Cartoonist and stand-up comedian Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell (Murder Book) intimately mines her complex relationship with what she can/wants to/will/attempts to eat in The Joy of Snacking: A Graphic Memoir About Food, Love & Family. What lingers longest is her wide-open vulnerability--guaranteed to invoke frustrated, sympathetic, concerned, laugh-out-loud, shocked reactions.
The Joy of Snacking opens in 2024, with Campbell brimming with nervous energy (peppered with plenty of f-bombs), in anticipation of an imminent significant event, and ends with exhilaration over the gloriously revealing experience. Snacks are (always) integral--this time, it's Cool Ranch Doritos grabbed last-minute from a nearby bodega. Over the almost 400 pages in between, Campbell traces decades of her personal history that culminate in her sparkling "slay"ing debut before a sold-out Manhattan audience.
"My truest self is... a 5-year-old," Campbell confesses, specifically referring to her eating habits: even into her 30s, grilled cheese ("I fucking LOVE Kraft Cheese") cut diagonally and prepped for ketchup-dipping remains her go-to must-have. She was "told [she] was a really easygoing kid... UNTIL IT CAME TO FOOD." Hamburgers, bananas, marinara were potentially life threatening. Rather than meals, Campbell preferred snacking. In childhood, she didn't have the words to explain she was "legitimately terrified of food." Body issues and disordered eating plagued her well into adulthood, by which time she didn't know the difference between "hungry or nauseous." Prominently interwoven with her interactions with parents, siblings, friends, lovers is her four-year, on-and-off relationship with E.: "Sometimes it feels like we're in a bad romantic comedy. A wine salesman who loves to cook meets a cartoonist whose ideal meal is popcorn and cheap wine? Let the comedy of errors begin!"
"Drawing has saved my life," Campbell declares. Her astute illustrations capture quotidian scenes, particularly involving food: confronting hunger, seeking satiety, planning meals, anticipating culinary outings--and, especially for Campbell--facing comestible confrontations. Her hand lettering, varying in size and heft, add an inviting familiarity. She sublimely uses color, with black-and-white reserved for the most disturbing, devastating moments she might rather mute. However, humor is never far, particularly in pairing certain memories with distinct snacks that continue to nourish Campbell--"midnight toast," "(PEELED) Apple and Peanut Butter," "adult lunchables." Her not-quite recipes are also appended with telling "suggested use[s]": "healing rituals," "always eat near a dog so they can clean your fingers," "3 P.M. anxiety attacks." In wholeheartedly embracing all the nuances of the "joy of snacking," Campbell commands the stage to finally "live my life the way that I want." --Terry Hong
Shelf Talker: Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell learns to takes control of her life--and her eating--in her deliciously gratifying graphic memoir The Joy of Snacking.