Where We Live

Where We Live is an anthology of stories of the 2017 Las Vegas music concert mass shooting told in a graphic novel format. The shooting resulted in 58 deaths and injured more than 500 people.  Where We Live is an unusual graphic novel as it has both fictionalized cartoons and cartoons from eyewitnesses.  Several themes are discussed such as gun control, a compassionate society, the stigma of mental health, and how communities persevere after a tragedy.

All of the 90 cartoonists used bold, vivid colors in their comic strips which was what initially made me interested in the book at my local bookstore. After reading the back cover blurb describing the book I decided that I had to buy it.

After beginning to read, I had to put the book down several times because the darkness of the stories was overwhelming. There were many eyewitness accounts in the book's 331 pages. They were riveting but the fear and grief expressed in them consumed my spirit because the darkness in each of the stories never seemed to end for me while I was reading. Each comic strip exuded so much emotion that it was hard to handle. One or two short essays on the beginnings of guns in the U. S. is included and I learned a few facts from them. However, even the essays exuded negative emotions.

Where We Live is a difficult read. I can understand why the editor, Will Dennis, included all of these comic strips  in the book. He is from Las Vegas. If you are from Las Vegas, the fear and grief is one you share with the cartoonists. For me, who doesn't live there, it seemed to be over kill. While I understand this is an anthology of comic strips its impact on me was one of horror, too much horror to be affected by the social commentary. It meant nothing to me. All I felt was the fear of the people who were present at the shooting. I do not know if that was the editor's intention or whether this book was written for the people of Las Vegas.

4 out of 5 stars.