From the Harvey and Lulu award–winning creator of Artbabe comes this riveting story of a young woman’s misadventures in Mexico C...
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reviews
Jun 26, 2008
Lilian
rated it: 
When I first started to read La Perdida I really enjoyed it because I was excited to read a graphic novel about a young Mexican-American woman. I also enjoyed the author/artist Jessica Abel's sparsely drawn images of Mexico City landmarks (and Pilsen in Chicago).
Unfortunately, as the story progressed I started to become uncomfortable with the authors negative portrayal of Mexico City/Chilango youth culture. Raw honesty I appreciate, but the author painted a seedy world where you ca More...
Unfortunately, as the story progressed I started to become uncomfortable with the authors negative portrayal of Mexico City/Chilango youth culture. Raw honesty I appreciate, but the author painted a seedy world where you ca More...
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Oct 01, 2011
missy
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I divide this book into two parts, even though it's not formally divided as such. There's such stylistic difference between them, it almost seems like there should be a formal divide. The first part of the book is a coming of age post-college, finding oneself while traveling, open-ended exposition. There's not much plot, just a lot of wondering around and talking to people. This isn't necessarily a bad thing -- I really enjoy those types of stories if they're done right. But what stopped me firs
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Jun 12, 2007
Sotoleon
rated it: 
Jessica Abel’s _La Perdida_ tells the story of Carla, an anglo-mexican U.S. citizen, who in an aimless sojourn in Mexico city falls into various situations and encounters a variety of people, all of which challenge her custom-made American identity. After a brief period of successfully (or so she thinks) acculturating to not only her local community (which include Marxist revolutionaries, drug dealers, and ESL students) but to Mexican society at large, an international incident occurs which ulti
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Jun 12, 2008
Jessica
rated it: 
I'd seen an excerpt of 'La Perdida' at an exhibit on the Graphic Novel Art in nearby West Stockbridge (Norman Rockwell Museum) some months ago and was intrigued. A graphic novel about Mexico City by someone named Jessica? How could I resist?! And then yesterday, while trying to hunt down a copy of the 'Savage Detectives,' I found "La Perdida" (The Lost One). So my interest and expectations were high...and for the most part, Abel satisfies them. The drawings are fluid and natural-see
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Jan 18, 2011
Leídas unas cuantas reseñas aquí, voy a acabar escribiendo sobre algo en lo que no pensaba mientras leía el libro*. Las dos principales objecciones que recibe son el argumento rocambolesco de la segunda parte (estoy de acuerdo) y lo mal que cae la protagonista -es decir, que es difícil identificarse con ella- a lo cual me sale del alma contestar un simple "y qué", no sé si con interrogación o exclamación o ambos.
Carla cae fatal. (Carla se da un aire a Holden Caulfield.) Es una More...
Carla cae fatal. (Carla se da un aire a Holden Caulfield.) Es una More...
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Oct 30, 2007
Renee
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Jessica Abel’s sizeable fictional travelogue La Perdida is the annotated postcard of the protagonist Carla’s visit to Mexico to find herself. As she navigates relationships and challenges, from disagreements with her wealthy ex-boyfriend expatriate, Harry to the difficulties of learning an unfamiliar culture, she also journeys through delusion, self-discovery and accountability.
While Carla is not always likeable, Abel’s skillfully expressive bold-line drawings and revealing dialogue More...
While Carla is not always likeable, Abel’s skillfully expressive bold-line drawings and revealing dialogue More...
Dec 20, 2008
Sharm
rated it:
The graphic novel La Perdida by Jessica Abel (check her cool website by the way) follows Carla, a naïve American girl who moves to Mexico City in the hopes of finding her Mexican roots (her estranged father is Mexican) and presumably in the process jazzing up her life.
Carla doesn't speak Spanish and has never previously visited when she first arrives, but vigorously sets about trying to differentiate and distinguish herself from the American expat community. Maddeningly for her she i More...
Carla doesn't speak Spanish and has never previously visited when she first arrives, but vigorously sets about trying to differentiate and distinguish herself from the American expat community. Maddeningly for her she i More...
Nov 27, 2008
planet
rated it:
as a graphic novel, i think "La Perdida" is a total success, the way the awesome illustrations tell the story and are supported by the text. i picked it up and started reading and couldn't put it down. brilliant!
unfortunately, the story lacked the depth and analysis about certain issues (class privilege, racism, tokenism..) that would have made it great. the clueless main character annoyed the shit out of me by making horrible choices and basically just being a total idiot More...
unfortunately, the story lacked the depth and analysis about certain issues (class privilege, racism, tokenism..) that would have made it great. the clueless main character annoyed the shit out of me by making horrible choices and basically just being a total idiot More...
Sep 02, 2011
Jennifer
rated it: 
This gets compared to the work of the Bros. Hernandez, but aside from the art style (and only occasionally), the fact that the main character is a woman, and the fact that it's set in Mexico, I'm not really seeing it. La Perdida is told in flashbacks, and is surprisingly suspenseful, despite the fact that we know the protagonist turns out more or less all right. There is something compelling about watching a character make tiny bad decisions, one after another, that inexorably push her towards
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Jul 28, 2011
I have to say, I was extremely lukewarm to this book. It seems like the kind of thing I would like, but overall I didn't see what all the hype was about. The entire plot rests on the main character being annoying, stupid, and so desperate to please her 'real Mexican' friends that she throws common sense out the window. By the end, you just want her to stop white guilt whining about how HARD it is to be privileged and to stop trying to win the favor of people who she can never win over. The e
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Jan 09, 2010
Raina
rated it:
I can't really believe I'm only reading this now, especially since GN travelogues are one of my purported interests. For the first half of the book I had the impression that it was barely fictionalized autobiography, but soon figured out that it's a more fully invented true graphic novel. This is the story of a girl trying to imbed herself in the culture of Mexico. She is half-Mexican, but barely speaks the language when she goes to "visit" a former fling and "forgets" to
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Aug 10, 2009
Jessica
rated it:
I really enjoyed reading these comic books when they were first published a few years ago, and I re-read them recently for a book club discussion I didn't end up going to. Jessica Abel's five-part story of a girl who moves to Mexico City on a whim - partially to reconnect with the Mexican heritage she never knew, partially to follow an ex-boyfriend, and partially just because it was something new and different to do - held up just as well on a second visit as it did my first time through.
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Jan 03, 2012
Neylin
rated it:
The book La Perdida is a very interesting book that people can relate to. This book starts out showing how the main character named Carla is in Mexico and doesn’t really understand what people are trying to tell her. The main reason why Carla is over there is because her father is from there and she is trying to see what it is like over there. And trying to see who she is herself, but she faces some problems for example she can barley communicate with the people there, she runs into her formal
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Dec 21, 2007
carmie
rated it:
Should be called La Dumbass. The heroine(?) of this novel succeeded in irritating me with her idiocy and horrible choices as no one has since....Ann Coulter?
When the drug lord offers you a sample of cocaine, the wise choice is to LEAVE, not take it! Sigh.
I guess I could consider Jessica Abel successful because she created a character who inspired strong feelings in me, even if those feelings were mostly annoyance.
When the drug lord offers you a sample of cocaine, the wise choice is to LEAVE, not take it! Sigh.
I guess I could consider Jessica Abel successful because she created a character who inspired strong feelings in me, even if those feelings were mostly annoyance.
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Jan 15, 2012
Sunil
rated it: 
Although it's not a memoir, La Perdida based on the author's personal experience and is memoir-esque. On the surface, it sounds interesting: a half-Mexican woman goes to Mexico to get more in touch with her cultural heritage. It was pretty well regarded.
IT IS AWFUL, YOU GUYS.
I wanted to give it up halfway through the second issue because I was so bored. I just didn't care about anything! All the characters were annoying, and nothing fucking happened. Each issue seemed to be n More...
IT IS AWFUL, YOU GUYS.
I wanted to give it up halfway through the second issue because I was so bored. I just didn't care about anything! All the characters were annoying, and nothing fucking happened. Each issue seemed to be n More...
Dec 30, 2011
Jonathan
rated it:
This is more like a 3.5 for me, but I'm rounding up.
In some ways, I think the format of the graphic novel is somewhat limiting to the subject matter, since it involves issues of race and identity, and what it means to be of mixed ethnicity--which is some rather complicated stuff to convey with simple line drawings, dialog and occasional narrative.
The main character, Carla, has grown up in the U.S., always speaking English and only English, but moves to Mexico City and g More...
In some ways, I think the format of the graphic novel is somewhat limiting to the subject matter, since it involves issues of race and identity, and what it means to be of mixed ethnicity--which is some rather complicated stuff to convey with simple line drawings, dialog and occasional narrative.
The main character, Carla, has grown up in the U.S., always speaking English and only English, but moves to Mexico City and g More...
Jan 17, 2010
Nelly Paulina
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 31, 2010
Nicole
rated it:
The art in this book is great, and I enjoyed the story too. I just have some quibbles with how it was done. The language thing was clunky (especially the footnote translations), but then again, I suppose it was somewhat important to capture the transition from uncomprehending gringa to Spanish speaker. It was hard to read, though. The other thing that was annoying was that the set-up took such a long time. But I guess that's also essential - if things had happened more abruptly, it would be hard
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May 05, 2009
Marisa
rated it:
While, I thought the art work was really good for a graphic novel (clear while artistic at the same time)I didn't connect with the characters, especially the narrator/main character Carla. She seemed a bit superficial and seemed to take in very little of the Mexican culture she claimed to so desperately want to learn about. Her continual search for an "authentic" experience in Mexico City (versus her American ex-boyfriend's) seems to push her to hang out with low-lifes (if I can say t
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Dec 16, 2008
Alicia
rated it:
La Perdida by Jessica Abel is an amazing graphic novel about Carla, a biracial American, who travels to Mexico to seek to understand the father she has never met. She ends up becoming disillusioned with her boyfriend and his idea of how to live the expatriate life and leaves him to seek out a more "authentic" experience. Falling in with a crowd of disaffected young men who quickly become petty and not-so-petty criminals, Carla is swept into a lifestyle that becomes more and more uncomf
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Dec 04, 2011
Melissa
rated it:
This graphic novel by Jessica Abel follows Carla, a half-Mexican, half-German woman who moves to Mexico City in order to find her roots and herself. She arrives barely speaking Spanish and eventually makes a life for herself, but, as the title suggests, she doesn't exactly find herself. I really connected with Carla's feelings of curiosity and confusion around her ethnic heritage. The plot slows down a bit in the middle, but then it really picks up and goes full speed ahead to the end. I wasn't
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Jun 24, 2010
Lara
rated it:
Yes, Carla is an idiot on the whole, but taking the drugs is what you do when you're in another country. That's the time to do them, when none of your back-home acquaintances will be gossipping about it tomorrow. That's the time to find the squalid neighbourhood to live in, to get too drunk and yell, to have pointless conversations with obstinate Marxists.
And she's not so much of an idiot that she doesn't recognize her own indiocy, and I like her for that. Plus, her frustration at th More...
And she's not so much of an idiot that she doesn't recognize her own indiocy, and I like her for that. Plus, her frustration at th More...
May 19, 2010
Patti
rated it:
I heard rave reviews of this coming-of-age graphic novel about a young Chicana woman's experiences in Mexico. Unfortunately, since the protagonist was completely unlikable and unbelievably stupid and the other characters were essentially stereotypes, the novel's attempts at emotional depth fell flat. An abrupt plot- and tone-shift midway through raises a crime-ring plot that seems forced and disjointed. And the Spanish glossary in the back makes it patently clear that the target audience is U
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Mar 15, 2010
Erica
rated it:
This novel made me uncomfortable, but I couldn't put it down either. In fact, I tried to stop reading it, put it back on the shelf in used, but ended up taking it right off the shelf again and staying up till 1 in the morning finishing it. Anyone who has experienced the great "abroad" during, or after college knows what it feels like to be in a foreign land, surrounded by the great other (that we often try to emulate) as well as fellow ex-pats. A lot of the feelings, and mis-steps were
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Dec 25, 2008
JD
rated it:
Not at all what I was expecting. Didn't know much about it, other than it was well reviewed, and made quick work of it. I've really enjoyed the graphic novels I've read that are set in foreign countries, and this, set in Mexico, was equally interesting, also as the first part of the book is written in Spanish with English translations. The turn the book takes in the third part was totally unexpected, and very compelling. Don't want to say more about it, but it was an interesting story about
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Oct 02, 2009
Robin
rated it:
At first, Part I of this book annoyed me for being confusing and all over the place. Then I realized that it really accurately captured the disconcerting experience of being in a foreign country. After that, the book is really compelling and kept me reading way past my bedtime. At the same time, though, I never really developed any sympathy for the main character. I know she was on this perilous quest for authenticity, but she just seemed to make a lot of bad decisions at every turn and felt lik
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Sep 14, 2010
Tessa
rated it:
An engrossing story, and so well-drawn. Abel really has a sense of the human body and her drawings seem to use just enough lines so that you know exactly what these people would look like and move like in real life, without being super-realistic comic style. Sometimes I got a little tired of Memo--she really laid his argumentativeness on thick, which left me wondering exactly how naive Carla could be in not realizing what a fanatic he was. But I think the fact that she was alone in Mexico D.F
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Mar 24, 2011
Peacegal
rated it:
La Perdida was the mostly entertaining story of a twentysomething American girl slumming in Mexico City with a variety of unsavory characters.
I know it’s something of a stereotype to live in a foreign country when you graduate college, but that’s not something I can relate to, seeing as I did not possess mucho dinero.
On the more negative end, the story was overly long and the frequently changing art styles were distracting.
PS: Look closely at the carousel on More...
I know it’s something of a stereotype to live in a foreign country when you graduate college, but that’s not something I can relate to, seeing as I did not possess mucho dinero.
On the more negative end, the story was overly long and the frequently changing art styles were distracting.
PS: Look closely at the carousel on More...
Sep 08, 2010
Paul
rated it:
Jessica Abel skillfully tells the somewhat frustrating story of Carla, an American ex-pat in Mexico City who slowly gets trapped by that city's darker side.
I enjoy a book with flawed, realistic characters, but this one takes that almost too far. We watch Carla make one bad decision after another, and alienating one friend after another, and willfully refusing to see the mounting evidence in front of her face that her life is going off the edge, all in an close-minded attempt to be mo More...
I enjoy a book with flawed, realistic characters, but this one takes that almost too far. We watch Carla make one bad decision after another, and alienating one friend after another, and willfully refusing to see the mounting evidence in front of her face that her life is going off the edge, all in an close-minded attempt to be mo More...
Jun 11, 2010
Marieke
rated it:
This is a hard one to write about. I read this graphic novel together with my brother and sister and we had a good long discussion about what we liked and didn't like. It's narrated by a young American woman who is looking back at a year in Mexico City in which she ended up in some quite frightening situations.
Whether Carla 'ended up in' or 'put herself into' those situations is open to interpretation. Carla seems at times (OK, most of the time) incredibly stupid, naive, idealisti More...
Whether Carla 'ended up in' or 'put herself into' those situations is open to interpretation. Carla seems at times (OK, most of the time) incredibly stupid, naive, idealisti More...
