• Home
  • About
    ▼
    • What is Graphic Medicine?
    • Get Involved!
    • Graphic Medicine International Collective
      ▼
      • GMIC Board Resources
    • Website Team
    • Related Sites
      ▼
      • Medicina Grafica
      • Japanese Graphic Medicine Association
      • Graphic Medicine Italia
      • Pathographics
  • Latest
    ▼
    • News
    • The Graphic Medicine Award
    • The Drawing Together Archive
    • Frontline Comics Project
    • Spotlight Archive
  • Reviews
    ▼
    • All
    • Editor’s Picks
    • Graphic Novels
    • Educational
    • Manga
    • Write A Review!
  • Conferences
    ▼
    • 2023 Toronto Conference
    • 2022 Chicago Conference
    • 2021 UnConvention (Virtual) Conference
    • 2020 Toronto Conference
    • 2019 Brighton Conference
    • 2018 Vermont Conference
    • 2017 Seattle Conference
      ▼
      • Home
      • Program
      • Registration (NOW CLOSED)
      • Lodging in Seattle
      • 2017 Seattle Conference Sponsors
      • Call for Art
      • Press/Media Inquiries
    • 2016 Dundee Conference
    • 2015 Riverside Conference
    • 2014 Baltimore Conference
      ▼
      • Home
      • Program 2014
        ▼
        • Program 2014
        • Keynote Speakers 2014
        • Marketplace 2014
        • Juried Exhibit 2014
        • Call for Papers 2014 (closed)
      • Accommodation & Travel 2014
        ▼
        • Accommodation & Travel 2014
        • Additional hotel suggestions
      • Sponsors 2014
      • Baltimore Restaurants & Attractions
      • FAQs 2014
      • Registration 2014 (closed)
    • 2013 Brighton Conference
    • 2012 Toronto Conference
    • 2011 Chicago Conference
    • 2010 London Conference
  • MultiMedia
    ▼
    • Podcasts
    • A Graphic Medicine Conversation with Sam Hester
    • Graphic Medicine Video Archive
    • Graphic Medicine Exhibits
  • Resources
    ▼
    • The Peter James Burns Scholarship Fund
    • Essential Graphic Medicine: An Annotated Bibliography
    • COVID-19 Comics
    • Reproductive Freedom Comics
    • Frontline Workers Comics Project
    • The Drawing Together Archive
    • National Library of Medicine Graphic Medicine Exhibit
    • Liaison Program
    • Publishers
    • RESEARCH
    • TEACHING
    • GRAPHIC MEDICINE CONFAB ARCHIVE
  • Merch/Support
    ▼
    • Bookshop Store
    • 2023 Conference Merch
    • RedBubble Store
    • DONATE
  • Contact
    ▼
    • Contact Form/Email
    • Social Media
Graphic Medicine
  • Home
  • About
    • What is Graphic Medicine?
    • Get Involved!
    • Graphic Medicine International Collective
      • GMIC Board Resources
    • Website Team
    • Related Sites
      • Medicina Grafica
      • Japanese Graphic Medicine Association
      • Graphic Medicine Italia
      • Pathographics
  • Latest
    • News
    • The Graphic Medicine Award
    • The Drawing Together Archive
    • Frontline Comics Project
    • Spotlight Archive
  • Reviews
    • All
    • Editor’s Picks
    • Graphic Novels
    • Educational
    • Manga
    • Write A Review!
  • Conferences
    • 2023 Toronto Conference
    • 2022 Chicago Conference
    • 2021 UnConvention (Virtual) Conference
    • 2020 Toronto Conference
    • 2019 Brighton Conference
    • 2018 Vermont Conference
    • 2017 Seattle Conference
      • Home
      • Program
      • Registration (NOW CLOSED)
      • Lodging in Seattle
      • 2017 Seattle Conference Sponsors
      • Call for Art
      • Press/Media Inquiries
    • 2016 Dundee Conference
    • 2015 Riverside Conference
    • 2014 Baltimore Conference
      • Home
      • Program 2014
        • Program 2014
        • Keynote Speakers 2014
        • Marketplace 2014
        • Juried Exhibit 2014
        • Call for Papers 2014 (closed)
      • Accommodation & Travel 2014
        • Accommodation & Travel 2014
        • Additional hotel suggestions
      • Sponsors 2014
      • Baltimore Restaurants & Attractions
      • FAQs 2014
      • Registration 2014 (closed)
    • 2013 Brighton Conference
    • 2012 Toronto Conference
    • 2011 Chicago Conference
    • 2010 London Conference
  • MultiMedia
    • Podcasts
    • A Graphic Medicine Conversation with Sam Hester
    • Graphic Medicine Video Archive
    • Graphic Medicine Exhibits
  • Resources
    • The Peter James Burns Scholarship Fund
    • Essential Graphic Medicine: An Annotated Bibliography
    • COVID-19 Comics
    • Reproductive Freedom Comics
    • Frontline Workers Comics Project
    • The Drawing Together Archive
    • National Library of Medicine Graphic Medicine Exhibit
    • Liaison Program
    • Publishers
    • RESEARCH
    • TEACHING
    • GRAPHIC MEDICINE CONFAB ARCHIVE
  • Merch/Support
    • Bookshop Store
    • 2023 Conference Merch
    • RedBubble Store
    • DONATE
  • Contact
    • Contact Form/Email
    • Social Media
Home / Comic Reviews / Things to Do in a Retirement Home Trailer Park When You Are 29 and Unemployed

Things to Do in a Retirement Home Trailer Park When You Are 29 and Unemployed

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Author: Aneurin Wright

Format: paperback

Pages: 306

Publish Date: 2012

Publisher: Myriad Editions

Where to buy: http://trailerparkbook.com/buy

Author website: http://welsheldorado.com

Review

Trailer Park

guest review by Chicago medical student Brian Kim

Things to Do in a Retirement Home Trailer Park … When You’re 29 and Unemployed is a beautiful approach to discussing the various facets of death in one’s life.   Aneurin Wright depicts his journey in caring for his father, who is dying from emphysema. He illustrates the profound memories that form the foundation for his relationship with his father, as well as fundamental memories that have formulated his father’s relationships.   Additionally, he depicts his thoughts and daydreams that highlight his anguish and frustration with his situation and also the reconciliation of his relationship with his father.   This depiction is deep, meaningful, and compassionate.

Wright uses a simple, but effective color palette of reds and blues throughout this autobiographical graphic novel. The limited palette serves to enhance the salient points in his experiences in addition to enhancing our own visualization by allowing us to fill in the rest with our own emotions.   Additionally, he takes a symbolic approach in drawing himself and his father. He draws himself as a minotaur and his father as a rhino. The anthropomorphism of these animals is particularly effective in conveying the humanity and emotions at each point in the novel.   For instance, the body language in young Wright and present-day Wright are the same. We see the young minotaur and muscular adult minotaur with a similar slouched posture and timid gaze.   We see relationships at various stages in their life. We see a college-age Wright yelling at his father. We see his father crying. We see them in the present-day reconciling their relationship in touching instances, such as when his father, an architect, and Wright work on a building schematic together.

Throughout the novel, we are exposed to the subtleties and complexities of hospice care.  Illustrations of various medicines, ranging from furosemide to morphine, and diseases are interspersed between various narrations and daydreams.   For example, to describe the pathophysiology of emphysema, Wright illustrates the customs line at an airport security area.   Alveoli are described as customs agents inspecting passports of elements from the outside environment, such as oxygen, and allowing them to proceed to “capillary concourses” or “Hemoglobin Bonding Gates”.   At the end of this short lesson in pathophysiology is a depiction of a young Wright purchasing smoking cessation medication for his father’s birthday. The accompanying narration discusses the fatal end stages of emphysema as we see the smoking medication being thrown away in the trash. Powerful scenes like these are plentiful throughout the novel. We are exposed to how Wright responds to learning about the impending death of his father and the memories associated with each particular experience. We can see the anguish and helplessness through his use of ellipses in discussing the inevitable demise of his father’s lung functions.

Additionally, we are exposed to the history and texture of the various relationships between each character. I found the illustrations of his father and his mother, who are divorced, to be particularly moving. Though the novel largely focuses on Wright and his father, there are brief moments where we see his mother and father interact. These moments are dense with emotion. We see thought bubbles from his father, who is trying to express his regrets and apologies to his mother. One thought bubble contains a powerful, vivid collage of divorce papers, his father busy at work ignoring his wife, and his fits of drunken rages.   Beneath it, we see his present-day father, thinking and staring at the ground in sadness.   With just one page, we learn an entire history of a marriage and the effects on the people involved.

I could go on and on about the wonders of the various images and sections in Things to Do, but I believe that would be a disservice to future readers and do not wish to spoil the experience of seeing these images and reading the narration for the first time.   I highly recommend this graphic novel.   Wright honestly depicts the experience of dealing with hospice. The range of moods in the story reflects this honesty.   There were times when the scene was humorous and joyous and there were times when it was dark and solemn.   This is a graphic novel that everyone can relate to.

Comments

  1. Martha Cornog says

    May. 21, 2015 at 8:30 am

    I am so glad to see the Penn State University Press is republishing this wonderful graphic novel this fall!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Comics and End of Life – HealthCetera says:
    Sep. 25, 2017 at 10:26 pm

    […]   Things to do in a Retirement Home Trailer Park When You Are 29 and Unemployed by Aneurin […]

    Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Graphic Medicine

Graphic Medicine is a site that explores the interaction between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare. We are a community of academics, health carers, authors, artists, and fans of comics and medicine. The site is maintained by an editorial team under the direction of the Graphic Medicine International Collective.

Subscribe to Graphic Medicine

Join our email list to keep up with the latest Graphic Medicine news!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Medicina Gráfica

Japan Graphic Medicine

Graphic Medicine Italia

© 2007 - 2023 Graphic Medicine International Collective

WordPress Developer