Chartwell Manor
“How long would it be like this? Would I get out? Or just stay fucked up?” (116). 
So asks Glenn Head in his autobiographical Chartwell Manor, a chronicle of the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse that Head and his classmates suffered at the eponymous boarding school.
In 1971, Head’s family sends their teenage son to the English-style boarding school in New Jersey run by serial pedophile Terence Michael Lynch. Lynch (known as “Sir”) spanks, paddles, and canes the minors in his care, and he tells bedtime stories while he sexually abuses the boys. The other adults at the school, including his wife, normalize the abuse by treating Lynch’s behavior as business as usual (49).
Head attempts to confide in his parents, but right away we see that his weak, strained relationship with his parents sets the family up for a communication failure. Disgusted by her son’s wild, reckless behavior, his mother literally turns her back on the clearly troubled young man (119). Head thinks to himself, “This can’t be talked about,” (103). Even many years later, Head’s mother does not open up to hear his experiences, and his father has dementia and cannot receive it either. Both parents vocalize a “the past is in the past” mentality. After graduation, Head ends up in Brooklyn, dealing with the trauma and subsequent fallout. This manifests as drug and porn addiction, sexual dysfunction, relationship problems, and suicidal ideation.
One good thing that happens at Chartwell Manor is that budding artist Head draws his first comic there (69). The alternative, or underground, comics (comix) that Head was exposed to-Zap Comix, Mad Magazine, and Weirdo Magazine—inspired his style. Head’s black and white artwork is dense and heavily inked with a lot of bizarre, psychedelic imagery. The people are cartoonishly stylized and the environments are finely textured and patterned. The book is incredibly enticing visually. Head pulls no punches in depicting sex, prostitution, violence, substance use, and other adult content. The busy, cluttered style and the tragic subject matter pair well. At first, both seem like too much to take in, but the reader who persists reaps the reward of seeing Head’s progress. On the final page, Head is with his daughter, thinking about just letting go. “Holding onta stuff yer basically…much better off lettin’ go of…Maybe I’ll work on that,” (236).
This dark and disturbing adult memoir is a deeply candid story with wonderful artwork. Memoirists and aspiring cartoonists will benefit from reading Chartwell Manor, while those readers who would struggle with the content should of course skip it. Graphic memoir is an overflowing genre and it can be hard to pick out a worthwhile book, so consider this an easy win.
Chartwell Manor A Comics Memoir
By Glenn Head
Fantagraphics, 2021
ISBN: 9781683964254
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)
Creator Representation: Addiction, Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Character Representation: Addiction, Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
