Product Description

A world of dreadful mystery is explored in this exciting debut.
Funeral of the Heart is Leah Hayes' stylistic tour-de-force and graphic novel debut, featuring a series of short stories by Hayes and illustrated entirely using the otherworldly medium of scratchboard. Hayes creates a world of unease and ambiguity populated by obsessive characters, forlorn animals, and mysterious, inanimate objects; odd occurrences, unnerving deaths and unconventional but genuine love bind these characters and their stories together. In "The Bathroom," a middle-aged couple discover a mysterious tunnel in their poolhouse after a neighbor's child accidentally drowns in their pool—leading to an immaculate bathroom and another drowning. In "The Needle," two sisters suffer the death of their grandmother as well as her possible resurrection at the hands of the woman with the needle.

The stories are hand lettered and juxtaposed against stark, highly stylized, graphically powerful, black and white images. Stories with titles like "The Bathroom," "The Needle," and "The Hair" sound innocuous, but they aren't fables that should be read to one's children—unless your children enjoy being made uneasy by beautiful things.
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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #879891 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781560978886
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:

Review
A bizarre, disturbing debut collection… (Neel Mukherjee - The Times Online )

Menacing, cruel, tender and freakish, these stories…seem to have stepped out from Hayes’s rich, febrile dreams. (Neel Mukherjee - The Times Online )

Sadness with joyful imagination and compassionate humor; a bitterness that tastes great. (Matilda Tristram - Plan B )

The stark beauty of the black-and-white medium, already hallucinatory, is intensified by the fairytale-like surrealness of the five stories… (Neel Mukherjee - The Times Online )

About the Author
Leah Hayes lives in Brooklyn, NY, and performs in the band Scary Mansion.

Customer Reviews

Bizarre
If you're purchasing this product please note that it does not really fit into the category of a graphic novel. This is a collection of five short stories with minimal character development and unsatisfying plot resolutions. There are "graphics" followed by pages of paragraphs. The stories end abruptly perhaps purposely to enhance the sense of futility they bring. If this book had more depth of feeling it might be better. If you're looking for a quality graphic novel I would suggest "A Contract with God" by Will Eisner.