We Come Here to Starve

At the Midnight Café, everyone hungers for something.

The animals who find this place have nowhere else to go. They don't fit into society, nor into their relationships – not even before God do they find their place. This rundown café has become their refuge. A place where they can hide from a world that has no room for them.

The Fly, the café's silent owner, welcomes every animal that walks through the door. She listens as they all search for belonging – only to repeatedly come to the same painful realization: survival and true belonging are mutually exclusive.

Come, sit down. The Fly is waiting for you.

We Come Here to Starve is a hand-illustrated, philosophical graphic novel about the conflict between survival and belonging. An allegory as beautiful as it is disturbing about crumbling refuges, the moral compromises of survival – and the dangerous desire to be loved without having to change.

Note:
This book deals with sensitive topics such as self-destruction, trauma, and faith. It contains depictions and discussions of suicide, abuse, and explicit language. If such content could be distressing for you, please consider whether this work is suitable for you.

If you appreciate Paige Parker's style but prefer a gentler read, it's worth taking a look at her equally hand-illustrated work Observations on the Human Condition – a poetic, thoughtful story that many readers find moving without being as intense.