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,Fun Home, Are You My Mother
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 placeand sense of self. Spanning a single year,Everything is Flammable unfolds with humor and brutal honesty. Bell's sharp, digressive style is inimitable.
Gabrielle Bell's work has been selected forBest American Comics and theYale Anthology of Graphic Fiction, and has been featured inMcSweeney's, the Believer, Bookforum, andVice among numerous other publications. Her story, 'Cecil and Jordan In New York,' was adapted into film by Michel Gondry. Bell's previous graphic novel,The Voyeurs, was named one of the best books of the year byPublishers Weekly,Kirkus Reviews, andthe Atlantic. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.