Clutter

by Ariel Bordeaux

Clutter: A Scatterbrained Sexual Assault Memoir is an 80-page comic by alternative comics legend Ariel Bordeaux. Clutter is a devastating account of a horrifying incident as a child, but it’s also a moving story that confronts trauma and how it affects our brains and our emotions in ways we don’t expect. Bordeaux never shies away from what she went through, but her willingness to name and confront it while seeking out comfort and solutions is inspiring.

Ariel has always written powerful, personal stories in her expressive style of art. The cheery veneer of her art belies her scorching cultural and gender critiques. Her 90s minicomic Deep Girl was deeply influential for a generation of young cartoonists. Her graphic novel No Love Lost introduced her trademark, painstaking use of color, something that she continued in her anthology series Raisin Pie.

Genres: Comics, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels

Paperback

Published February 1, 2022

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful little comeback book from one of the bright stars of the 90's indie/minicomics scene. This is the first publication from Fieldmouse Press and it's a very promising start. Let's hope for much more from both Fieldmouse and Ariel B.!

[John “Hoss” · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick read… but really. Don’t just read it quickly. There’s some real depth to this little graphic novel. I can relate to balancing my creative ambitions and family life, responsibilities in a way like Ariel, but I’m in the middle of a lot of house projects and tending to a 4 year old and 1 year old. I’m happy to see books like this, and it reminds me that if you’re really passionate about something you will see to it that you can get it done. This book also balances creativity with trauma and how one deals with it. I myself can’t relate with this, but I can empathize with it. Reading it made me put myself into someone else’s shoes, and think what that must be like to cope and carry on with. Pretty raw and I know can make some feel uncomfortable, but it’s important to have this available for someone with unresolved trauma to start thinking about confronting it.
Beautiful book and worth the read!

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sexual assault, trauma

[Colleen Frakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only complaint is that it's far too short