Black Box Blues

"Everything that falls into my hands is drawn all over. It's a way of showing thoughts without having to talk." There are texts that catch you completely off guard. You weren't expecting them, certainly not looking for them. This may, in very rare moments, be the case for publishers when they receive a manuscript, and it may also be the case for readers when they pick up a book. "Black Box Blues" by Ambra Durante is one such surprise. Is "graphic novel" the right term for this book? Maybe, maybe not. But it doesn't matter in the end when it comes to a work that is of such intensity that you are immediately caught and feel what this is all about. A nineteen-year-old author and draughtswoman captures what brings her close to an abyss in phases of deepest darkness - and what keeps her alive. She finds images and words for her despair, fights against giving in to it, and looks for the straw that can give courage. Sometimes she also finds a hold that gives confidence. Sometimes she seems to watch herself, even gains a kind of humour. But the whole thing is far too serious for Ambra Durante to want to and be able to give herself and her readers cheap comfort. She finds the fragile balance in drawing and writing, explores for herself why she is so endangered and where, at least temporarily, help is possible. This is not a view from the outside, but an existential attempt to save herself. Ambra Durante speaks for herself. But perhaps also for many people who experience similar things. Perhaps such a book will evoke memories in readers of situations they themselves once lived through. Perhaps it is presumptuous to say that such a book helps to better understand people in such situations. But perhaps it can help the helplessness that many people feel when they are confronted with it.