Puss Reboots: Blog: May 2021: To Know You're Alive

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The Air-Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller
The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas Alley
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Bloodroot by Susan Wittig Albert
Chili Cauldron Curse by Lynn Cahoon
Crow by Candace Robinson and Amber R Duell
Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly
Death Gone A-Rye by Winnie Archer
Death of an English Muffin by Victoria Hamilton
Farm to Trouble by Amanda Flower
Foul Play at the Fair by Shelley Freydont
Hearts by Hilma Wolitzer
House of Cards by Michael Dobbs
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The Last Book Party by Karen Dukess
Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn and Christa Lewis (Narrator)
Montauk by Nicola Harrison
Nightschool: The Weirn Books Collector's Edition, Volume 2 by Svetlana Chmakova
On Borrowed Crime by Kate Young and Dina Pearlman (Narrator)
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker
A Playdate With Death by Ayelet Waldman
The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay
Sabrina: Something Wicked by Kelly Thompson and Veronica Fish (illustrator)
A Side of Murder by Amy Pershing
To Know You're Alive by Dakota McFadzean
This is Munich by Miroslav Sasek
Those People by Louise Candlish
Unplugged by Gordon Korman
A Witch's Printing Office, Volume 2 by Mochinchi and Yasuhiro Miyama
Wondercat Kyuu-Chan Volume 1 by Sasami Nitori

Miscellaneous
April 2021 Sources

April 2021 Summary

Previous month

To Know You're Alive: 05/25/21

To Know You're Alive by Dakota McFadzean is a collection of comics, each one a self contained story. Some are surreal. Some are horror. All of them are disturbing, save for the last one.

The comics are done in a bold color scheme — white, black, and some bright color, like magenta. In that aesthetic they bring to mind the graphic novels aimed at upper elementary kids: Babymouse and the Lunch Lady series for instance.

Except that there's something off about each story. Background details shift. Smiling faces become monstrous. Faces look like they are partially fungi. And so forth.

Then after all these horror vignettes, there's a short story about being an artist/author and a stay at home parent. It's presumably an autobiographical story.

I liked the experience of reading these short comics but I don't see myself re-reading them any time soon.

Four stars