Black Hole

By Charles Burns,

Book cover of Black Hole

Book description

“The best graphic novel of the year” (Time) tells the story of a strange plague devastating the lives of teenagers in mid-1970s suburban Seattle, revealing the horrifying nature of high school alienation—the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety, and the ennui.

We learn from the outset that a strange plague…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Black Hole as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Black Hole is a striking tale of a sexually transmitted plague running rampant amongst a community of teenagers in suburban Washington in the 1970s, all illustrated in creator Charles Burns’ almost inhumanly precise and dark art style. Mind-bending and terrifying, this graphic novel has come close to being adapted many times over the year, and its mix of eminently relatable interpersonal drama and existential dread make it a perfect fit for the screen, a horror story with heart and soul.

This graphic novel has such a strange atmosphere. It is a classic in surreal graphic novels. The dreamlike scene get a nightmarish feel combined with the insecurity of teenage life. Personally it made me see different on my teenage years, and why I felt different. This book can make you go deeper into the questions of your alieness. I come from a back ground of cinematic art and this book felt like David Lynch’s Twin Peaks series in beautiful black ink drawings. It made me realize that stories told in drawings can offer as much as a movie.

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