Lucky

Gabrielle Bell fascinatingly documents the mundane details of her below-minimum-wage, twentysomething existence in Brooklyn, New York, with a subtle humor. Her unadorned drawing style, heavy narration, and biting wit chronicle transient roommates who communicate only through Post-it notes; aspiring artists who sublet tiny rooms in leaky, greasy, broken-down border-house loft apartments crawling with bugs, cats, and bad art. Bell tackles a string of forgettable, unrelated jobs — including nude modeling, artist's assistant, art teacher, and jewelry maker — that only serve to deepen her despair, boredom, and discomfort in her own skin. 

Bell's self-scrutiny leads her to dream sequences that allow her to rise above her banal actuality and hyperawareness. She fantasizes about a perfect world as she becomes the accomplished artist and world traveler she longs to be. Bell's daily comics allow her to escape the harsh, judgmental gaze of the world and the monotony of daily life. Her unpolished art speaks to a desire to record all the messy details while the pain and confusion are still fresh.

This 25th Anniversary edition restores all the names that were fictionalized in the original edition. The unveiling of the protagonists cements Lucky as the starting point of Gabrielle Bell’s lifelong diary project, which includes The Voyeurs, Everything is Flammable, Truth is Fragmentary, and others. Bell’s monumental work places her in the autobiographical pantheon with Pekar, Knaussgard, or Annie Ernaux.