Tillie Walden

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 creator of Spinning and On a Sunbeam will stay with readers long after the final gorgeously illustrated page.

Are You Listening?

Jun Angelo Cabuguas

gorgeously drawn, heartbreaking but great storytelling

Ally

I was interested in this book because I love good comic novels. Especially if it explore journey of characters. In this book, although drawings are interesting and panels placements are great, there were some drawbacks. Story touches important topics, conversations and characters transformation does not get deeper. Unfortunately it stays in the surface and waits readers to sink in. Conversations felt so... off. In my opinion it could've been more. 

Umit Bulut

The art was beautiful and the story even more beautiful. Such an emotional read, would recommend 

Alicia Perez

TW: rape & parent death!

The art was beautiful and the story even more beautiful. Such an emotional read, would recommend 

Izza

Jude Moon

I’m so heartbroken and relieved after reading this but the best way to describe it is the quote “well, most places, mountains stay pit. Sky stays in one piece. Kind of cruel, really. But here, everything is listening. The roads, the clouds, the trees…they know all your secrets. Everything you’ve seen is built by you. Which is why you’ll never see it again.” 

Abbie Harrison 

It's was alright but plot was all over the place at times

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

Isabela H 

I recommend this book to literally anyone. It's perfect for fans of graphic novels and who like a deeper and more personal aspect to their stories, but I truly believe that anyone can pick this up and appreciate it. 

I'm not usually a fan of magical realism works, just because I usually don't understand them (100% a me problem, they're beautiful, just too much for my slow brain) but this book really worked. 
The art style was amazing and perfectly captured the mood of the whole piece. The colors, the characters, the everything all contributed to such a heartfelt story about two people looking to fix something in themselves. I love how we got two characters in different stages of their life with different trauma but who were still able to connect to each other and pull each other out of the dark holes they were in. Are they perfectly fixed now? no, but they each learned something so important to their personal lives that you can only imagine their journeys from here. 

** spoilers past this point ** 

Old gay/baby gay trope? 100% here for it, especially because it wasn't the foundation of their relationship 
I think that Lou's grief was really well done because it wasn't super obvious, but you could see so many signs of her hurting that she was just trying to hide from everyone (including, I believe, herself) 
Bea's trauma? Didn't see that coming, at all, but the entire scene where she was describing the trauma to Lou was beautifully done. The art style made you feel the hopelessness and the fog of pure confusion and hopelessness that Bea felt. 
I'm ngl, I didn't completely understand everything with the cat, but I do understand that in some way, Diamond served as a catalyst for chage, giving Bea and Lou a task to complete, but I loved the conversation that Diamond's owner had with Bea.

june

Naga

trigger warnings: death of parent, sexual assault

georgia greenway

i always tear through tillie walden’s books, they just have this unmistakable vibe to them, it’s irresistible. nothing happens, but you want to keep reading.

Patricia Macías García

Una historia de dos chicas que están lidiando con distintos problemas, que se encuentran por casualidad y terminan viajando juntas y apoyándose, con un poco de realismo mágico de por medio. No sé, me ha encantado. No tanto la historia, que no es nada del otro mundo, sino las protagonistas, lo que cuentan, la dinámica que tienen... Y las ilustraciones de Tillie Walden, que siempre me transmiten muchísimo. Me he leído esta novela gráfica de una sentada y me ha dejado calentita y blandita. Todo bien.

This book is so beautiful that if it wasn’t a library book I would’ve ripped out the pages and put them on my wall.

Kaia Mann

As soon as I opened the book, I was just blown away by the art. The style is cute and I just love the bursting colors, the relatively limited color palette. When the art got rather sureal, it confused me too much. That might have been the purpose, but it's just not my preference. I had no interest at all in the Office of Road Inquiry people, I felt they had no purpose but to confuse the plot. I really did love Bea and Lou, and how they interacted with each other. Their conversations felt like just half conversations, which I actually really liked. It seemed to feed into the fact that they do have some traumas, that there's some disconnect between each other, and them and the world around them. 

Ari Rose

Mahogany Skillings

The red palette used in "Are you Listening?" is appropriate to stir feelings of rage as well as love. The story has magical realism and a bit of a deus ex machina moment but the true meat is the uneasy friendship that is started between Lou and Bea. Both are dealing with different types of grief and their uneasiness comes across well.

i loved the art style but the content felt a bit... lacking?

Caroline Lewicki

This graphic novel was really fascinating. At times I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t but I think that’s a beautiful metaphor for grief. It’s very fast paced and all I wanted to do was race to the end to see what happens.

alex arias

i’m a huge fan of tillie walden’s work (her other two graphic novels as well as her cosmic slumber tarot deck) and this was no exception. her stories and characters leap off the page, and her stunning art keeps me yearning for more. also the magical realism element slowly creeps its way into the panels (even though the art feels ethereal and otherworldly all on its own). lgbt rep without focusing on romance. content warning for discussion of sexual assault (it’s in the blurb so i dont think this is technically a spoiler)

Fiona Coffey

This book was sweet, terrifying, and surreal all in one. I loved the art style. It made me sad, but I really liked it.

Chris DiFazio

Wow. Walden's brand of magic realism is so unique and perfectly subtle. The characters have so much pathos and of course the art is incredible. Another masterpiece.

Lily D

4.5

This book was amazing.

This is where I put a summary. I won't because I don't know how to summarize this book. Just take my word for it and read it.

This book was sad. I'm just gonna say it it was definitely sad and heartbreaking. It deals with one character who has runaway and one character who's lost a parent. Definitely sad.

The team work in this book is amazing. Bea and Lou are just a power team and I love it! 

Okay, can we talk about how beautiful the are style is??? Tillie Walden is incredible at this. Her illustrations and storytelling is incredible. 

Would definitely recommend this book to anyone. 
(There's also gay rep and a cat. If that doesn't make you want to read it than I quit:) )

Tiffany Engler

Not entirely sure what I just read.... 

tw: sexual assault

TW/CW: loss of a loved one, rape

If you want a story of characters and growth and support and survival, absolutely pick this gem up. 

This story brings such a unique blend of serious topics and magical realism to the table. When Lou runs into Bea as she is running away, the two begin an impromptu road trip. Along the way, the two girls slowly begin to share their stories of where they currently sit in the world and form a unique but wholey complex relationship. 

The two girls then pick up a stray fur baby and the story weaves itself into something magical and soul-searching. While I could expand on this, I really think you should experience the magic by yourself with little headway like I did. There is something about the blend of genres that Walden absolutely nails that doesn't need any foreshadowing from me.

I absolutely adore the way Walden can present a story on such crucial and emotional topics such as sexual assault, being queer, the complications of family relationships, loss, love and so much more, in such a unique and intriguing way. While 
  On a Sunbeam
 is still by far my favourite work created by Walden, this graphic novel is something truly magical and holds its own as a fantastic story and piece of artwork.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Are You Listening?

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