Synopsis
In 2005 Andy Warner travelled to Lebanon to study literature in Beirut, one of the world’s most cosmopolitan and storied cities. Twenty-one years old and recently broken up from his girlfriend, Warner feels his life is both intense and directionless. Immersing himself in the vibrant and diverse city, he quickly befriends a group of LGBT students, many of whom are ex-pats straddling different cultures and embracing the freedoms of the multicultural city. Warner and his friends party, do drugs, and hook up, even as violence breaks out in the city—the scars of a fifteen-year civil war reopening with a series of political assassinations and bombings. As the city descends into chaos and violence, Warner feels his grasp on reality slowly begin to slip as he confronts traumas in his past and anxiety over his future.
From: Macmillan Publishers
Notes on This Title
This title depicts multiple acts of violence, including the aftermath of multiple bombings. It also contains discussions of suicide and death by overdose.
The main character has sex with men and women throughout the course of the narrative, but does not state a sexual identity on panel. Prominent supporting characters include a gay Lebanese-American man and a bisexual Canadian woman.
Awards
None.
Reviews
“Spring Rain is a highly personal book and not a definitive history of Lebanon, but Warner gives us just enough background on the country’s rough past and the political and cultural place it occupies in the Middle East to make us understand both the intricate complexities of a nation that has too often been a pawn in power games played by others and the fact that there is no one position, no stance or belief among the citizenry that is universally shared or unquestioningly accepted.” (Source: The Comics Journal)
“The political and psychological potently intertwine within this highly charged memoir.” (Source: Kirkus Reviews)
“Warner’s work honors the richness of Lebanon and the fragile, fleeting nature of peace.” (Source: Publishers Weekly)
Interviews
None.