Zine Review: Quietly By Yumi Yamaguchi

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Quietly Zine, Volume 1

 

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Quietly Zine, Volume 2
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Quietly Zine, Volume 3

 

Introduction
Quietly is created by Yumi Yamaguchi. They can be bought as a 4 pack (as of this writing) for $12 or individually for $4 each. I bought the first three books at the 2015 San Francisco Zine Fest. Volume 4 was not released when I bought them together, but I’m sure to pick it up sometime in the future.
Thoughts
Stories. I think stories are some of the most important things that drive us as human beings. We all want our stories to be remembered, to share where we’ve come from, and to connect with the journeys of others. How often have you had something happen to you that was so thrilling/emotional/amazing that you just had to call someone up and tell them everything? I’m sure we’ve all had that feeling at some point in our lives.
Quietly, as it stands right now, consists of several different stories. Volumes 1 and 2 follows the life of a woman battling OCD and coming out. Volumes 3 and 4 looks at two people: a librarian who deals with frustrating library patrons and a woman dealing with sleep paralysis. Even if your own life doesn’t mirror those of the characters, there’s something relatable about the struggles they go through with their own lives. I’m sure fellow readers can remember a time when they chose to be quiet as opposed to honest or moral dilemma on dealing with, for lack of a better word, “difficult” people. Succinct and deceptively simple looking in terrms of art, Quietly quickly cuts to the heart of the matters that define us as human beings. Our hopes and fears, battling it out, often with more casualty then we realize. Hopefully from that we can learn to grow, lest we live forever fighting the same problem, never finding the right solution.

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