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Heartbreak Soup (Love and Rockets: Palomar #1)

4.38 of 5 stars 4.38 · rating details · 685 ratings · 61 reviews

Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2007, Love and Rockets is
finally released in its most accessible form yet: As a series of
compact, thick, affordable, mass-market volumes that present the whole
story in perfect chronological order. This volume collects the first
half of Gilbert Hernandez's acclaimed magical-realist tales of
"Palomar," the small Central American town, beginn...more

Paperback, 288 pages

Published March 17th 2007 by Fantagraphics (first published 1987)

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Dec 05, 2012 Mel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century-fiction, graphic-novel, queer

So I decided that I should give Gilbert's Love and Rockets stories another try. Last time I looked was right after I'd finished Jamie's and was still far too in love with Maggie and Hopey to be able to cope with what seemed very odd and ordinary Mexican village life. But it's been several months now and decided I should try reading them properly. I have to say I did like this volume quite a lot, while not quite the same love as Jamie's work it was still very very good. The characters were really...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who enjoy Spanish Novellas or drama/soap operas in general.

Recommended to Nicole by: Comics and Graphic Novels (Class)

Shelves: graphic-novels

To be perfectly honest, at the beginning of this book, I was completely lost. There was a cast of so many characters, with so many random, seemingly senseless things going on, that I couldn't quite orient myself until, some time further into the book, I began to realize that this was just how the book was written. This first volume isn't even able to be considered as a real book, in a sense, because it's a collection of shorter stories all put together into one large volume. In fact, I think the...more To be perfectly honest, at the beginning of this book, I was completely lost. There was a cast of so many characters, with so many random, seemingly senseless things going on, that I couldn't quite orient myself until, some time further into the book, I began to realize that this was just how the book was written. This first volume isn't even able to be considered as a real book, in a sense, because it's a collection of shorter stories all put together into one large volume. In fact, I think there are six more volumes that came after this one that continued to expand on the stories of the people from the made-up town of Palomar.

Overall, I'd have to say that this entire volume of stories reads quite like a Spanish novella would play on TV. I get that distinctly "soap opera" feeling from it, and yet... *Laughs* I, who never in my life cared or had the urge to watch such things, found myself really enjoying this first volume of Heartbreak Soup. It was definitely a different experience for me in the world of graphic novels. I who have read few comics and whose sole source of understanding is manga, was able to get the chance now to enjoy the large and varied genre from a different culture, and it was pleasantly worth it.

There's something relieving about just sitting back to read a book that doesn't have a message or anything truly purposeful to it. The entirety was, as I've mentioned before, a series of interrelated if separate stories that follow a fairly large and varied set of characters. There are a few people I loved--Carmen especially. God that girl/woman was KICKASS. <333 I became a dedicated fan from the nearly the first second I saw her. *Laughs* Every character in here though, has this wonderful quality, where you almost forget that they're made up characters in a story. They act and think and feel like real characters do. There's none of that sense that you're reading a story in here. It's got the realism of sitting down in front of your TV and literally watching a novella, with all its twists and turns, unexpected or not, of normal people living their own lives. *Chuckles* It's quite refreshing. This is one of those books that you would read just for your own pleasure and nothing more or less. Very few books can pull that off today.

I must say something else about the things I read. Being the type of story it is, it has everything that normal people commonly find and deal with in life: sex, murder, prostitution, and more. It's also pretty graphic in some terms of this, definitely the sex and nudity portions of it. And listen to this girls! Male nudity too for once! About time, right? *Chuckles* Sure the women are going to out-do the men, as normal. But all these things should give you the feeling for what this graphic novel is really like. Although it is absolutely not written for children, it's full of a casualness that makes everything enjoyable even if it takes you some time to get into the world and learn who the different people are. You eventually get there, and you start to feel at home in the stories of the people of Palomar. After that, it just turns to sitting back and enjoying the ride for the duration.

Strangely enough, even after finishing things, though many of the stories had a mixture of closure or lack thereof, I feel that of all the graphic novels I've read, this one is perhaps one of the few that I would go back to and read again, because I know I'll enjoy it from beginning to end all over again. Perhaps that sensation alone speaks for itself.

Also! I absolutely have to mention this before I conclude. The artwork: THANK GOD that it was drawn by someone with an actual CONCEPT of how the human body looks! The women! God bless these women! They have CURVES. *Cheers all the way throughout the book!* It's such an unexpected and delightful surprise to actually SEE women that have a SHAPE to them and not just implanted parts that become the central focus. For instance, that one part where Luba, the woman with the BIGGEST boobs you'll see in this book, is making a comment about another girl's attire in town, she mentions that she would trade everything for a pair of legs like the other has. And lifting her long skirt and planting her knee on a barrel or box (can't remember what it was exactly), she displays her own chicken leg and it's thin and unshapely. That kind of balance between the actual make and variety of women's bodies is a detail that adds so much more pleasure to the reading for me. I think perhaps that's why I didn't mind the nudity of the women as much as I might have if it was in any other story. In the end, it was just their bodies, beautiful and natural and NORMAL. No flippin' implants or anorexia to boot. -3- I enjoy my women with SHAPE to them. Geez, you think people would actually care about that! But I'm done rambling about that for now. XD

In the end, I feel that this is a book that may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'd say it's definitely worth looking into if you'd like some variety and enjoyment. Don't plan on getting anything too deep from this book, even if it does have its moments scattered throughout. Just go through it for the fun! It's a nice read for that! ^__^(less)

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Jun 15, 2009 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

Regular readers know that I make my way through graphic novels on a pretty regular basis, usually only ten or twenty pages at a time while in bed at night; and hey, what should just happen to pop up at my neighborhood library the other day than the collected "Palomar" stories from legendary '80s and...more (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

Regular readers know that I make my way through graphic novels on a pretty regular basis, usually only ten or twenty pages at a time while in bed at night; and hey, what should just happen to pop up at my neighborhood library the other day than the collected "Palomar" stories from legendary '80s and '90s comic Love And Rockets, only a handful of which I'd ever sat down and read from cover to cover before. (Or, actually I cheated a little -- the book I came across randomly was merely volume one of a brand-new paperback collection by its publisher Fantagraphics, being offered as a cheaper and more mobile version than the all-in-one coffeetable-sized hardback collection they put out in 2003; when I discovered that the Chicago Public Library has not yet acquired volume two of this new paperback series, I simply checked out the larger hardback version, and finished up the stories that way.) For those who don't know, the original Love And Rockets consisted of several different persistent storylines, each of which was run by a different member of the multi-sibling Hernandez family, who as a group originally created and funded this historically ultra-important title from the dawn of alt-comics; the "Palomar" stories (named after the town where they take place, also known as the "Heartbreak Soup" stories after the very first tale in the series) was the one maintained by brother Gilbert, an expansive look at a fictional village somewhere on the west coast of Central America, and all the remarkable things that happen there from roughly the 1950s to 1980s (and sometimes both before and beyond).

And indeed, the entire series as a whole is still a remarkable read, just as sharp and entertaining as when the stories first started appearing nearly thirty years ago; because by concentrating on the long-term fates of dozens of Palomar's citizens, as they mature over a dense 600 pages from childhood to middle-age (or from middle-age to death in the case of the main characters' parents, or from birth to puberty in the case of their kids), combined with a healthy dose of magical realism (inspired by the Latino-American artist's obsession with Gabriel Garcia Marquez), Hernandez turns in a saga much more timeless than his '80s contemporaries, ultimately a story about family that now holds up much better than the instantly dated punk-rock tropes of, say, peer Alan Moore from the same period. (For example, just try reading Moore's early-'80s V For Vendetta anymore without its naive anarchist political posturing making you want to burst into unintended laughter on a regular basis.) It's this original attention to classic detail that makes the Palomar stories still so enjoyable, and what has kept Love And Rockets still so well-known and influential even decades later, when so many of the other roughly-done black-and-white comic-book experiments from the period have by now fallen into near-total obscurity.

Out of 10: 9.4(less)

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Feb 25, 2009 Hillary rated it 4 of 5 stars

My first bigger book by Gilbert (and only my second overall, after Speak of the Devil), and I was a little worried about how he'd compare to Jaime, but I may like his stuff just as much. Had a brief discussion about it last night with Casey and came to the conclusion that it's mostly just more intense and adult and gets there faster than Jaime's stuff does. It's not just that there's a lot more sex and violence (although there is; even this first book is, like, jam-packed with wang), but also th...more

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Dec 25, 2011 Saila rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar stories. They are always funny, tragic, and for me, familiar and exotic at the same time. This collection, how ever, wasn't the most complete. It has several small stories, not always in chronological order, which makes it sometimes hard to follow. They refer to incidents happening on other stories, not included to this book. In most cases, it makes an impression of a story, that goes beyond what is revealed. But sometimes it's just irritating. Still, if I have...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Officially calling myself out for previously being too much of a lit-snob to read graphic novels as an adult. Thanks to an enthusiastic recommendation from a trusted friend (who also noted that this book was a great intro to Love and Rockets), I recently picked up this collection and essentially could not put it down until I finished it.

Heartbreak Soup is the story of multiple generations of the residents of Palomar, a fictional Central America town, over time. Yes it's a comic, but it's also a...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a good book. RI would describe the content as raw but it does have a refined qualities. It is rather pornographic. Or at least erotic. Hernandez enjoys sexual themes and he does an excellent job with them.

I loved this book (sex and all) because Hernandez captures the little town and really develops his characters. This is a huge key to enjoying the story is to love (or at least know) the characters. Hernandez has painted these characters beautifully. He has also incorporated a sense of t...more

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Jan 16, 2009 Jennifer Barbee rated it 5 of 5 stars

I guess I've always been far more interested in Jaime's "Love and Rockets" contributions, and there's really no denying that the Maggie and Hopey stories are more inclined to resonate with my own misguided youth, but there's really something complex and melancholy about Beto's Palomar series that worked so much better for me reading them all anthologized rather than in fits and starts in the single issue comics. I think I'll probably wear this book out re-reading it. Calling these stories "comic...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Ryan Mishap rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel

I'm still parsing my feelings on this.

While I did read this entire collection in a little over two hours, my interest flagged near the end and I was a tad tired of the style, drawing and writing.

Up until then, though, I was intrigued by this Latin America magical realism soap opera in comic form. There's heartbreak, murder, lust, friendship, love, sex, ghosts, brujas, and so much more.

I don't know. I enjoyed the stories--most of them--but as I reflect back on them I find that I'm feeling queas...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Mark Feltskog rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

As the summary on the back cover of this collection attests, "in the third issue of Love and Rockets, Gilbert Hernandez abruptly jettisoned his Marvel and Heavy Metal-influenced sci-fi yarns to focus on the day to day tribulations of a tiny Central American hamlet more or less untouched by time--Palomar." Mr. Hernandez gives his readers a clue to this transition in the story "Love Bites." As the story opens, Heraclio begs his lover Carmen not to destroy his copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One H...more

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Jul 15, 2008 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone, but not for the kiddies

Shelves: comics

This is a very large compilation of Palomar stories- so large, in fact, that I ended up spending a good part of yesterday sitting outside the library on a bench reading so I could finish the darn thing and return it. I think sitting en pleine air only aided the stories, however- a bit of breeze and the general heat of a less-humid DC day got me into the feeling of this Central American town. I did not enjoy it at first, and was continually frustrated by not knowing what was going on, or who was...more

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Jan 07, 2011 Tim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

This collection of comics tells interlinked tales set in a fictional South American town, Palomar. Characters come and go, grow older, and interfere with each others' lives, often with catastrophic results. I love the way that minor characters appear in the background, their lives progressing in only in glimpses. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is clearly an influence (100 Years of Solitude is evened referenced in one episode). One episode, 'Duck Feet' is one of the most powerful comics I've read in a lo...more

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Dec 03, 2008 Baklavahalva rated it 5 of 5 stars

Two pages and I was hooked. Saw this book at UNCG's library (so happy to see that university libraries everywhere are making collections of graphic novels). Dark and brooding; warm and wonderful. It has everything: violence, paranoia, sex, friendship, larger-than-life women with larger-than-life breasts, fried slugs, panther attacks, enormous sculptures and temples left by ancient tribes that strangely resemble extraterrestrials.

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Feb 02, 2011 Mon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel-manga-and-the-like

Palomar isn't a particularly attractive graphic novel. Nobody has the ability to fly, there is no costume, villain with weird laughs, super speed, teleportation, time warp, fluffy animals, or even girl with really big eyes.

Maybe that is why it's literary.

It's easy to poke fun at superficial comics and post lolcat pictures instead of writing a proper review here. My own lack of description should thus hopefully convince you how good this is.

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Nov 21, 2012 Allie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Okay, I totally get the obsession over Gilbert Hernandez's side of Love & Rockets now. I've been obsessive with Jaime Hernandez's work for years, but for some reason Gilbert's art just never engaged me. But after reading through all of these stories I'm hooked on Carmen, Luba, the ghost tree, all of Palomar. Which means I will now have to read through 30 years of this to delve into all their stories, but I'm fine with that.

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Sep 01, 2012 Ravenhats rated it 5 of 5 stars

There is no comic like Love and Rockets, this work combines realism both in its comical and dark moments, and covers a number of styles of story telling. The art work like the stories is fantastic, and ages the characters while still keeping them recognizable.

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Dec 18, 2010 Iz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel

What first attracted me to the Love & Rockets series was the art, which is my favourite out of any graphic novels I've read. After reading Heartbreak Soup, I couldn't stop thinking about Palomar and the people who live there, the very latin-flavoured magic realism, the moody, dreamy, strange, sexy tone of the stories, how it's all so wrong but so right at the same time. I can't not love it.

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May 05, 2011 Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, graphic-novels, to-buy, magical-realism

A true classic. I'm glad I finally read it, if only to experience a truly unique voice in comics, especially when it came out in the early 80's. Beautiful art, lovely writing, and a true sense of the wonder that runs beneath normal, ordinary lives.

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Jan 01, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

it took me a long time to get into the love and rockets series, but all of a sudden i'm thinking about vicente, luba, chelo, jesus, carmen, pipo, and the strange little town of palomar every time my mind wanders...

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Aug 15, 2011 Lindsay Wilcox rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-for-school, read-in-2008

I haven't read many graphic novels, and I definitely haven't read any in an anthologized format like this one. I do enjoy magical realism occasionally, though, so I liked reading a Latino-tinged take on the genre.

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Apr 29, 2012 Sarah Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: small town life

Recommended to Sarah Beth by: AK

Shelves: comix, latin-american

Comic books (no matter how good or how much I like them) always seem somehow inferior to regular books. Which I realize is nothing but snobbery.

Most of the time, I miss that bulk of text that is excised and replaced with drawings. I'd almost rather all drawings and no text or all text and no drawings.

But this one, I think, is actually perfect the way it is. I'm happy Gilbert Hernandez got it right.

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Dec 18, 2011 Kenny rated it 5 of 5 stars

A great introduction to Love & Rockets and a great book, period. From the very beginning Palomar feels like an actual living, breathing community, just bursting at the seams with vibrant characters, each with a story to tell.

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May 06, 2012 Mejix rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kind of a mixed bag. These were, I believe, early works and he seems to be learning the craft. Kind of soap-operaish, and kind of juvenile. But also lots of vitality. It's is interesting to enter into this, to me, alien world. It is also interesting to see the characters grow and evolve.

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Apr 19, 2012 Lawrence rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: class, comics

Takes a little while to learn all the characters in the enormous cast, but then they sink into your life and you fall in love with them. This is one that I keep returning to.

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Aug 04, 2009 Mateo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Loved this comic...a beautiful rendition of hispanic culture and the magic realism / close-knit community made it seem as though it were an illustrated Garcia Marquez book.

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Jan 16, 2012 Brandon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

The first story in this collection was solid, but didn't really prove itself in terms of how well the series is regarded. And then there was the rest of the book. Amazing. Highly recommended. Now, to try out some of Jamie's stuff.

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Jul 29, 2011 Laura Macdonald added it

My first foray into magical-realist comic books and I absolutely loved it. It won't be my last. Thank you Piers for introducing me to this genre. x

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Feb 07, 2013 Sophie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love Gilbert Hernandez work. His style, his stories are unique and the characters are very interesting!

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Apr 05, 2013 Hava Buchanan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

Absolutely great storytelling. I don't love these stories the way I love the Maggie/Hopey stories from Jamie Hernandez, but they're great in an entirely different way.

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Nov 04, 2007 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm only slightly acquainted with the Love and Rockets series. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. There's no real plot or story arc -- and that's fine with me. The characters change, more is revealed about them, they are complex and fully articulated, and are what drive the series. There are a ton of characters too, and I felt like I knew everyone by the end of this collection. I like the graphic style, though occassionally the women begin to look alike. It's weird, it's odd, it's very slice of li...more

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Heartbreak Soup (Love and Rockets: Palomar #1)

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