Giraffes In My Hair

Bruce Paley turned 18 in 1967 during the Summer of Love. Paley's tumultuous journey took him from being a hippie in the 1960s to a heroin addict for much of the 1970s. These stories are vividly brought to life in Giraffes in My Hair: A Rock 'N' Roll Life by the compelling visual storytelling of Bruce's partner, the cartoonist Carol Swain. Swain's trademark visual approach to comics, typified by exquisitely composed panels that vividly capture both anomie and pathos, is perfectly suited to dramatizing Paley's life during that confusing, tumultuous period of American history - a life lived in the countercultural margins, amidst personal chaos and social dissolution. Swain's storytelling rhythms are contemplative and breathe inner life into Paley's turbulent stories, creating a perceptive prism to view the vast possibilities and endless pitfalls as experienced by a kid growing up in America in the late 1960s and early '70s.