The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey (2025) “Friendship has a way of re-revealing the things you know in such a way you can’t help but accept them.” A half step away from her previous fictional works, Catherine Lacey’s By Hana Zittel 2025 release combines autofiction and memoir in a unique form. Before the opening, Lacey immediately informs the reader, “This book was written in two parts, either of which can be read first, neither of which is the true start of the story.” On one side, there is a novella set during a somber Christmas where two old friends gather at turning points in their lives. Marie, having cheated on her wife, is now living in a dismal, seedy apartment where a pool of liquid that looks very much like blood is growing outside her new neighbor's door. The other, Edie, has just left a controlling relationship, full of gaslighting and violent behavior, bouncing between friends’ places as she recovers from the separation. The two spend this Christmas together discussing love and faith, drinking mezcal, and eventually acknowledging the pool of liquid outside the door when another neighbor knocks. The flip side of The Möbius Book is a memoir. Lacey’s partner, whom she lived and owned a home with, emails her from another room in their house to let her know he’s met someone else and wants to separate. Shocked and betrayed, Lacey moves out and proceeds to stay with friends from all over the world. As she spends time in these friendships she works through the breakup and deeper reflections on love, memory and death, gaining perspectives and rediscovering the magnitude of deep connection. A key element of her reflections during this time are centered on faith. Having grown up devoutly religious, her grappling with belief as an adult is complex and urgent at this juncture. She writes: “In moments of weakness and depletion, I look for unwavering order and certitude that used to accompany my religious extremism, but all I find, instead, are friends who read tarot, and charming little coincidences, and the infinitely flexible explanations of astrology that everyone now seems obliged to know. What I want instead are blazing miracles. I want crystal clear visions, a burning bush, the voice of a goddamn god.” If either is read first, novella or memoir, elements of the former trickle into the other. Lines, conversations, memories and scenarios replay similarly enough to be recognized in their fictional or memoir version. The Möbius Book is an intimate work exploring through the universal questions of humanity while acknowledging the impact of the past and our need to see ourselves as reflected by those around us. Though at its surface deeply introspective, The Möbius Book is truly an acknowledgment of the unique and vitally important love found through friendship. When to Pick a Pomegranate by Yasmeen Abedifard (2024) Anar, the pomegranate, and Guli, the woman, move through the life cycles and forms of a plant in Yasmeen Abedifard’s surreal 2024 graphic novel. When to Pick a Pomegranate begins with Seed, where Anar and Guli question their purpose, creation and relation to one another. Each story that follows progresses through the natural cycle — Sprout, Propagation, Flower, Ripe, Rotten and finally Ferment. Abedifard weaves complex ideas into each of these stories, with artistic obsession, sex, longing and healing all intensely felt despite the sparse language. Playing with symbolism and absurdist storytelling, Abedifard’s characters experience pain, desire and intense pleasure in just a few pages. Each section’s illustrations are colored with a different set of a few pastels or neons adding to the fantastical, otherworldliness of these stories. Though a quick read, When to Pick a Pomegranate is a complex and profound graphic novel and was awarded a 2025 MoCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) Festival Award of Excellence. No. 143
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