An interesting and quite moving story, about the ability to be surrounded by people, and yet also alone. This is especially a phenomena in cities like New York and London, where public transit is ubiquitous and the norm for every day travel.

Unusually, however, in Sam's case, it was intentional: 62 days of no talking to another soul (save for his editor), to make up an article for their magazine. Is this possible? How do you avoid verbally interacting with people in New York, of all places? Will it help him find what he's looking for, and come to terms with his grief (he's recently broken up with his girlfriend).

The artwork is simple, but evocative - when I saw his Union Square panels, I had flashbacks to when I was there every day (I worked just one block to the east). So much of this brought back memories of New York. It's also an interesting story, of course, as Sam navigates New York, and stumbles across a surprise he couldn't have anticipated.

Really enjoyed this. Recommended.

This felt quite like a dream to read. I couldn't tell if it was fantasy or contemporary, fiction or memoir and that was totally fine. The characters are intriguing and the art was lovely and stylized wonderfully. I got to the end and had to go back to reread it then knowing the twist.

A visual love story to New York that feels like a poem told in images. I genuinely loved this book. Further evidence that Magnetic/Lion Forge release some of the most beautiful books on the shelves today!

This was a seemingly simple but very unique somewhat autobiographical graphic novel. The art is great--kind of comic-style but also almost photographic with the background at times. This book is partially a love story between people and places but really more about rediscovering oneself after growth and tragedy. And there's some suspension of disbelief required at the end. Overall, an interesting and enjoyable break from the typical graphic novel.

'The Sound of the World By Heart' by Giacomo Bevilacqua is a graphic novel about an artist's experiment in silence and what that may cost him.

Sam is a photojournalist who has suffered a big loss. He decides to give himself an assignment of living in New York for 60 days without talking to another person. He does this by making sure he always wears headphones and doesn't eat at the same restaraunt too often. His ordered life becomes disordered when he develops his rolls of film and discovers all the pictures feature the same woman. He has been avoiding human contact, but the city has ways of turning Sam's world upside down.

I liked the art quite a bit. I understand why the entire book is narrated, but it's not my favorite way to read a graphic novel. I wasn't sure about the story at the beginning, but by the end, I realized that I liked where the story went.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Magnetic Press, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

This is a beautifully drawn book. The city scenes took my breath away with the loving realism of them. I think if I had to name a genre for the book, I would go with magical realism. The story was well thought out and well executed. I was drawn in (no pun intended) am d very interested in the main character and his development throughout the story. Definitely recommend this one.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC. This well-drawn and well-written story was one of my favorites. The story of a young man who makes a vow of silence speaks volumes. I definitely recommend this one.

I read through this a while ago. The artwork is super well done and I really enjoyed it. The story is a little slow, but its cute. I read this pretty quickly and its pretty cute and well done. Its very stream-of-consciousness, day-in-a-life and if you like that you'll like this.

Giacomo Bevilacqua’s Tale of Love and Misanthropy Left My Heart in New York
By Chris Yee, August 5, 2017

Having never been to New York, I have only the trappings of pop culture’s sensationalized and often exaggerated viewpoint of the bustling city. From the heavenly skylines to the lowly sewer depths, every inch of the concrete jungle has been used ad infinitum. And yet The Sound of the World by Heart, a new graphic novel written and illustrated by Giacomo Bevilacqua, simply captivated me with its richly detailed vistas of not just the city’s landmarks, but of the citizens—and their stories—that dwell there.

With a sketched, vivid drawing style, the narrative follows the story of Sam Page, a young photojournalist taking up the challenge of living in Manhattan, the vibrant heart of New York, with one goal in mind: no verbal interaction with other human beings for two months. In the sprawling Big Apple, this would seem nigh-on impossible. Armed with written notes and communication-negating headphones, he gets to work.

It is not all roses and fluffy bunnies. We find that the primary reason Sam is there is in the city is to escape an old pain: that of a past relationship. Broken-hearted, he buries it, erasing the moments as he immerses himself in his singular passion of photography, trying to let the world see what he sees, feel what he feels in that fractional moment where time is frozen. And while the moment is gone as the world moves on, his imprint on the world is preserved forever as he builds his narrative for his experiment in isolation. His challenge rules, which border on misanthropy, enable him to be the outside observer, consistently unchanging as the city goes about its business.

That is, until New York throws him a curve ball.

On one fateful November day, after processing his photos, he finds something odd in a batch of black and white prints—a single person in color in all of them. And not just some random person. It was the same redheaded girl in every photo. This both intrigues and alarms Sam. Is someone at the print shop messing with him, or is there some greater mystery to this?

In Sam’s quest to pursue the answers all without breaking his self-imposed communication rules, he finds an almost supernatural flow to the city, with chance encounters steering him into new and untested directions, revealing secrets about the city that have always been before him. After years of peering at the world through the lens, Sam is opening his eyes for the first time in his journey to find himself—and maybe even a soulmate—in this bustling, crowded city.

This was a pleasant shift in pace that leaned on the visuals to move the story along. Philosophical musings about the people of New York, the lifeblood that keeps the city alive, are a constant in the narrator’s words. The story does switch viewpoints, from Sam to his editor and others, but the different voices can be easily discerned by tone and context. Within this narrative, it is Sam’s interest in the interconnectedness of the city and its people, even when they don’t realize, it that forms the premise of the plot. While I do agree that chance encounters surely could not affect the overall grand scheme of the universe, they do leave their impression in small ways that ultimately build up to something splendidly serendipitous that one can only describe as magical.

I also appreciate the disability representation written into The Sound of the World by Heart. This wonderful story provides a deep self-reflection for the reader in understanding the complexities of social nuances that keep the world spinning, keep us waking up every day to face the world with purpose, and finding the heart and the joy in the things we love.

The Sound of the World by Heart was originally published in Italian in late 2016. It was published in English through Magnetic Press (Lion Forge) in spring 2017 and is now available on Amazon and elsewhere. You can follow both Giacomo Bevilacqua (@keison22) and Lion Forge (@lionforge) on Twitter or check out magnetic-press.com.

This graphic novel completely took me by surprise. I didn’t really know what to expect as I went into it but I ended up really enjoying it.

The cover gives very little away in terms of the art style, I’d say, however the pages inside are so gorgeous and to be fair I was far more interested in the images than the actual plot. The colours were so soft and lovely and it was one of the most pleasing graphic novels I have read. The art was unique and so immersive, I was drawn into it without even realising.

The plot I found to be a little confusing at times, though thankfully everything was cleared up at the end and I loved the way that it ended. The writing itself was beautiful, there are a few pages with longer passages on and they are like poetry. The story itself was wonderful (confusion aside), especially the ending, though I genuinely loved the concept and I felt that an aspect of the character (that I’m not saying because: spoilers) was actually portrayed really well throughout the graphic novel, without it being specifically mentioned, only to be cleared up at the end. Thinking back on this, it made the whole reading experience a little surreal and like being in a bubble, which is exactly the feeling I imagined the character to have.

This was such a wonderful, short tale of finding yourself and others around you, and I truly loved it. It read almost like a modern day fairytale, as it had a ethereal feeling at times, be it because of the isolation in the plot or because of the poetic writing style that features throughout. If you’re looking for a new graphic novel to read that isn’t all action and drama and space etc (which make up the majority of comics / graphic novels - not that it’s a bad thing, it’s just nice to have a change), this is definitely one to pick up.

A beautiful graphic work, about a heartbroken young photojournalist who temporarily moves to NY with his job and starts an experiment of total silence. The graphics and colors are very beautiful, perfectly capturing the city’s atmosphere, but the ‘dialogues’ (more monologues, as actually the character is talking to himself wordlessly) are sometimes a little confusing.

Published by Lion Forge on May 23, 2017

The Sound of the World by Heart is sort of a tribute to New York City as seen through the lens of chaos theory. The story is about making connections, or choosing not to make connections and thus to avoid pain, in a city that is famous for people who bump elbows but never notice each other. There’s magic in the city, in its art, its library, its streets, its people … and some of that magic (or maybe it's just randomness) underlies the story that Giacomo Bevilacqua tells.

Sam is a photographer. He counts numbers in his head because he doesn’t want to think. He listens to the same song over and over. His memories are like digital pictures. Memories that don’t turn out well, he deletes.

Sam is on a New York adventure, living for two months without speaking to another human being. He plans to write a photo essay about his adventure and to publish it in the magazine he co-founded. The other co-founder helped Sam devise this challenge as a way to get over the pain of a loss.

Sam has taken 400 photos and somehow the same girl has ended up in dozens of them. Who is she? How did that happen? Part of Sam’s challenge is that his habit of deleting memories is coming back to haunt him. Of course, getting answers isn’t easy when you aren’t allowed to ask questions out loud.

Many of the scenes show the mystery woman and Sam in the same area, often oblivious to each other’s presence. One point of the story, I think, is its illustration of the notion that we need to open our eyes, to look outside of ourselves, if we don’t want to miss the things that might truly be important.

Bevilacqua writes in a minimalist, poetic style, letting the pictures tell most of the story, as good graphic novels should. I like the way the art tells one story while the text tells another, both working to make the story whole. The technique allows the reader to see relationships that would not be evident by reading the text or looking at the art alone.

Sam’s musings articulate an appealing, if unfinished, philosophy of life, parts of which might usefully blend into the reader’s own unfinished philosophy of life. Some of the story is about finding a preferred rhythm of life, and perhaps finding a place, or a person, whose rhythm matches your own.

The element of magic I mentioned might be real or it might be in Sam’s head. Is Sam entirely sane? Maybe not. Is anybody? But some connections have their own kind of magic — even when we don’t see the connections, don’t know they exist — and I think that’s the point the story is making. The story doesn’t try to be deeply philosophical, and maybe it stretches a bit to make its points, maybe it even borders on being overly sentimental, but the story is narrated in a voice that feels true, and I have to give it credit for being so well done.

I love the art, particularly the cityscapes. They’re almost impressionistic but they capture the reality of the city.

RECOMMENDED

1.5
Not my type of book. It was pretty confusing at the beginning, I liked some parts, others didn't convince me at all.
Things that I liked: The story is original, in some parts there are beautiful phrases, full of feelings and life lessons. The illustrations were wonderful.
Things that pissed me off: It was confusing, the book doesn't explain you since the very beginning the reason of the character's isolation. I was bored during half of the book. And, the final was so dissapointing, didn't resolve all the doubts that I was expecting to be resolved.

A beautiful evocation of New York. I love the art in this book! The story is good as well, dealing with themes of introversion and inverted thinking that are close to my heart

I didn't know much about this graphic novel when I began reading it, but the narrative still went in directions I did not expect - blending a grounded realism with moments of the surreal and the extraordinary.

With wonderful art, and a careful balance of voice and silence, "The Sound of the World by Heart" captures a tone that is thoughtful, melancholy, and tender. While dealing with themes of love, loss, isolation, and human connection, the story finds moments of beauty in the midst of the chaos that often defines daily life. It is not a graphic novel to rush through. Through stretches of only visual imagery, as well as through the musings of the small cast of characters, the struggles and triumphs witnessed by the reader are simple but powerful.

Sam's journey of silence progresses with raw humanity and occasional humor - and Bevilacqua, as the creator, navigates each twist and turn of the narrative with precision and impact. There's not much flash here - creating a simple story that is made better for its simplicity. In both the familiar and the unexpected, Bevilacqua captures something relatable about the human experience and then manages to cast it in a whole new light.

There are some very beautiful things in this book. There is loss, grief and pain to deal with. The decisions people make. There is something going on with OCD but it is really subtle and very important but it is not the main characters problem. There is love, hope and the existence of soulmates. There is beauty.
But the flow in the book is off. I liked the idea of going out Sam going without communicating. How will he find a way in this world where communicating is so important. I had expected to read more about the influence of this on his life but most of the story is about the emotional struggle he is going trough. As with all emotional struggles the story is difficult to follow.
I liked the graphics. Important things where more detailed attracting attention to it. The city was easy recognizable in the drawings even more blur. I did not always find the typescript easy to read.

I had been halfway through the comic book when it expired, as Netgalley books are free for a few days. I thoroughly enjoyed whatever part of the book I could read. It was soulful, connecting and made me question a lot many things in my life, especially the importance of words. What an amazing title, theme, subject! The comic makes you ponder over a lot of these things that we probably take for granted.

This is not a happy or funny comic. It's kind of sad, very reflective, incredibly artistic. I loved it all, even what I didn't quite grasp. It just had the perfect, slow flow, that kept you interested. It seems like it was written by the guy's editor. Not the one who kept silent for the trip to New York, but his boss, partner, friend. It's very insightful.

This book is a thoughtful, beautiful rumination on pain, love, chance, and New York City. It delivers a lot to consider and rewards multiple readings.

This graphic novel was excellent. The story line was intriguing and the artwork gorgeous. It's one of those books that I wish I could read again for the first time just to enjoy all the moments of discovery.