Reviews - The Greatest Thing

429 reviews for:

The Greatest Thing

Sarah Winifred Searle

4.0 AVERAGE

inkdrinkers's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This graphic novel now has a piece of me.

Focused on the story of Winifred, it follows her through her discovery of love, self worth, and the intricacies of aging. I won't lie, a lot of the scenes resonated heavily with me, especially regarding Winifred and her struggles with her body and restricted eating. It absolutely does an amazing job at explaining how difficult it is to grow up in a larger body and feel like everyone is judging you for your appearance.

The side plots with April and Oscar both going through their own journeys with self expression and sexuality were so well done. And I absolutely loved the art and quiet ending of the book - it made it feel like this was just the beginning of Winifred's story.

Content Warnings

vinceyface's review

4.0

funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

destdest's review

2.25

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

_daniellereads's review

4.5

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

claudiaslibrarycard's review

4.5

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

tsundoku_'s review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this was a cute but sad story. the ending wasn't my favorite

maiakobabe's review

4.0

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Winifred is a talented artist, a lover of comics and fantasy, who struggles with loneliness, low-self esteem, a borderline eating disorder, insomnia, and depression. Her two closest friends both left her high school at the end of the previous year, and she starts sophomore year with a sense of dread. Luckily, a friend she had drifted apart from in middle school takes Winifred under her wing, and she also makes two new friends in her creative independent study class. Rich, rebellious April is always ready to pull people into her orbit and her projects; quiet, queer Oscar is her willing sidekick. Together, the three begin working on a fairytale zine series which Winifred finds a powerful outlet for the emotions she feels unable to share. But her secrets begin to separate her from her friends, who in turn don't share the real depths of their own struggles. This is a soft, slow, gentle story of a queer fat artist slowly coming out of her shell and into the power of her own creative voice. I really enjoyed the nuanced portrayals of friendships, and watching Winifred grow. Some of the information at the start of the book was revealed in a slightly awkward order, which made the first 1/3 a bit choppy; however, the story settled down by the middle and finished strong.