**Total Suplex of the Heart** by Joanne Starer, with vibrant illustrations by Ornella Greco, is a captivating and unflinching dive into the world of professional wrestling, infused with a heartfelt coming-of-age story. This graphic novel strikes a perfect balance between high-octane drama and introspective exploration, offering readers a dynamic and relatable narrative about self-discovery and empowerment.

The story follows Georgie, a young freelance journalist who dives headfirst into the local hardcore wrestling scene to investigate a feature article. Her journey from a self-proclaimed nerd to a hotshot in the ring is as exhilarating as it is transformative. Through her undercover assignment, Georgie finds herself entangled in the vibrant and often chaotic world of wrestling, where she makes new friends, navigates budding romances, and confronts the dramatic highs and lows of the sport.

Starer masterfully crafts Georgie's character, portraying her growth with authenticity and depth. From her nerdy past to her current struggle to prove herself in a male-dominated field, Georgie's journey is a relatable and honest depiction of the challenges faced by young women striving to find their place and voice. The wrestling world serves as both a backdrop and a catalyst for Georgie's self-exploration, highlighting issues such as body image, toxic relationships, and personal empowerment.

The wrestling scenes are both thrilling and vivid, thanks in no small part to Greco's explosive and energetic artwork. The illustrations capture the intensity and drama of the sport, bringing the matches to life with dynamic and engaging visuals. Greco’s art complements the narrative perfectly, enhancing the emotional and physical stakes of Georgie's journey.

One of the novel’s strengths is its exploration of complex themes, such as the impact of validation, the pitfalls of casual relationships, and the struggle for self-worth. Georgie’s experiences with girl fights, casual hook-ups, and predatory behavior are portrayed with unflinching honesty, making her story a powerful commentary on navigating personal and professional challenges.

**Total Suplex of the Heart** is a spirited and thoughtful story about the highs and lows of growing up, both in and out of the ring. It’s a tale of falling, crashing, and ultimately finding oneself again, told with humor, heart, and a dose of wrestling flair. For readers who appreciate a mix of emotional depth, personal growth, and the thrill of the wrestling world, this graphic novel offers a compelling and satisfying experience. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the most significant battles are those fought within oneself, and the greatest victories come from embracing who you truly are.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for me to review! The cover and premise really dragged me in, the art style is gorgeous and the colours are all well-chosen. Definitely a little blast to the past to a brief phase of interest in wrestling back when I was younger!

This felt... unfinished. There's not much for clarity in the time skips, and it feels like a good chunk of the story is being left out. There's little windows into her past, but they don't seem to do much to inform her present or future. It's frustrating to watch her make similar mistakes over and over, without very little self-awareness. I did like seeing her support network of friends grow as she grew to trust them, and how she took ownership of her work for the wrestling event she designed.

I really wanted to love this book, but am settling with 3 stars due to the narrative issues.

Thank you to Humanoids Inc, Life Drawn and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

This graphic novel isn't really my usual cup of tea, but it was a very fun and educating read. Wrestling is not something I've ever really thought about, but the general gist of the culture and environment around it was easily accessible in this story. I loved the artstyle, which I also found very fitting.

While I feel like I get to take a lot with me from this story it also left me wanting. This graphic novel deals with a lot of big and very heavy themes (ED's and abusive relationships) but never really does a deep dive into the themes it takes up, but just serves them to you as an observer without any final conclusion to it all. I can't fault the story for feeling unfinished when it's revealed in the end that it's semi-autobiographical, but the ending would probably have felt better if the rest of the story had been more indepth with a better execution of the narrative. The time skips were especially jarring, and at some point I had to skip back and check whether I had a broken pdf, because it felt like 5 pages had been skipped. I wish more was done with all the potential it had between the lines.

It is, however, a faster read with a lot of interesting themes going on, so if you don't mind it being a little messy, this might be worth picking up.

Giving it 2 stars because of the art. I did not like the characters, instead of being fleshed out, they were portrayed as terrible people. Even Georgie, our FMC was unbearable. The only good thing about it was how easy it was to read. It is a short graphic novel, around 150 pages, and could be read in a single sitting. But, I don't think I would have picked it up if not for the cover.
The plot was not linear and was very messy, Georgie ED and SA, both weren't properly dealt with, and the romance does not even scratch that itch inside.
Thank you to the Author, Life Dawn Publishers, and NetGalley for the ARC!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6709081228

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

I loved graphic novels and this one sounded very promising. Going into it I didn't know that it would be biographical but that is exactly what this is. I feel sort of bad saying anything negative because of that, this story was lived through by someone after all. But with that being said I can't say I really enjoyed this. I liked the artwork very much but everything else seemed to be lacking. All of the characters are just bad and unlikable. Not a single even okay human in sight. That would be fine IF they were fleshed out more but they were very much one dimensional. Also were did the story of her being a reporter disappear?! One second it was there and then it never got mentioned again. The transition from her being a reporter to boxer as well as all other transitions simply wasn't done naturally.
There were so many important themes woven through this but there neither was given enough time/pages to be discussed properly and with appropriate care. Nothing was developed enough which resulted in me not caring for the characters nor the story. And then everything abruptly ends leaving the reader without a proper conclusion. Nothing actually gets resolved which yes mirrors the real life story of the author but it just doesn't transfer well to a single graphic novel of 160 pages. Total Suplex of the Heart just wasn't what it promised to be.

2.5 stars

First, I want to thank Humanoids Inc., Life Drawn and the author for letting me read this comic via NetGalley.

I rated this book 3.75 out of 5 stars.

It shames me to admit that this was the first Graphic Novel I ever read. That is why I had no idea what to expect going into this. But I have to say, I loved it! The story felt so authentic and the characters all had their flaws.
I read this in one sitting because I was so invested in the characters and their fates!
At its core, this is a story about healing. Healing from toxic relationships and mental health issues. And of getting back up to continue fighting.

What I liked:

The characters
I already mentioned this above, but I need to say it again. The characters felt real. Even though this story was not that long, I felt like I had a good understanding of the characters, which I imagine must be difficult to achieve in a comic.

The Pace
This book was incredibly fast paced. It kept me captivated the entire time!

The way her mental health is handled
This author does not hide anything from the reader. Every bad moment in the main characters life is documented and shown. I think this helps the reader understand the gravity of her eating disorder and the effects of toxic partners. It made me feel for the main character and made me celebrate even the smallest victories.

I guess the reason I did not give it a better rating is entirely my fault. This is just not my style. But for anyone who likes Graphic Novels with heavier themes, this is an instant recommendation!

As always, this review will be posted on Goodreads, NetGalley and StoryGraph.
I will also post about on my instagram (titas_library), hopefully within the next 5 days.

I've seen this graphic novel in the catalog for months and I finally selected it from the catalog today when it was automatically approved. My only knowledge of wrestling was when I had a brief phase in middle school when I was obsessed with The Undertaker. Total Suplex of the Heart only focused a quarter of the book on the madness of the ring. The comic primarily featured the protagonist Georgie's struggles with her eating disorder, journalism pursuit, and her absolute train wreck of a love life. All of these characters were horrible. Messy, selfish people that I would not deign to spend time with in real life. I thought the story was over halfway through only to treat the reader with domestic abuse, near cheating, and destruction of friendship. This book had me feeling absolutely disgusted upon completion and it wasn't worth the 15 minutes I spent reading. The artwork and color palette were lovely, but they couldn't do all the heavy lifting for the atrocious narrative. I should have left my curiosity unassuaged and avoided this Total Suplex of the Heart.

This is only 160 pages and I wanted to stop half way through. I ended up skimming through the second half just to see if I was being too hard on it. Unfortunately, it did not get better. I know this is based off a true story so maybe it's wrong to judge it so harshly, but it did not seem well thought out. The timeline was very confusing and the story itself felt messy. I suppose being messy is the point, it was a messy time in their life.

There was a lot of trauma involved in this story and it all happens very suddenly. It can be very jarring.

I'm sure there's a target audience out there for this, it's just not for me.

The art was beautiful and very well done. every character had their own style.

Publishing date: 18.06.2024
Thank you to Netgalley and Humanoids Inc for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

The book as a meal: Coffee with a friend dishing out some drama
The book left me: Uncomfortable

Negatives:
Plot was a little messy and hard to follow
Very sudden time skip halfway through
No proper ending (but based on real life so not that big of a deal)
Felt a little rushed or like it was missing something
Issues were brought up and not dealt with properly

Positives:
Cool art
A bit of a different insight into wrestling dynamics and politics
Interesting premise

Features:
Unhealthy work dynamics, character with eating disorder and how that affects what they see, toxic relationships, abusive relationship, what goes into creating a wrestling persona, wrestling politics, child neglect and abuse

Why did I choose this one?
I thought this was a romance comic based on wrestling, and I did get that. However, it was more of an autobiography, or a hybrid between fiction and an autobiography.

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
In-between. It is a very quick read and can be consumed in a single sitting, but I had a hard time getting invested. Issues were brought up, and either not resolved or not handled properly. The characters' relationships were as uncomfortable as the characters themselves. No one was really likeable. I think I would have devoured it if stuff was fleshed out a bit more. Everything felt a little too shallow.

What was the vibe and mood?
Uncomfortable. I could almost smell the locker room. The nasty men in the story gave me a flight or fight response all throughout. It was very much early 20's learning how to adult and relationship esque.

Final ranking and star rating?
D tier, 2 stars. This book had a lot of problems that I can't overlook. I get that it is based on real life, but then I feel like it needs to be more clearly marketed as such. Finding out on the last page that all of this was based on real events was a bit of a suckerpunch. I also feel like it would benefit from a longer storyline with more attention given to the issues raised in the book, even if that means adding some flair and extras that were not part of the real experiences.

I think I had some unrealistic expectations that isn't really the books fault. This was sadly a disappointment.

Total Suplex of the Heart is a deep dive into the personal life of a woman who finds herself in the world of professional wrestling -- including the backstage politics that plague any wrestling promotion, big or small. As a huge fan of pro wrestling, I loved the attention to detail spent on matches, building wrestling personas, costumes/gear, and the time and energy it takes to build a promotion. This graphic novel tackles some heavy topics that the main character must contend with: eating disorders, unhealthy interpersonal work dynamics, toxic and abusive romantic relationships, and childhood abuse and neglect. As with any storytelling in graphic format, I always wish more time can be spent with these topics so they can each get the treatment they deserve, but the author's note at the end gives some much-needed context and expansion on these struggles. There is something of value here even for folks who aren't fans of pro wrestling.

The art for this book was beautiful but the story itself seemed to be lacking. The plot was a bit all over the place making it difficult to continue reading at times.

I liked the art style of this book, but I wasn't a fan of the story itself. The characters were all fairly unlikable and seemed to have rather unhealthy relationships with each other, which made the book uncomfortable to read for me.There were a couple of problematic and/or triggering aspects that didn't get addressed enough (e.g. EDs, domestic violence,...). Lastly, the novel had no real ending, I would have preferred to get some kind of closure.
Overall the book just wasn't for me.

I absolutely loved the art and I loved how raw story was. I wish it hadn't been so rushed. It constantly felt like I had missed something.

I found the premise quite interesting but the execution was rather lacking. I felt as if there were a lot of issues raised but almost none properly tackled or resolved. On the contrary, many instances made me uncomfortable. The art, however, was very good.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this eARC to review.

Review to come Sept 28 on blog/other places.

I received this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

In this one a girl goes into the world of wrestling for her journalist job and then stays with it. I really loved her idea for the article and I loved how, instead of just staying on the sidelines and write an article that way, she just went deep inside the world. Became a part of it. Participated in some fights. Wore some questionable outfits (even she wasn't always so amused). We see that the world of wrestling isn't always pretty. There is the manager who could easily be sued for sexual harassment. There are some real fights between the guys. There is one girl who is shunned by others because she slept with everyone. And other things. It was an interesting look in the world. I loved how Georgie stayed a part of the world, first as undercover, then to help out her boyfriend, and then also thought of some great ideas herself which made me so excited and happy. I loved how she tried to grow. Given her past and also how Steve is, she could just have given up, but she stuck to it. Learned new things. Tried out ideas. Love it!

But yeah, she was a bit dodgy on the whole man front. Those two guys on the cover? The left is her boyfriend and the right is the guy who I definitely thought was the better choice. Then there is also another wrestler that Georgie dated/had sex with before (and around) the time she met and got closer to Steve (which yes felt a bit iffy). 

I loved seeing her make friends, not just with girls, but also with guys. I loved seeing them all just hang out and do fun things. 

She also has an eating disorder and sees her body totally different from what others see, which hit me quite badly. I am not sure if I would say I have an eating disorder... well maybe others would say the way I look at food isn't healthy. But I definitely understood how what she saw in the mirror was different from what others see. I am the same. My hubby and others will say I look good, but what I see, almost always, is a fat chubby girl. I often will describe myself as a whale. Because that is my reality. That is what I see when I look in the mirror. That is what I feel when I touch my stomach or hips. So yeah, I had to hold at times because it was like, OH. OH. Oh no. 

We also get bits featuring abuse (our MC was beat by her mom and well Steve wasn't the best though he only hit her once, but there were enough verbal and emotional abuse on that one). Our MC hasn't had the easiest life and that also explained some of her more questionable choices she at times made. 

But I didn't like the ending. Our MC finds out things about her bestie and her boyfriend and then stuff happens with the show and the book is over. It felt so incomplete and I was definitely wondering if I missed something. It was just so anticlimactic. I had expected just a bit more. Just a bit more ties to the loose ends. 

The art was pretty fun, it reminded me at times of Giant Days, and I love that! 

All in all, despite the open ending and some other things just feeling a bit all over the place, I am happy to have read this graphic novel. It was an interesting read!

Thank you net gallery for this arc.

A very interesting premise completely bungled, filled with internalized misogyny and character heel turns with no build up. This book is not sensitive or good enough to successfully deal with the issues it tackles.

This book is more honest about your mid 20s than a lot of readers are going to want. The ending is also unresolved, but realistic.

Gorgeous art, and there are moments of great character work, but overall it was a bit scattered and lacked cohesion. The story feels really rushed, and it jumps from relationship to relationship in a way that doesn't allow the emotional beats to land.

Thank you to netGalley for the ARC!

Honestly this want what I expected this to be, it turned out so much better and way more emotional than I expected! The art is great and the story is entertaining and at times kinda emotional. I loved it!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

I was really excited to read this from the title alone and the themes of women in wrestling. Unfortunately it missed the mark for me. The book explored many themes, including emotional abuse, sexism, and eating disorders, but it jumped around a lot and didn’t tackle any of the themes thoroughly