Nicholas Breutzman’s vividly drawn graphic memoir Pill Hill is a deeply distressing tale of his former spouse’s drug addiction and mental illness. Somehow, the book also manages to be a thoroughly entertaining account of Breutzman's efforts to protect their son and stepson and initiate a new and loving relationship with another single parent. Breutzman opens the book with a quirky local mystery—someone is sticking a single wad of chewed gum on the trees in a local park—before delivering a series of heart-stopping accounts of his ex-wife’s self-destructive behaviors, his desperate efforts to keep the family afloat, and, surprisingly, downright hilarious episodes of his own piercing bouts of self-examination. In this nine-page excerpt, Breutzman is on a date with Emily, the first woman he’s dated since his divorce, who shares her grim but funny dating-app experiences. Pill Hill by Nicholas Breutzman is out now from Uncivilized Books.
