I do not remember when I first heard of The Short While by Jeremy Sorese, but I know I did not think it was going to be this odd, realistic, fantastical journey. I thought it was going to be a nice love story with ups and downs. It was going to be two gay men going through life and the trials gay men face. I misread the cover and thought they were camping in an odd cave. And it is that. And it is not that. (And no, that isn’t a cave, but a Huddle.)
Sorese make a graphic novel that is set in the not too far future, but also could be set 40 years ago (lots of hippies trying to help the environment and get people to trust they are good and are called The Dance), but also could be an alternative reality. This book jumps from “now” to “tomorrow” to “the next day” but has a few backtrackings in the middle of it all. Each section focuses on Pablo and Colin, two men who on paper should never be friends let alone lovers. But we also focus on their family, friends, and lovers. And their lovers’ lovers and their lovers lovers and…. Sex is an open thing. Queer sex and relationships are an open thing.
The fact The Administration (the government) used the tools around them (television, books, internet) to do everything from help people to execute them is also seen. It shows how we gave up “this” for “that” (supposedly) better thing. And how the government is so managed that the homeowner is blamed for being robbed. We see Government as itself.
And we see how people are now. One example is how we see how the character Minnie (the mom-who-is-more-a-friend of Colin) is in a cult-like-hippie world. Oh, it’s a nice hippy cult, but still. And yet, we also see how women are shunning men, talking power and yes, a Queer Women is president. Too bad she decided to keel over during her trial that was to show she was worse than the Administration she replaced with her government.
In other words, the book is a lot of life and its crap and love and fierceness. And it is like the ending says when it is wrapping things up and explaining the entire book: Life is like a meal. Meals are had. Some stay with you in memory and spirit. While others will fade. But they shape you. And getting to the next one is a long, hard, confusing process.
And I did not even talk about the artwork. The cover gives you a little of what you’ll see. But it is mostly black and white images. And some pages are just plain black. And some are busy with text, others busy with illustrations. Sometimes a page is crowded and sometimes empty. Sometimes you can’t tell if the character is male or female as there are some rough looking women, and some delicate men. Of course, body hair means nothing. Sometimes we see nudity, but it is tastefully done and shows both the intimacy of it and the separation (just trying to be connected).
