[ARC REVIEW] The Comic by G. Hingorani

 

Title:  The Comic

Author:  G. Hingorani

Genre:  Romance / Drama / Humor

Year Published: 2024

Number of Pages: 87 pages

Date Read: 4/14/2024

Publisher:   G. Hingorani

Source:   eARC (Publisher)

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Language, Sexual Situations, Drug Use and themes of suicide)

Buy on:  Amazon 

I would like to thank the author G. Hingorani for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow…just wow…I am totally at a loss of words for this book…So, when I received a copy of the book “The Comic” by G. Hingorani, I was not expecting this book to suddenly have a massive shift in tone halfway through.

The book is about a famous comedian named Calvin “The Comic” Everswood and even though he puts on a funny façade whenever he is doing his stand-up gigs, he is secretly suffering in his life as he suffers from drug addiction and ended up pushing away all of his former friends.  Now, not only is Calvin dealing with his stand-up comedy shows, but he also tries to recover from his drug addiction, while trying to rekindle his relationship with his old friends.

Wow…just wow again…. When I started reading this book, I thought that this was going to be a humorous book about the life of a comedian.  Even though this book does have some humorous moments with Calvin’s stand-up act, the story suddenly becomes a tragedy once we are introduced to Calvin’s drug addiction and how it is ruining Calvin’s life.  G. Hingorani’s writing in this book is spectacular as it details the downward spiral of Calvin’s life, as he gets addicted to drugs and he ends up losing his friends because of it.  It really made this story extremely intense and sad to read through and I was always hoping for Calvin to try to turn his life around and become a better person.  I also like the fact that this book did a great job at detailing the dangers of drug addiction and how it can ruin your life.  I also loved the fact that G. Hingorani set up the book as a stage play as it made the book easier to read and it really made the story stand out to me.

This book does contain some strong and suggestive language that might be a bit uncomfortable for some people.

Overall, I really loved reading “The Comic!”  It is such a dark and sad book about the dangers of drug addiction that many people should definitely check out!

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• One Way Ticket to Earth by Daniele Vaccaro

• The Coyote by David B. Bond

[BOOK REVIEW] One Way Ticket to Earth by Daniele Vaccaro (@DanieleAuthor)

 

Title:  One Way Ticket to Earth

Author:  Daniele Vaccaro

Genre: Science Fiction / Family / Drama

Year Published: 2023

Number of Pages: 25 pages

Date Read: 1/29/2024

Publisher: Daniele Vaccaro

Source:   eARC (Author)

Content Rating:  Ages 13+ (Discussions of Suicide)

Buy on:  Amazon 

I would like to thank author Daniele Vaccaro for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, I had received a copy of a short story from author Daniele Vaccaro and this book was called “One Way Ticket to Earth” and man, it was such an emotional and fantastic read!

The story starts off with a young boy named Max who ends up dying and his death ends up badly affecting his parents. But suddenly, Max ends up being reincarnated as an alien being named Sveern and he ends up on a faraway planet called Anturn.  During his time on the planet Anturn, Max longs to return back to Earth and go back to his parents, but the alien beings on the planet Anturn forbid him to return to Earth.

Can Max find his way back to Earth?

Find out in this emotional story!

Wow!  I was quite amazed by how unique and emotional this story was! Daniele Vaccaro does such a fantastic job at writing this story, as this story is full of emotional moments and some surprising twists!  I never would have thought that I would read a story that started off with parents grieving their child’s death and then, the second half of the story focuses on said child being reincarnated as an alien being who lives on another planet.  This is such an interesting and unique premise to the usual story line about the death of a child and how the parents struggled with their child’s death, except that in this case, said child is reincarnated as someone else.  I especially loved all the emotional moments throughout this story, especially the moments where Max’s parents are saddened by their child’s death as those moments hit me so hard since I lost a lot of loved ones over the years.  Also, seeing how Max is homesick for Earth and his struggles with being on a different planet are also emotional moments that can strike a chord with anyone who has to move away from their homes to a new place and are struggling with getting used to their new location, while missing their old homes.

Overall, “One Way Ticket to Earth” is a truly fantastic short story about dealing with the loss of a loved one and also trying to get used to a new home.  I would highly recommend this short story to anyone who wants to read a book about dealing with the loss of a loved one.

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• The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman

[ARC REVIEW] Scout's Heaven by Bibi Dumon Tak (@ebyrbooks)

Title:  Scout's Heaven

Author:  Bibi Dumon Tak

Artist: Annemarie van Haeringen

Genre:  Pets / Drama / Children's / Death / Family

Year Published: 2016

Year Read: 2018

Publisher:  Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

Source:  eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Discussions about Death)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank NetGalley and Eerdmans Books for Young Readers for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Now, I have read many children’s books that dealt with the subject of death of a pet or a loved one, but I had never read a children’s book quite as unique as Bibi Dumon Tak and Annemarie van Haeringen’s book “Scout’s Heaven,” which I got from NetGalley!

The story starts off with a family’s beloved dog Scout, dying and the family ends up burying him after his death.  While the family mourned for the loss of their pet, Little Brother started asking questions about whether or not Scout is now in Heaven and is happy there.  At first, the family was not sure how to answer Little Brother’s questions since they were all still grieving over Scout’s death, but then a strange and wonderous thing happens…

What wonderous thing happened to the family and will they be able to cope with Scout’s death?

Read this book to find out!

Wow! I must admit that I was quite impressed with how this book dealt with the subject of death in a children’s book and I think that it handled it pretty well!   Both Bibi Dumon Tak and Annemarie van Haeringen did an excellent job at writing this book as this book is extremely emotional to read through as I sympathized with the family’s efforts to try to deal with the death of their pet.  I also felt sympathy for Little Brother as he was constantly asking his family questions about Scout’s whereabouts after he died and I think that Little Brother’s reactions to Scout’s death is pretty realistic to how a young child would react to their pets or loved ones dying.  They would be asking questions about the concept of death and would be wondering where their loved ones would go after their deaths.

The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was because I felt that the story was a bit too short and I wished that they actually fleshed out the story a bit more so that way, we would be able to learn more about what Scout was like when he was still alive and what kind of activities the family did with him so that way, the news of Scout’s death would have had a more emotional impact on the readers.  Also, apparently the copy I got from NetGalley did not have the artwork that was supposed to go with this story and even though I still liked the story, I would have liked it better if I had received a copy that had the artwork contained in it.

Overall, “Scout’s Heaven” is a lovely book about learning how to deal with the death of a pet and this is definitely a book that would be enjoyable to children both young and old!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the theme of death might upset some smaller children.

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• My Little Heart, Ruthie by Toni Jannotta

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[BOOK REVIEW] Alex + Ada Volume 1 by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn

Title:  Alex + Ada Volume 1

Authors:  Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn

Artist:  Jonathan Luna

Genre:  Science Fiction / Romance / Drama

Year Published:  2014

Year Read: 2/17/2018

Series: Alex + Ada #1

Publisher: Image Comics

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Some Language)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

Introduction:

Alright, so I have heard of stories where human beings fell in love with monsters and such, but I had never read a story where the main character develops feelings for an android and starts questioning about what it means to be human all at one time!  So, the moment I picked up Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn’s graphic novel “Alex + Ada Volume One,” I knew that I just had to give this graphic novel a shot!

What is this story about?

Alexander Wahl (Alex for short) had just gone through a tragic breakup with his ex-girlfriend Claire and ever since then, he’s been having a tough time trying to move on with his life and find someone else to love.  One day however, Alex’s grandmother decided to send Alex a female android for his birthday so that way, he would not be so lonely anymore.  At first, Alex did not want this new android since he was not ready to move on from his ex-girlfriend and he believed that he could never love this android like he could with a real human being.  But, when Alex discovers some terrifying secrets regarding the Androids and what happened to their free will after the events of the Nexaware massacre, he decided that he will do anything to allow Ada the android the will to be able to think for herself, even if that means that Alex could get into big trouble with the government if they found out about this.

What I loved about this story:

Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn’s writing:  Wow! I was seriously impressed with this story!  I loved the way that both Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn wrote this story as this story explores both how humans judge the sentience of technology and what it means to have free will and have the right to think for yourself.  I like the way that Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn wrote Alex’s character as he was quite an interesting character to read about.  Even though there were times where Alex seemed like a flat character, I like the fact that his curiosity about the sentience of androids makes him want to explore the society he lives in and decide on whether or not he wants Ada the android to have human emotions so that he could give her the right to think for herself.  I was also interested in Ada’s character as she is shown to be a regular android at first and the fact that Alex wants to give her real human emotions makes me excited to see where Ada’s character will go after this.  I also like the fact that Ada’s character introduces the themes of what it means to be a human being and whether or not humans considered non-human beings such as androids as being capable of feeling true human emotions.

Jonathan Luna’s artwork:  Jonathan Luna’s artwork is just so gorgeous to look at as all the characters seem to glow off the pages.  I also loved the artwork of the futuristic setting that the characters reside in, such as seeing futuristic technology like holographic television and having humans equip sensors in their brains to do their daily chores.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason why I took off half a point from the rating was because I felt that the beginning of the story was a bit too slow in pacing as it took a long time to get to the exciting part of the story and there were times where I felt that the story was a bit too dialogue heavy, especially during the news reports scenes.  Also, for anyone who does not like language, there is a bit of it here, although it is not as strong as some of the more mature graphic novels.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Alex + Ada Volume One” is a truly intriguing story about what it means to be human and I am definitely interested in seeing what happens to both Alex and Ada in the next volume!

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• Paper Girls Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

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[ARC REVIEW] Herding Cats: A "Sarah's Scribbles" Collection by Sarah Andersen (@SarahCAndersen, @AndrewsMcMeel)

Title:  Herding Cats: A "Sarah's Scribbles" Collection

Author:  Sarah Andersen

Genre:  Humor / Life / Art

Year Published: 2018

Year Read:  12/13/2017 

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC 

Series: Sarah's Scribbles #3

Source: eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Some Language and Suggestive Humor)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Introduction:

I have been hearing so many good things about Sarah Andersen’s popular “Scribbles” series and yet, I was not able to pick up any of her books when they were coming out.  Well, now I finally got the chance to pick up one of her books through NetGalley, which is the third book in the series called “Herding Cats” and I was quite amazed by the humorous antics shown in this book!

What is this story about?

In this volume, Sarah shows her experiences in both real life and the internet life through her artwork (or scribbles as they are known as) to relate to the readers such as trying to get through one page in a book only to keep on reading the book even after you promised yourself to just read one more page or seeing some progress happen in the United States only for the 2016 elections to cause mayhem afterwards.

What I loved about this story:

Sarah Andersen’s writing: Wow! I was quite amazed by how Sarah Andersen wrote this graphic novel series!  I loved the way that Sarah Andersen relates her observations about real life both through her life and through the internet in a humorous yet thought provoking way as I found myself agreeing with a majority of her thoughts about real-life.  I really loved the part about the 2016 elections as it was stated in one of the panels about how politics was making progress before 2016 and then the 2016 elections hit and there was chaos and mayhem!  I was also impressed with the fact that this graphic novel series is similar to Allie Brosh’s series “Hyperbole and a Half” as both series have the authors relating their own lives through their artwork and both are done in a hilarious way!  I also loved the fact that Sarah Andersen provided some advice at the end of the book about how to deal with the pressures of both the real world and the internet community and how if you encounter some struggles in your life, just keep on creating things that you love (in Sarah Andersen’s case, it is continuing to draw her comics no matter how hard things get in both the real world and the internet community).

Sarah Andersen’s artwork: Sarah Andersen’s artwork is truly hilarious to look at as the characters are drawn in a squat comic book fashion and I especially love the images of Sarah herself as she is drawn as having spiky hair and is wearing a black and white striped shirt.  I also loved how Sarah Andersen conveyed some of the situations in real life through the images such as the state of politics being shown as a person with an American flag shaped head and then the next panel shows lots of people fighting each other in a fiery landscape after the results of the 2016 elections.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason I took off half a point from the rating was because I felt that the story telling was a bit disjointed at times and it was hard for me to really follow what is really going on in the story, even though this is meant to take on different aspects of real life and put them in comic book format.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Herding Cats: A Sarah Scribbles Collection” is a truly hilarious graphic novel to read, especially if you want to see a more humorous take on real life!

You might also like:

• Tales from the Crib by Henrik Drescher

• Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
• Goodnight iPad by Ann Droyd