Never Ending Summer [Paperback]

Allison Cole (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2004

A graphic novel that pays attention to the strange details that make up everyday life, this story is an autobiographical account that follows a group of friends through a summer filled with uncertainty and confusion. Relationships break down between boyfriends, friends, and family, throughout which the author must discover how to maintain a sense of balance. Parties, excessive drinking, and financial instability add to the commotion. Drawn in a beautiful minimal style with delicate 2-color interior, Never Ending Summer reflects upon the immediacy of the present and the potential of events to come.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cole's challenge: a comic book where the many characters of a large cast are almost indistinguishable from each other, and a plot that centers around a summer in dullsville. With her great ear and eye for telling details of ennui, Cole succeeds too well. Readers will finish this book feeling relieved at having escaped from the claustrophobia of Cole's universe. The artwork is as spare as the plot; every character appears to be wearing the same radiation suit, mittens and hood (the guide to the cast on the inside front cover is indispensable). We follow Allison as she drifts through her summer, spending her days working at the comic book shop and nights at a random house or bar. In the strongest plot line, her boyfriend, Asher, leaves town and then reveals he's decided not to return for the rest of the summer. Cole ably captures the misery of scattered late-night phone calls and occasional e-mails, as well as the sympathy of Allison's equally aimless and confused friends. The lack of passion, verve and indeed any sense of urgency in their lives is oppressively present in every page.
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From Booklist

Cole's characters are lozenges with legs and shields for faces; the boys are the taller ones with sketchy whiskers. Cole tells the everyday story of Allison during a season of cascading disappointments. She wakes with a huge sore on her lip, so her boyfriend, Asher, doesn't kiss her before he goes away for two weeks. Later, he calls to tell her his two weeks are changing into the whole summer in Australia. When he finally calls from Down Under, he fesses up that he's reconsidering his former girlfriend. Meanwhile, the comics shop where Allison works closes, a guy she starts getting interested in becomes evasive, and some of her girlfriends are breaking up with their men. At least, she finally cuts the cord to Asher, and the mix tape she was making for him opens a dance-club DJ gig for her. Cole's minimalist drawing and subdued coloring paradoxically point up the strong emotions that regularly swirl to the surface of her absorbing, realistic narrative. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Alternative Comics (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891867660
• ISBN-13: 978-1891867668
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,328,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)