James "Scotty" Doohan somewhat famously saved a Star Trek fan's life after learning of her boughts of depression Doohan "required" her to show up at every nearby convention he was attending for three years. It's not an uncommon tactic for people struggling with suicidal thoughts to give them short-to-medium term obligations that they need to remain alive for. Somewhat less obvious is that having that goal to work towards was literally keeping her alive she was able to give herself a reason to continue living, if only for a few months. The story flows from talking about why she's writing the book to what's happening in her life to where she's at mentally, also switching between different aspects of her personality, including a personification of her depression.īut she's very clear that she started the book as a goal to try to work through her issues.
Thorogood does indeed spend the six months recording what's going on, but the book is very much less about the actual events that take place and more a kind of stream-of-consciousness armchair psychoanalysis. Thorogood doesn't seem to blame them in any way, though, and feels her issues are her own.Īnd that gets to the crux of the narrative here. However, while her parents do figure into the story, they're not an especially large part of it. That her mother largely refuses to discuss her issues, and her father was already emotionally drained from literally keeping his wife alive, so Thorogood's relationship with her parents is a bit strained. Thorogood notes early on that she's had depression and suicidal thoughts since she was fourteen, and that she essentially inherited both from her mother. You might consider skipping either and/or both if that might be triggering for any reason. IT’S LONELY AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH is an intimate and metanarrative look into the life of a selfish artist who must create for her own survival." But, frankly, that description - while technically accurate - really falls short of what's going on with this book.įirst, a word of warning: the book (and to a lesser degree, this review) discusses mental health issues around depression that lead Thorogood to suicidal thoughts. The official description reads: "Cartoonist Zoe Thorogood records 6 months of her own life as it falls apart in a desperate attempt to put it back together again in the only way she knows how.
It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood came out from Image Comics last month.
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