"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
place and 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 for Best American Comics and
the Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction, and has been featured in
McSweeney's, the Believer, Bookforum, and Vice 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 by Publishers
Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and the Atlantic. She currently lives in
Brooklyn, NY.