronicles the hellish turn his wife and his lives took when one morning their young daughter Rosalie suddenly and unexpectedly died. This was a haunting, beautiful, and completely devastating read. One moment that especially stood out to me is when Tom and his wife, Leela, go to a grief counselor where Tom says he wishes he could smash mountains in his rage at the loss of Rosalie- after the counselor encourages him to take up something physical to work through that rage, like chopping wood, Tom explains that his drawings are his way to work through his grief. Rosalie Lightning is a result of Tom's mountain smashing, and he left us with a stunning tribute to his daughter's short life and a meditation on the answer to the question no one ever wants to be faced with: What do you do when your child dies?
This book really feels like grief embodied, and it was really touching and brutal. I think at times I was a little disconnected to some of the other pieces of literature/culture Hart was pulling in (mostly because I didn’t have familiarity with a lot of it, though it wasn’t inaccessible to me, he definitely gives enough context for it to have something to grasp) but it definitely still hit. The obsession with Rosalie, the way the book will just snap back to her in a moment’s notice, is really strong. Reads a little bit more on the “poetic” side, in terms of how the book moves, which I appreciate but might jar some more narrative-centered readers.
Heartbreaking remembrance of a sweet little girl who died suddenly around 2years old. This is dad's review of what happened.
This memoir of suddenly losing a kid is hard to rate. It doesn’t feel good to give it stars or not stars because it’s hard to escape the idea that the experience and the expression are intertwined.
So I’ll just talk about it a little.
The book wasn’t the best read. It’s a little disjointed and feels a little like a list of things the characters did.
Which completely makes sense and is a good expression of what’s so weird and hard and sad about something like this. When you go through something awful, you notice how weird it is that you do stuff like laundry, and how weird it is that you still have to do laundry even though you’re going through this thing.
It feels like the relentlessness of life should stop at least for a little bit, but it doesn’t.
So this book feels like an honest and accurate depiction of that, how chaotic and weird it is to grieve and still be a person who lives in real life.
And in that way, it’s a success.
But I think for me, the reading of it was probably not the equal of the creation of it. I think the reader experience is that of someone watching this guy go through some shit, and you’re sort of repulsed and scared by how deep the grief goes and by how helpless you are to do anything.
What it ends up feeling like, as a reader, is you’re with this guy who’s in the thick of some heavy shit. And he’s helping you shovel snow in your driveway, and while you’re present for him, you’re also noticing that his shoveling ain’t so hot in this moment. Of course you’re not going to say anything, but if you look at it objectively, just as shoveling, you’re not thrilled with the job.
So I’ll just talk about it a little.
The book wasn’t the best read. It’s a little disjointed and feels a little like a list of things the characters did.
Which completely makes sense and is a good expression of what’s so weird and hard and sad about something like this. When you go through something awful, you notice how weird it is that you do stuff like laundry, and how weird it is that you still have to do laundry even though you’re going through this thing.
It feels like the relentlessness of life should stop at least for a little bit, but it doesn’t.
So this book feels like an honest and accurate depiction of that, how chaotic and weird it is to grieve and still be a person who lives in real life.
And in that way, it’s a success.
But I think for me, the reading of it was probably not the equal of the creation of it. I think the reader experience is that of someone watching this guy go through some shit, and you’re sort of repulsed and scared by how deep the grief goes and by how helpless you are to do anything.
What it ends up feeling like, as a reader, is you’re with this guy who’s in the thick of some heavy shit. And he’s helping you shovel snow in your driveway, and while you’re present for him, you’re also noticing that his shoveling ain’t so hot in this moment. Of course you’re not going to say anything, but if you look at it objectively, just as shoveling, you’re not thrilled with the job.
Rosalie est une petite fille comme les autres. Rosalie a presque deux ans, elle aime Totoro et Ponyo sur la falaise, la peinture à l'eau, la lune et faire du vélo assise sur le siège arrière de son papa. Rosalie rigole souvent, prononce approximativement la plupart des mots et ramasse des glands par terre. Et puis un jour de novembre, Rosalie meurt. Subitement, dans son sommeil. Un peu avant ses deux ans.
"Comment vit-on quand on perd un enfant ?" se demande Tom Hart à travers ce livre. Car Rosalie, c'était sa fille, sa "puce", son "lapin" comme il l'appelait tout le temps. Rosalie Lightning est un très beau récit autobiographique écrit et dessiné par un papa - à juste titre - effondré et perdu. Avec sa femme, ils décident de partir un temps loin de la maison où Rosalie les attend à chaque recoin. Ils font des rencontres, se posent chez des amis, errent sans but réel, ramassent des glands, dessinent, écrivent, pleurent beaucoup, se reposent peu. Ils cherchent des réponses, sondent les vies de connaissances elles aussi endeuillées par la perte d'un enfant pour tenter de comprendre : comment faire son deuil ? Quand vient l'acceptation ? Arrive-elle seulement un jour ?
Rosalie Lightning est un livre qui prend aux tripes et qui ne laisse pas indifférent. Impossible de ne pas compatir, et difficile de ne pas lâcher de larmes face à la tristesse de ces parents pour qui plus rien n'a d'importance. C'est un livre dur, un vrai crève-coeur, une lecture à escalader pour arriver au bout. C'est une petite tornade émotionnelle qui donne envie de crier face à l'injustice de la situation, et que je vous recommande fortement, parce que c'est touchant et surtout parce que c'est terriblement humain.
"Comment vit-on quand on perd un enfant ?" se demande Tom Hart à travers ce livre. Car Rosalie, c'était sa fille, sa "puce", son "lapin" comme il l'appelait tout le temps. Rosalie Lightning est un très beau récit autobiographique écrit et dessiné par un papa - à juste titre - effondré et perdu. Avec sa femme, ils décident de partir un temps loin de la maison où Rosalie les attend à chaque recoin. Ils font des rencontres, se posent chez des amis, errent sans but réel, ramassent des glands, dessinent, écrivent, pleurent beaucoup, se reposent peu. Ils cherchent des réponses, sondent les vies de connaissances elles aussi endeuillées par la perte d'un enfant pour tenter de comprendre : comment faire son deuil ? Quand vient l'acceptation ? Arrive-elle seulement un jour ?
Rosalie Lightning est un livre qui prend aux tripes et qui ne laisse pas indifférent. Impossible de ne pas compatir, et difficile de ne pas lâcher de larmes face à la tristesse de ces parents pour qui plus rien n'a d'importance. C'est un livre dur, un vrai crève-coeur, une lecture à escalader pour arriver au bout. C'est une petite tornade émotionnelle qui donne envie de crier face à l'injustice de la situation, et que je vous recommande fortement, parce que c'est touchant et surtout parce que c'est terriblement humain.
Reading 2023
Book 217: Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir by Tom Hart
A graphic memoir selection for #nonfictionnovember.
Synopsis: Rosalie Lightning is Eisner-nominated cartoonist Tom Hart's #1 New York Times bestselling touching and beautiful graphic memoir about the untimely death of his young daughter, Rosalie. His heart-breaking and emotional illustrations strike readers to the core, and take them along his family's journey through loss. Hart uses the graphic form to articulate his and his wife's on-going search for meaning in the aftermath of Rosalie's death, exploring themes of grief, hopelessness, rebirth, and eventually finding hope again. A Goodreads nominee for best graphic novel 2016.
Review: Well, this was a hard read. Losing a child has to be on the top of the list of most awful things that can happen to a family. This book is done so well, the raw pain and road to living again is on display for the readers. My rating 4⭐️.
Book 217: Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir by Tom Hart
A graphic memoir selection for #nonfictionnovember.
Synopsis: Rosalie Lightning is Eisner-nominated cartoonist Tom Hart's #1 New York Times bestselling touching and beautiful graphic memoir about the untimely death of his young daughter, Rosalie. His heart-breaking and emotional illustrations strike readers to the core, and take them along his family's journey through loss. Hart uses the graphic form to articulate his and his wife's on-going search for meaning in the aftermath of Rosalie's death, exploring themes of grief, hopelessness, rebirth, and eventually finding hope again. A Goodreads nominee for best graphic novel 2016.
Review: Well, this was a hard read. Losing a child has to be on the top of the list of most awful things that can happen to a family. This book is done so well, the raw pain and road to living again is on display for the readers. My rating 4⭐️.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced