Heartbreak Soup (Part 1)

Reprinted in Heartbreak Soup
by Gilbert Hernandez

Why did I put this book down after I read the first story. That was just after SPX 2016, where I bought the book and got it signed by Beto, the author. SPX 2017 is a few days away as I write this. *sigh*

There are a lot of characters in this story. It seems to follow or focus on a few of them: Carmen, Heraclio, Pipo, and Tipin Tipin. The latter doesn't have much to say, Tipin Tipin's unconscious for a good bit of this chapter but he seems to be a focal point for other characters. He's down on his luck. He's under the house where he used to live. How he got there is a bit unclear. Even after some of the neighborhood kids pull him out he needs to be carried to somewhere safe. By the end of the chapter he is back under the house.

Carmen is the one who gets some of the boys in the neighborhood to pull Tipin Tipin out from under the house. She crawls under there herself but can't move him without help. She lives in Palomar like everyone else in this story. Her mother is out of town at the moment. She, Augustin, and Lucia, her younger siblings, are playing in the street when they hear about Tipin Tipin. It's a little unclear why Carmen takes responsibility for getting him out. She's fairly young, probably 8-10 years of age.

Heraclio is one of the boys who helps pull Tipin Tipin out from under the house . He's a teenager maybe 15 or 16 and new to Palomar. He has a flat top haircut. He gets a bit sick from drinking beer with some of the other boys. Still partly drunk he starts hanging up fliers for Luba and learns the hard way where not to hang the fliers.

Luba, like Heraclio, is new to Palomar. She lives in a van. It doubles as her place of business. She's in the same line of business as Chelo, she's a bañadora, one who washes others. Luba and Chelo cross paths briefly when Luba comes looking for supplies for her business. Chelo lets the other bañadora take what she needs.

I really like this story so far. The story meanders a lot but I'm enjoying the exploratory route it takes. I love all the little visual things that Beto includes, many of which I didn't notice until I went back to reread it before writing this.

I'm not sure this will sate everyone's needs but I'm enjoying the hell out of this story.