Black Hole by Charles Burns Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Black Hole
Book Review: Adolescence as purgatory
Summary: 4 Stars
Having lived in Seattle for six years while I was in college, the haunts that the characters inhabit seem especially vivid to me. The author absolutely nails the feeling of the region which gives me goosebumps upon reading. The reader can feel the setting getting in to their bones, inhabiting their moods. It is not a stretch to imagine the outsiders (myself included at the time) who hung out at Ravenna park to be infected with some sort of disease. One of the beauties of this story is how the author expands on the troubles of adolescence. The alienation is cast more clearly when it is found out that many of the teenagers have diseases that turn their bodies in to disgusting writhing masses. Youthful sexual encounters are tainted when naked bodies expose the ugliness within. While not much more than a collection of scenes, this book captures the feeling of youth as well as any other author. Adolescence is a time when people feel awkward about who they are. Not yet intelligent enough or self-aware to be confident in who they are, they float in some sort of netherworld between a childish innocence and a purpose-driven adulthood. Some teenagers, often the popular ones, through ignorance innocently pretend to have their act together, to know what is going on. But they too can catch the disease of social awkwardness and self-doubt as the characters in the book catch a much more horrid disease. The outcasts who are infected with this awkward disease yearn to be normal. They construct collages of normal bodies in hopes of understanding their sexuality. The normal kids come upon these collages and are horrified for the window in to self-doubt that is opening to them. This is the feeling of adolescence. No other book I've read does as good a job of capturing this fascinating period.Book Review: Amazing, Transformative
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first graphic novel I have read. Charles Burns uses this medium to it's utmost. The story is extremely compelling and as you go through the book you feel imersed in the atmosphere of the characters.
The art work is outstanding. At many times in the book I just stared at some of the panels just admiring the fluidity and craft of the illustration.
I think the greatest compliment for a book is when the reader feels transformed and different after having finished it. This is exactly how I feel. I look at life just a little bit different after having read this book.
Book Review: Awesome GRAPHIC novel.
Summary: 5 Stars
Since Amazon and fellow reviewers have done a great job at describing the story and art, I don't even feel my review is necessary but I HAD to add my stars and few brief words. The art is exceptional, fantastic use of negative space. The concept almost reminds me of Uzumaki, how an entire community is taken in by the 'holes', and the nothingness swallows them all.
I see the black hole as a metaphor for adolescent loneliness... All the characters have the typical teenage emptiness and insecurities (save for the tailed girl, Liz) and that is what they spread and what ultimately swallows them. I think a huge symptom of deep insecurity is teenage sex. The "sick kids" are all misfits, even Chris is in her own right.
I loved the ending with angsty shoot out.
Book Review: Been here before...
Summary: 5 Stars
Capturing the moment when you've taken enough pulls on the joint/pipe/bong and are left to yourself or a quiet person who's also there. Been sober for a long time, but contact high from the images in this comic. Explores the dark places accessible when something takes you out of normal reality- those deformities, unbearable grotesquenesses that come with being human, exposed and with nowhere to hide. Because they are visible to you. The beauty, too. Spellbinding, genius work that tell the truth, or at least a truth. Will stay with you.Book Review: Black Hole
Summary: 5 Stars
The Book Black Hole is the most intriguing graphic novel I have ever read. The moment i picked the book up and started reading it I could not put it down. It is a bazar book that still covers real life problems that people go through daily. This book covers the topics of sex, drugs and how it effects people. Also Black Hole has many different situations were it has per-pressure on doing all different types of bad things, shows what kinds of misses they get into. I would recommend this book to a person that is matcher enough to handle seeing sex and drugs in action. Black Hole would probably be a great book for a teenager between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. The book would really grab these folks because of the ages in the book and how it grabs it's audience. If a person is looking for a graphic novel that will really grab their attention, then Black Hole is for them.