Everything is Flammable

<p>"Bell's pen becomes a kind of laser, first illuminating the surface distractions of the world, then scorching them away to reveal a deeper reality that is almost too painful and too beautiful to bear.-- Alison Bechdel, <i>Fun Home, Are You My Mother</i></p><p>In Gabrielle Bell's much anticipated graphic memoir, she returns from New York to her childhood town in rural Northern California after her mother's home is destroyed by a fire. Acknowledging her issues with anxiety, financial hardships, memories of a semi-feral childhood, and a tenuous relationship with her mother, Bell helps her mother put together a new home on top of the ashes. A powerful, sometimes uncomfortable, examination of a mother-daughter relationship and one's connection to place and sense of self. Spanning a single year, <i>Everything is Flammable</i> unfolds with humor and brutal honesty. Bell's sharp, digressive style is inimitable.</p><p>Gabrielle Bell's work has been selected for <i>Best American Comics</i> and the <i>Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction</i>, and has been featured in <i>McSweeney's, the Believer, Bookforum</i>, and <i>Vice</i> among numerous other publications. Her story, "Cecil and Jordan In New York," was adapted into film by Michel Gondry. Bell's previous graphic novel, <i>The Voyeurs</i>, was named one of the best books of the year by <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, <i>Kirkus Reviews</i>, and <i>the Atlantic</i>. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.</p><br>