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lgtl's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Gorgeous illustrations and poignant story, seen through the eyes of the author/illustrator young self. The Silent generation gave him a voice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Cancer
misstwosense's review against another edition
3.0
Like always, a fascinating memoir marred by the medium. This is a quick read, mostly just pictures, and it left me wishing for a real text to fill in all the gaps and questions it left me with.
I didn't care about the author's (very, very simplistically symbolic) dreams- I did want to know more about his mother and father, his brother, etc. The few meager paragraphs in the back of the book weren't enough.
I give this three stars because it is interesting material, but I remain firm in my belief that the graphic novel is the worst possible format for memoir.
I didn't care about the author's (very, very simplistically symbolic) dreams- I did want to know more about his mother and father, his brother, etc. The few meager paragraphs in the back of the book weren't enough.
I give this three stars because it is interesting material, but I remain firm in my belief that the graphic novel is the worst possible format for memoir.
nolansmock's review against another edition
5.0
So deserving of it's acclaim. At the top of my list for when I tell anyone who cares why graphic novels are still the best medium for depicting memories. The hazy black-and-white watercolor work struck me immediately, a beautiful foil for such a harrowing story. Sadly, I find these stories of troubled childhood comforting. This is nearly unbelievable until its not. Life feels like a dream sometimes, really, especially when you look back on it, and people are so strange.
greenleafbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This was really good. My therapist gave me this book at the end of my last session, and I’m glad, because it was such a good(although sad) memoir and I probably would not have discovered it otherwise. The art style was also really nice and I enjoyed how the pictures helped the story flow.
jakekilroy's review against another edition
4.0
There's something so relentlessly honest and disarmingly true about a memoir that doesn't pick a particular thread, but rather shows the messily assembled patch of quilt that takes from everywhere. Here, we get a glimpse of a life marked by silence, anger, and distance in a home — and how it informs the mind, future, and approach of a youth. Small does so much with such little dialogue and straightforward illustrations. (He's definitely responsible for my favorite depiction of a quiet, rainy day.) The powerhouse is surely his younger self's expressions, continually bouncing between skeptic scowl and a dissociating line of lips. He touches on all that he recalls as notable in his younger years, from the parallels of loud sounds as a form of language to how he came to find art an escape in the dominating silence of his home (and mouth) to the astounding revelations of a therapist simply observing the various tragedies that take a swipe at him. Most surprising is how breezily he captivates and makes the hardship easy to understand.