Swallow Me Whole [Hardcover]

Nate Powell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2008

Swallow Me Whole is an award-winning love story carried by rolling fog, terminal illness, hallucination, apophenia, insect armies, and unshakeable faith.

In his most ambitious book to date, Powell quietly explores the dark corners of adolescence -- not the cliched melodramatic outbursts of rebellion, but the countless tiny moments of madness, the vague relief of medication, and the mixed blessing of family ties. As the story unfolds, two stepsiblings hold together amidst schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, family breakdown, animal telepathy, misguided love, and the tiniest hope that everything will someday make sense.

Deliberately paced, delicately drawn, and drenched in shadows, Swallow Me Whole is a landmark achievement for Nate Powell and a suburban ghost story that will haunt readers long after its final pages.

2009 Eisner Award Winner for Best Graphic Album (New), Eisner Award Nominee for Best Writer/Artist and Best Lettering, 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist for Young Adult Fiction, Ignatz Award Winner for Outstanding Artist and Outstanding Debut, and official selection of YALSA's Great Graphic Novels For Teens.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Indy comic artist Powell, an Eisner-nominee, works full time with adults with developmental disabilities, which may have been an inspiration for Swallow Me Whole, a stand-alone graphic novel about two teenage stepsiblings with psychological problems. Ruth suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder and thinks she can hear insects speak, making it difficult for her to walk across grassy lawns but landing her a sweet internship in the natural history museum. Perry sometimes sees a tiny wizard who speaks to him about his destiny, which would be cute if this were a fantasy comic; instead, it's sadly tragic since Perry recognizes the wizard as nothing more than a troublesome hallucination. It should be obvious from the start that things will not end well. Dark inks and elongated whispering word balloons carry us into Ruth's world of voices and missing time, while experimental paneling masterfully conveys the characters' inner worlds and altered states. Powell's ultimate message remains unclear: is this a cautionary tale reminding ill teens to take their medication(s)? Or should we take a hopeful message away from Ruth's tragic story, knowing that one need not give in completely to one's delusions? (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up—Powell has created a complex tale of two adolescent step-siblings struggling through the usual angst and discovery that occur during the teenage years. However, for Ruth and Perry, mental illness makes this time even more difficult. Ruth, who is at the center of the story, suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder and patterns of schizophrenia. Infatuated with insects, she keeps collections of them in jars in her room and is constantly arranging and rearranging them. She hallucinates that masses of insects surround her and fears stepping on any living thing. For Ruth, the simplest tasks present huge challenges. Perry fights his own demon as he tries to rid himself of a small wizard who persistently appears and makes him draw. The author's treatment of mental illness is realistic and sensitive. Readers are brought into the experiences of the characters and empathize with them. The relationships Ruth and Perry have with each other and with other family members are honest and lovingly portrayed. Every word in this graphic novel is carefully chosen, dialogue is realistic, and background "noise" masterfully done. Powell's detailed pen-and-ink drawings are well executed with lettering and images so brilliantly intertwined that they are one and the same. While the complexity and subject matter of Swallow Me Whole will not appeal to everyone, those teens who pick it up will discover a poignant story.—Lara McAllister, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Top Shelf Productions; First Edition first Printing edition (October 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1603090339
• ISBN-13: 978-1603090339
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.5 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #509,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nate Powell is a New York Times best-selling comic book artist/writer born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1978. He began self-publishing at age 14, and graduated from School Of Visual Arts in 2000.

His work includes "March", the graphic novel autobiography of Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis (Top Shelf, 2013); the critically acclaimed "Any Empire" (Top Shelf, 2011); "Swallow Me Whole" (Eisner Award winner for Best Graphic Novel, two-time Ignatz Award winner, YALSA selection, and LA Times Book Prize finalist; Top Shelf, 2008); "The Silence Of Our Friends"(YALSA selection; First Second, 2012); "The Year Of The Beasts" (Roaring Brook, 2012); and "Sounds Of Your Name" (Microcosm Publishing, 2006).

From 1999 to 2009 Powell worked full-time providing support for adults with developmental disabilities alongside his cartooning efforts. He managed DIY punk record label Harlan Records for 16 years, and performed in the bands Universe, Soophie Nun Squad, Wait, and Divorce Chord. He currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and daughter.

Powell is currently drawing a graphic novel adaptation of Rick Riordan's best-selling "The Heroes Of Olympus: The Lost Hero" (to be released by Hyperion Books in 2014), writing and drawing his own next graphic novel, "Cover", as well as the short comics collection "You Don't Say" (forthcoming from Top Shelf in 2014).

www.seemybrotherdance.org

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Gem - Poetic and Provocative December 26, 2009

By Pipsqueak

Format:Hardcover

Until this book, I hadn't read anything in comics (I only read alternative comics) that deals with such a dark and unusual subject as mental illness, let alone one illustrated in such fluid and dreamy images. Nate Powell has a very inventive and cinematic way of arranging his panels. The narration at times is short on text, which made me pause and think. Then I was taken aback by the instensity of the story once I realized what just happened. This book is pure literature and art - a well-deserved Eisner winner.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensitive, baffling narration December 22, 2008

By wiredweird HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Powell does it again: a low-key but sensitive narration, characters to care about, and strong, expressive drawing. As in other of his stories, Powell addresses the hormone-lashed insanity of teen years. This time he adds a complex family situation, though not as complex as some you might have seen, and another element: incipient schizophrenia. We don't see enough of Ruth's story to know how it ends. Schizophrenia can be a tragic, debilitating disease or, with modern treatment, just another medical condition to manage. Even if we don't see how Ruth's life plays out, we care. Powell really makes it easy to care about this bright, principled young woman.

The art in this black and white comic spans a range of styles. Powell uses the whole range of light and dark to convey the sense of each moment. His linework handles each scene well, too, from schoolroom tedium to surreal renderings of the world Ruth sees. As with other of Powell's graphic novels, linear storytelling appears as only a minor component. Instead, this has a less literal sense, flowing easily between the many moods of a teenager and even into the moods arising from her illness. If you want a more literary experience than most graphic novels offer, this has my highest recommendation.

-- wiredweird

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Book, and Worthwhile Reading June 21, 2010

By GraphicNovelReporter.com TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

This is not an easy book to read. It is a very good book, and worthwhile reading, but it is not a pleasant book.

Nate Powell brings us into the world of Ruth and Perry, a teenaged brother and sister who live in a fairly normal family somewhere in the South. Their parents are loving, if a bit exasperated and distant at times; their house is small and not particularly nice; and as the story opens, their seriously ill grandmother is arriving to spend her dying days (which turn into years) lying on their couch.

On the surface, this family looks normal, but that's what makes the hallucinations so striking. Both Ruth and Perry see things that aren't there, and the things they see control their lives. Perry's vision is simple: A wizard who sits on the end of his pencil and commands him to draw. Ruth's is more complicated: She sees insects, a multiplicity of creatures who pile in through gratings and windows or simply buzz around her as she walks. She fills jars with specimens of different bugs and arranges and rearranges them as a way of exerting control over the world.

One of the things that makes this book so compelling is the way the hallucinations mix in with ordinary life. Ruth and Perry help with the dishes, go to class, sit with their ailing grandmother, but all the time they are accompanied by these odd manifestations. Sometimes they slip in public, talking back to the hallucinations within earshot of outsiders, but the bond between Ruth and Perry is built from the understanding that only they have, the shared family secret of things that aren't there. As the book goes on, their grandmother reveals that she, too, has had visions. Memaw may be old and sick, but she is sharp enough to see what is going on.

The great advantage of the graphic novel form is that Powell can use visuals not only to depict the hallucinations but also to show the inner states of his characters. Most of his pages are dark, the characters and settings hidden in heavily hatched shadows, but when Ruth begins taking antipsychotic medications, the shadows drop away and the drawings become bright and clear.

While Perry's hallucinations stay more or less under control, Ruth's grow stronger, and she submits to them more and more. It would be easy to be heavyhanded about this, but Powell continues to interweave Ruth's inner demons with the ennui of everyday life. Some of her actions, such as stealing a stuffed frog from a museum, seem clearly "crazy," but when she stands up to a teacher's clumsy racist joke, it's hard not to sympathize.
-- Brigid Alverson