Availability:
Library | Call Number | Format | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Avon Public Library | YG WALDEN | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Braintree Thayer Public Library | WAL | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Canton Public Library | FIC WALDEN | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Cohasset Paul Pratt Memorial Library | WALDEN | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Marshfield Ventress Memorial Library | WALDEN | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Milton Public Library | GN ARE YOU LISTENING? WALDEN | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Norwell Public Library | YA GRAPHIC WALDEN | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Plymouth Public Library | WAL | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Quincy Thomas Crane Library | WALDEN | BOOK - NO FINES FLOATING COLLECTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stoughton Public Library | WAL | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Walpole Public Library | YA WALDEN | BOOK | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The graphic novel Are You Listening? is an intimate and emotionally soaring story about friendship, grief, and healing from Eisner Award winner Tillie Walden.
Bea is on the run. And then, she runs into Lou.
This chance encounter sends them on a journey through West Texas, where strange things follow them wherever they go. The landscape morphs into an unsettling world, a mysterious cat joins them, and they are haunted by a group of threatening men. To stay safe, Bea and Lou must trust each other as they are driven to confront buried truths. The two women share their stories of loss and heartbreak--and a startling revelation about sexual assault--culminating in an exquisite example of human connection.
This magical realistic adventure from the celebrated comics creator of Spinning and On a Sunbeam will stay with readers long after the final gorgeously illustrated page.
2020 Eisner Award Winner, Best Graphic Album--New
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book of 2019
A National Public Radio (NPR) Best Book of 2019
An O Magazine Best LGBTQ Book of 2019
One of The Comics Beat 's Best Comics of 2019
A Lambda Literary Award Finalist
A Harvey Award nominee, Best Book of the Year
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--"When something horrible happens, or something amazing…it makes you feel like mountains could shatter, or the sky could disappear." Eighteen-year-old Bea is on the run. Life at home has become more dangerous than attempting to make it in the world alone. After missing her bus, she is connected with Lou, a family acquaintance who invites Bea to hitch a ride with her out of town. Inside the intimate confines of Lou's car, the tension between the two is palpable, as neither wishes to explain her reasons for leaving town. But they soon discover a lost cat and resolve to return it home to a town in Texas that isn't on the map. As the two travel across the mystical landscape of West Texas, truths as harsh and stark as the Texas terrain come to light. Walden deftly explores weighty subjects within the deceptively simple road trip narrative; Bea's experiences with sexual assault by a family member are revealed, with Walden's surreal artwork and lettering reflecting Bea's distraught, disoriented feelings. VERDICT While the story suffers from inconsistent pacing heightened by the ambiguity of both characters' backstories, the combination of real-life trauma with magical realism makes this tale of queer friendship, healing, and rebuilding in the wake of pain and anguish an important addition to collections.--Elise Martinez, Zion-Benton Public Library, IL
Publisher's Weekly Review
Running from her home in small-town Texas, 18-year-old Bea meets Lou, who is taking a road trip to escape her grief after losing her mother. A short lift turns into a longer journey when they find a lost cat and decide to return it to its home. As they search the empty miles of Texas for a town that may not exist, the road takes them to increasingly strange places, and menacing strangers begin following them on a hunt for the cat. And as the two gradually grow to trust one another, Bea conveys her reason for running away: sexual assault by a family member. This latest by Walden (On a Sunbeam) uses heavily detailed illustrations and luminous, startling color to depict both surreal landscapes and subtle expressions, imbuing the story with equal parts paranoid tension and quiet wonder. The tale's fantastic elements are a mixed success; some moments feel effectively executed (a claustrophobically cluttered gas station, roads and bridges that contort in impossible ways), while others feel awkwardly made to fit (menacing but extraneous villains, the cat's hidden powers). Ultimately, the volume is most successful as a nuanced portrayal of the connection between Bea and Lou, nearly a decade apart in age but young and gay and navigating trauma and loss in rural Texas. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 14-up. Agent: Seth Fishman, the Gernert Company. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Bea, 18, and Lou, 27, are both on the run in Texas, though in very different ways, and a chance meeting at a gas station brings their paths together in ways that help them both. At first, there's tension between the two young women, but when they rescue a cat and set out to return it home, to a town they can't find on the map, they gradually begin to trust each other. Walden (On a Sunbeam, 2018) is up to her usual visual tricks in her latest, with intriguingly layered, intricately detailed images in rich, warm, sunset colors that lack concrete realism but cultivate powerful atmosphere. As the days of the road trip muddle together, her panel borders melt, shatter, and blend together, disrupting the sense of time passing, and when odd events begin to trickle in like the pair of empty-eyed road inspectors unusually curious about the cat, and roads that appear or disappear in a flash that disrupted sense of reality takes on ever more meaning. For all its fantasy trappings, there's a moving story of recovery and resilience here, as well: Bea in particular is searching for a safe place to call home, and the visual metaphor of building a road when you need one is particularly resonant. This artful, introspective graphic novel will likely be a hit with fans of weird fiction and could be a good crossover pick for new adults, too.--Sarah Hunter Copyright 2019 Booklist