Do Not Resuscitate by Ingrid Pierre
• First Prize, Graphic Novel & Memoir, 2020 North Street Book Prize
• Grand Prize Winner, Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo Mini Grant
North Street judge Ellen LaFleche writes, "The plot is compelling: a young woman having a difficult time accepting her boyfriend John's death from cancer is at first overjoyed when he comes back from the dead. But even as the reunited couple make love and bathe and continue on with daily activities, the man's body begins to decompose. The physical degradation of rot is drawn in a way that is at once horrific and respectful. The couple's efforts to control their leaky ceiling reinforces the symbolism of bodily ooze.
"As the boyfriend's re-animated body continues to vanish, the couple work hard to come to terms with how they behaved toward each other in life, grappling with urgent haste to understand and honor their lost relationship in all its complexity: the good, the bad, the mundane, the loyalties, the betrayals, the joys, the losses. Readers who have experienced grief will recognize this process."
