Silence, Full Stop

Karina Shor is an illustrator, a cartoonist, and a teaching artist. Karina has illustrated many children’s books under the name Alina Gorban, but this is her debut as an author. She grew up in a small town outside of Tel Aviv, Israel, after she immigrated from the former Soviet Union. She received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and now lives between Brooklyn, New York and Tel Aviv, Israel.

“Shor's pull-no-punches graphic memoir debut depicts her attempts as a young woman to recover from trauma, with striking illustrations that toggle between realism and fragmented, color-saturated dreamscapes.” —Publishers Weekly“Shor's masterful use of omniscient storytelling fits this gut-wrenching, graphically bold, and unapologetic tale of survival and the struggle for self-control and self-determination.” —Booklist”This harrowing tale of childhood displacement, sexual assault, adolescent drug abuse, and depersonalization hurtles forward with eloquence. Not since Ralph Steadman's illustrations for Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas have images evoked so vividly the subjective experience of drug use.” —Jennifer Hayden, author of The Story of My Tits“Powerful, urgent, and masterful.” —Tom Hart, author of the New York Times bestseller Rosalie Lightning“A powerful tale of trauma and addiction, and a masterful use of the comics medium to evoke the complexity of an emotional crisis.” —Asaf Hanuka, author of The Realist“A bold, beautiful, painful book with incredible artwork and storytelling that took my breath away. It will stay with me for a long time.” —Danny Noble, author of Shame Pudding“Silence, Full Top depicts a girl's harrowing journey—from the Soviet Union to Israel, from innocence to despair, and to hell and back. Karina Shor's vivid and expressive imagery pulls you along as her story smolders with yearning and hope that have not been completely snuffed out. An absorbing, courageous book.” —David Mazzucchelli, author of Asterios Polyp“This raw and vulnerable memoir pushes the medium of comics to disturbing new depths.” —Hazel Newlevant, author of No Ivy League“The story is haunting, and the art is innovative and compelling. At times difficult to read, yet impossible to put down.” —Karen Green, Curator for Comics and Cartoons, Columbia University