A beautiful and unique story that explores a journey of self-discovery.

This graphic novel tells the story of a photojournalist that embarks on a sixty-day journey of self-discovery in New York City. As he commits to this period with no human interaction, he will have to rely on memories, numbers and music to keep his sanity and in hopes to get over a painful past and to rediscover the beauty of the world.

This story was heart-warming and unique. It gives an unique perspective of life, the world around us and how we miss little moments because we are so focused on ourselves. The setting is great because it shows how even in a big and crowded city we can still feel very much alone.

The characters are great and they depth is amazing. The drawings are definitely one of my favourite details of this graphic novel with the style and the colours and how they change and grow with the story line.

I definitely recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in putting things into perspective and to remember what is really important in life.

I'm not an expert, but I think the artwork is very good in this graphic novel. A+ The story is sort of wistful and a bit spiritual. It talks about deep things like the heart of a city and it's people. I don't believe that I understood the message it's trying to give, but I did find it uplifting. The premise is that the main character is doing an experiment in New York City. He's trying to not have actual interaction with anyone. He's getting over a break up and sort of finding himself while doing this social experiment article. Things get a little mystical when he and someone connect by their thoughts. I recommend it for the graphics, and if you're into new age thinking the storyline is something worth checking out.

My rating: 3.5/5 stars

Thank you Diamond Book Distributors and Magnetic Press for providing me this free ARC of Giacomo Bevilacqua's Graphic novel via NetGalley.

This was my very first attempt to read a Graphic novel and I am glad I read it. It was interesting to read a book in the form of pictures.

When I got this book I had no idea what to expect from this. But when I opened it, I was glad. the illustrations were beautiful. You can tell in each image what is happening. This story is about Sam who decided to spent two months in New York without talking to anyone, to write a story on his experience. The writer has used many good quotes here, but my favourite is:

"There are people who would look for or judge their ideal partner according to astrological rules, astral schemes, planetary alignments and influences.
Still, I think the only star we can rely on where love is concerned is the star we can all see. Which, in my humble opinion, divides the world into two great categories.
- Those that would rather watch it rise at the dawn
- Those that prefer it as it sets in the evening
The ideal partner is the one you find in your same category.
Full stop."

Isn't it beautiful? I think this would be favourite of many who will read this.

I liked the characterisation. The story is being told from the POV of two persons. The story was unique. But there are few things that I didn't liked:
1) The narration was quickly changing and at some points it was difficult to understand who was actually telling the story
2) The girl that kept on appearing in Sam's photo is unclear. I mean how Sam met her for the first time is still not clear to me. That last part was little confusing.

But inspite of these, I think you should definitely give it a try, as these are my opinion and it's possible that you don't find these difficulties.

Sam has challenged himself to a social experiment: live in New York for two months without vocally interacting with anyone else. He documents his surroundings through photographs, which he never looks at until he develops them, which he only does after taking several hundred pictures. So far, his experiment has been successful, though a bit lonely. But then he opens his latest package of developed photos and discovers that several of the black and white photos have been doctored; the only color in these photos is a woman who appears in many of the places Sam was photographing. Knowing this can't be a coincidence, Sam begins to wonder if the city is trying to use this woman to tell him something. The artwork in this graphic novel was great, especially the drawings of the photographs, which looked like real pictures. There were a few instances of unexpected nudity that didn't seem entirely necessary, but that only happened a couple times. The story itself is a little sappy for my taste, but the build-up to the end is compelling and well-written.

What I first noticed with this graphic novel was the artwork which I really enjoyed. Several scenes included cityscapes which were my favorite, possibly because it's a subject I'm interested in exploring in my own artwork. I appreciated the detail that went into these scenes with the various buildings and vehicles. It would be easy for a frame like this to get really busy but the balance was done well. I also enjoyed how the characters were drawn. I found the hair on the main character to be interesting, it's not a style that I've seen often and I really liked how it added to his persona.

As much as I enjoyed the artwork, the story left me feeling a little lost. For quite a while I couldn't really figure out what was going on and when I did it just wasn't that interesting to me. It got a little better toward the end of the book and I did find myself smiling, especially in the last few pages. That said, there were quite a few gaps in the story that were just confusing. I wanted to know more about his past and what brought him to New York. This is talked about but it felt sort of disjointed with information being given in little bits and pieces.

Overall, I really enjoyed the artwork but am sort of ambivalent about the story. It wasn't bad but it didn't draw me in either. I never really became engaged with the character and his emotions so it didn't have much impact on me. Even though I didn't connect with the story, it's still worth grabbing if you happen to come across it, if just for the artwork.

I started out really enjoying this story, the basis of it...but then it got...strange.

After the odd turn I fell out of love with the story and just kept trying to figure out where it came from. Too bad, I really thought it had a lot of potential. It just tried to be overly philosophical...or supernatural...or...I honestly have no idea what it was trying so hard to be. I guess I just didn't get it.

This graphic novel is set around Sam's commitment to write an article about his two months spent in NYC while having no verbal interaction with any other human being. The pressure is especially on since this is his first written article after a decade of photo reports.

Full review with excerpts of the illustrations:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1960977487
Blog: https://bookspoils.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/review-the-sound-of-the-world-by-heart-by-giacomo-bevilacqua/

I devoured this graphic novel. Every once in a while I'll encounter a graphic novel that tugs me along until I am saddened to turn the last page. This is one of those experiences. I did not want it to end.

The story of a man who has lost a great love. He moves to a different city, New York City in fact, where he begins an experiment in social isolation. It is to become a piece in the magazine he cofounded with his best friend. The task: to spend a month in New York City without talking to anyone. The only exception is his partner, to home he has to give periodical updates. There are rules that make it more complicated, such as the fact that he cannot eat at the same restaurant twice. However, all in all, he is being successful at the task at hand.

This all changes when he picks up pictures he has just developed. a handful of those feature the same girl. The only reason he noticed is because the photos were in black-and-white and the girl was always in color. This leads him all around the city in a frantic search for the girl who has captured his attention. When he finds her he has to decide whether or not he wants his experiment to continue. What follows is a departure onto magical realism that was refreshing and welcoming.

I strongly recommend this book.

This is a very nice story with beautiful art. I enjoyed the plot and even though Sam has his own uncommon way of life, I still enjoyed him as a character. I did feel like there was something missing, but overall I think that for me, the book achieved what it was supposed to. :)

In New York in beautiful full color, dingy and glorious, a young man with a painful past embarks on a healing experiment. A photographic love song to New York, to solitude, to companionship, to the impact of a small movement on another's life, to the magic of human connection.

Good job. The illustration work and layout is cool. Story-wise, I think the author tries too hard to make a connection between NewYork as a city and its invisible call to the people - a hard sell. The good part is 38-year old Samuel Page’s self-discovery and healing process. His life as it appears in the beginning is not the truth and readers get to know about the origin of all of his hangups, OCD behavior, loneliness, sense of alienation and disillusionment at the end.

The story slacks between pgs 33 and 77 where it’s more repetitive than forward-moving.

Memorable lines:
‘His camera was latest generation reflex. He was not.’

‘Special Price menu: Marvin’s saddest burger’

‘O love jazz in summer. In madison square park, they often organise concerts in the centre of the park. But I never went because all I listen to is Chet Baker. In truth, I only know one Chet Baker song. In fact it is the only jazz song I know.’

‘I never believed in destiny, yet every second spent in that city gave me the impression of being exactly where everything happens because it’s meant to. An impression which, in a small apartment, came from my own culture, made of characters and stories set there. but people formed the greater part of it. The crowd of strangers I’d come across on the streets every day.’ (check out how many you’ve seen while in NY)

This graphic novel is about a dude named Samuel Page who is essentially trying to escape his problems by taking on a project in New York. For a month he isn't allowed to engage anyone in conversation beyond a simple written note and shoots photos of various public spaces. What he discovers through this project is more than he, and the reader apparently, expected.

This novel is very movie-like in the way it was drawn and written. There's a lot of deep meaning behind certain moments and the main character seems to contemplate life a lot. It's not one of those kinds of graphic novels that you'd pick up for a light read. I enjoyed the art style and the basic concept of the story, but I feel it was trying too hard to be philosophical. There were certain moments where I started to gloss over details and would end up getting lost and having to backtrack to fully understand what I was reading. This made the read less enjoyable for me and was the reason I gave it three stars, but please don't let that deter you from reading this book.

The only other thing that bothered me was the way Sam's hair was drawn. For some reason it reminded me of Unicorn Ryuji from "Kamikaze Girls." It made certain moments of the book less serious for me, but I'm lighthearted in nature and kind of liked that.

Perhaps a grudging four stars for this book, as it forced the reader to have issues with it, that might be ironed out when the text is finalised for the English language publication. It's a love story, one very cinematically set in and about New York, with a photographer doing some weird journalistic study of how the city copes with a silent man, not verbally communicating with anyone. The answer – it gives him his Miss Right, but not the ability to see that (or her). The artwork was good, but definitely not great. The storytelling was awkward to say the least at times, with multiple narrators, and what is the difference between the black on white pages and those that are white on black? Still, this has to go down as an intelligent graphic novel, one that probably comes closest to demanding a re-read and getting it, and a book that provides for some clumsy beats but a lot to engage with.

It's a bit meandering and does require an initial willingness to submit to the mystery, but the text imparts the feeling of heartbreak and loneliness with stunning efficacy and you very easily find yourself captivated as you move through the beautiful, colorful streets of New York.

I’d like to preface off this review by saying I am not deaf or hard of hearing. However, I have friends that are and it is the knowledge and experiences they have shared with me in previous situations that guided me as I read this novel.

The Sound of the World By Heart started off pleasantly enough with an interesting premise, decent art style, and enjoyable prose. I was thoroughly engaged and for the most part, enjoying, (there were a few confusing parts where it wasn’t clear who was speaking) but by the end of the novel I was feeling uncomfortable.

The graphic novel tells the story of Sam, a photojournalist, who decides to take on the challenge of not speaking to anyone for sixty days so that he can write an article about his experience. Sam’s experiment is mostly uneventful until one day after printing a stack of his photographs in black and white, he opens them to find one woman standing out in color. Sam meets this woman again but never engages in conversation with her as he’s still conducting his experiment. Eventually, Sam is able to communicate with this woman, through his mind. (Yes, you read that right.) It turns out that Sam is deaf and is able to hear this woman telepathically. What does this have to do with the photographs? Unclear. We never find that out. (There are a lot of things we never find out.) This is the part where I started feeling uncomfortable. Once again I’d like to reiterate that I am not deaf/hoh and do not speak for that community, but I personally felt that having a deaf character’s soulmate be the one person he could hear was ableist. It felt as though the only reason the love interest was the MC’s soulmate was because the MC could hear her. It also felt like the author were saying that the MC needed to hear (in whatever way) their love interest and a relationship between two deaf/hoh people isn’t as meaningful or real somehow. I’d suggest you’d look into reviews by people who are deaf/hoh for a more profound analysis. (I was unable to find any but if you know of some please don’t hesitate to let me know.)

There were a few enjoyable things about this book though. The art for one reflected the tone of the prose extremely well and the prose itself was nice. The best aspect of this book would have to be the setting. The prose and the art both read as a love letter to New York which seems to be what this graphic novel is underneath.

So, all in all, yes to the art, yes to the writing style, no to the ableism.

Interesting perspective, great structure and execution. Will be recommending.

I'm going to review this book in two parts, Before the Girl and After the Girl, because to me, that was where the story lost the point, even though for the creator, that was obviously the whole point.

Anyway. I adored the story Before the Girl. Having requested the ARC solely for the idea of spending 60 days in a crowded city without talking to anyone, I loved the smallest details that supported the idea of that detachment, isolation, change, like the part about rent and the ever-present headphones. I loved the repetition of numbers. I was especially in love with the art; it was so pretty, all mute colors. It was quickly becoming one of the few books I could re-read.

After the Girl was a roller coaster. On one hand, it added a new subplot to a story that could become boring if actually told the whole 60 days. It was interesting and intriguing at first. On the other hand, it felt too forced, especially on that part with the painting and later on. I liked the change of narrating, but not when it turned into an attempt at being mysterious. I loved the revelations about Sam, even though I didn't understand what the real point of that 60-day challenge was then, and the revelations about the girl was... I'll go with "not interesting".

Overall, I feel like I could love the book further if it weren't for the Girl, but I wouldn't dare call it a bad book overall. I'm not sure if I would re-read the whole thing later on, but I know I'll go back to the first 30 or so pages at the very least. Overall, a 3/5 read.

This book touched my heart in so many ways. The art was beautiful the story was remarkable in that it had not only a beautiful meaning but you have the added joy of finding love for the characters and then being genuinely surprised at the end of the story. I think it is very important for everyone to read this story. Never judge a book by its cover. Never judge people, period.

Impressionistic watercolor scenes of Noo Yawk background a story of a photographer who plans to go sixty-two days with no verbal interaction. (As a fellow photographer I wish I could do that with the models I work with.)
Things are strange to start, as there’s an unseen narrator, rather than the guy we’re following actually doing the talking, or thinking. It’s not till page 43 that she introduces herself; up to then there was no idea if the voice was male or female. She claims to hear his thoughts; telepathy or imagination? Is it the famous lady from the painting? She does say she’s French, after all. At some point it changes to first person, and it works better, but then it switches back.
I was wondering how he communicated when needed; turns out he passes notes. Would have been easier to use his ubiquitous phone, but either way it feels like cheating.
The conceit of having a redhead who appears in the photos—in color, even though the shots are B&W—felt spooky at first, but at the same time intriguing. Not so the dream sequence; that was just disturbing.
I’m of the opinion this graphic novel was longer than it needed to be. There’s a lot of white empty space; the drawings don’t come close to taking up all the room on the page. There’s also far too many drawings of him drinking coffee while walking with his headphones, which makes things a bit boring. And the crashing marbles analogy was just silly.
Joan is smart; talking to the painting would be weird, but telepathy is normal? But then there are plenty of times when he does or says something that makes me think this is either all a dream or he really is crazy, and not just because of the voices in his head. And there’s no way I’m buying the city theory, but then I hate Noo Yawk.
Even though it did a good job at resolving some of the seeming inconsistencies at the end, I was still left far too confused. Couldn’t tell if it was real or not, if it actually happened at all, but I guess I wasn’t supposed to know; that wasn’t the point of the story.

I don't even know how to review this. I think it went way over my head, but I still really enjoyed it. It's compelling, I couldn't stop reading. But I honestly can't even tell you why. I'm definitely going to have to read it again.