Customer Reviews

Sloth

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Surrounded by rumours and legends of murder, suicide and beyond-the-grave visitors, the characters in Sloth are haunted more by dreams than the "boring" world around them. Miguel, the protagonist of the first portion of the book, has awoken from a year-long coma (suspected by professionals, sans precedent, to have been self-induced). Upon returning to the conscious world, Miguel sees his girlfriend Lita transfixed by the unseen oddities within the lemon orchard just outside of town. Still very much in love with her, Miguel finds himself veritably tormented by her association with his best friend, Romeo.

However, all is not as it seems - for just when the story begins to formulate itself, a very unusual twist skewers the reality as it had been presented up to this point. This is no mere hackneyed plot device, though. Upon delving further into the tale, one witnesses just how fragile a human existance is, how tenuous the day-to-day relationships and concepts accepted as "truths," as layer upon layer folds inwards, making linear assumptions and concepts all but invalid!

With primary themes such as guilt, paranoia, and abandonment mixed with passion, fascination and ambition, Sloth presents a captivating story which doesn't evaporate with the final panel on the final page. Instead, it gently tempts the reader to cogitate upon what has just unfolded. While Mr. Hernandez touches upon a variety of conditions, the book doesn't linger on any of them.

This book is reminiscent of many other pop-culture phenomenon such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (including its humourous moments), with shades of Mulholland Drive, but is essentially Mr. Hernandez' very unique take thereupon. A short tome, this book makes for excellent re-readability... and in fact, proves to become even stronger with each subsequent reading.

Somewhat of a spoiler ahead--but nothing more than you'd find out reading the book description:


I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The story seemed really interesting. There were a couple mysteries I was looking forward to unveiling as the book progressed. However, as mentioned in the book description, halfway through the book the author switches the roles of all the characters. All the mysteries and story lines are ended abruptly to experience essentially the same storyline from the vantage point of other characters. Although I finished the comic (it's short) I felt like I wasted my time. I guess I have a problem with unrelieved suspense!

Just thinking about Sloth makes me feel happy. From it's plot outline and the other reviews I'm sure that you think this book is a downer. It is not. It is written so passively that I was almost hugging myself while reading it. To spoil anything from any part of this book would be to spoil the end of Hamlet.
However, if I had to choose one thing that I don't like about Sloth, it would be that it appeals to a very small group of people. It is very strange, not very accessible, and it didn't win any Eisner awards. Along with that, not many people (even graphic novel fans) have not even heard of it.
So to make a long story short, read it. I promise you that you will not regret it.

I really enjoyed Sloth. I like Gilbert Hernandez's side projects better than Love and Rockets, which I don't read, and this one is another good entry into that list. If you enjoyed his "Fear of Comics" you'll probably like this. Also good for those who like Charles Burns.

I wanted to will myself into a coma too after reading this.

I'm not a fan of "Love and Rockets", and I'm not a fan of their drawing styles. The characters were uninteresting and the story was slow and pointless for me. There was one good line in there about musicians and love (which I've forgotten now). Someone compared this to a David Lynch film, who I also dislike. It's surreal, purposefully confusing, and with a vague aim.

Ugh. I'm glad I got this for free.

I am reviewing this purely for the weird factor. Is this one of the highlights of my graphic novel reading? Absolutely not, but it impresses me that graphic novel creators continue to expand the storylines graphic novels tell. It used to be that graphic novels took simple storylines and made them more complex by adding the graphic element. In Sloth, we have a fairly complicated storyline successfully contained in a short amount of pages (probably less than 100), due to a picture being worth a thousand words.

Now about the weird factor. The cover art on the entry pages shows lemons dropping to the sky like A-bombs. Weird, indeed. Miguel slept for a whole year with no medical explanation. You could call it a coma, but there was no medical explanation. Apparently this was a self-chosen slumber. After three months of physical therapy, Miguel is ready to rejoin the world, but he moves very slowly. It seems his legs just can't work at a normal pace.

He's back together with his old girlfriend, Lita, and playing in a band with his friend, Romeo. He's seeing a shrink and getting picked on by the locals. All seems kosher, except for these dreams he keeps having about lemon orchards and freaky women being buried alive by lemons.
After Miguel and his two companions explore the local lemon orchard late at night, the truth about Miguel's troubles gets more and more blurry. What was life like for Miguel before his coma? Is there more beneath the surface?

It kept me reading just so I could see what Miguel's problem was. This graphic novels has some language and a few scantily clad women shots. It is recommended for college age and up.