Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An incredible book, wow!, May 7, 2008
I have had the pleasure of knowing the author for a number of years and I had thought that I knew her pretty well, but I was wrong. "The Heartbreak Diet" is a very brave book that also tells me a lot more about the author and her life. Everyone is always convinced that their story is unique, and way too many of us live through torment alone. People with the courage to express themselves honestly end up helping the rest of us by showing us that we are not alone in our emotional challenges. Most everyone has gone through a breakup, but everyone would likely sugar coat the problems that existed instead of sharing how really horrible things had went. Thorina Rose bares her soul, warts and all. What leads up to the divorce is harrowing, with her ex-husband coming off as self centered and self serving. Could such a cruel person really exist? Ms. Rose and I live in the same neighborhood and I have met the ex-husband as well, and while I do not know him as well as the author I have never had a high opinion of him. All of this adds depth to "The Heartbreak Diet" for me, but I am sure that people who do not know the two people involved will also be moved by the strength of the work.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
An authentic expression of the heart, July 29, 2009
Here is a ground-breaking new work, bridging a long-held divide between existing graphic novel genres and literature. It's neither trashy teenage pulp (Fruit Basket), nor indulgent neurosis-driven rambling (Peep Show), nor numbing suburban cynicism (Ghost World).
Instead, the Heartbreak Diet is a compelling, beautifully drawn, intelligently written, and sensitively developed memoir. It's a work in which you feel the author has transformed herself though the writing of it. Above all, there is an underlying sweetness, courage, and humor that shine through the main character, making it an authentic expression of the heart. For me, that is paramount.
Ghost World: the Special Edition
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Blankets
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The Heartbreak Diet: "Better than Therapy", April 17, 2009
What author Thorina Rose calls an "illustrated memoir" may indeed set a new genre. In the most powerful and moving way using a mix of illustrations, short descriptive text, and dialogues kept to the minimum quintessential , we read and live in pictures her story, a "story of family, fidelity and starting over."
The jacket design tells it all. Inner front page: Thorina pictures herself walking alone, upstream, under the rain, in a dark forest. Front cover: reminiscent of the familiar Morton salt girl (when it rains, it pours) Thorina holding an umbrella in one hand, extends the other one out, and yes it still rains, yet there is a silver lining. Back cover: the storm has passed, the sun shines and an umbrella, abandoned, lies upside down.
For anyone who has lived, directly or indirectly, the unfortunately common trajectory of marriage, family, infidelity, separation , and rebuilding, this intimately told story will resonate with all the palette of emotions: with the dismay, doubts, pain, revenge, fights, hope and the strenous seeking of inner peace and empowerment.
With the help of time, when all dust is settled, humour and comic arise from the inner tragedy of this almost universal story. The Heartbreaking Diet is better than therapy!
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