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lily1304's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Positives: I'm really glad I read this because it was both easy to read and informative. I love when pop science authors integrate their personal histories with the science, and I think Page does this really well. The primary questions that Page poses based on his research - is giving kids stimulants safe and effective? do stimulants work in the long term? what is the role of class and trauma in ADHD or ADHD-like behavior? - are all related to his own story. I would recommend this for anyone who thinks they might have ADHD or who's newly diagnosed, or who is considering stimulants (Adderall/Ritalin) for the first time.
Negatives: Page has "white guy with ADHD" handwriting, which isn't his fault, but the book is not that large, so the text is difficult to read, especially for extended periods. He should have hired someone else to do the lettering. His comic style is also not super original - it's mostly a 3x3 grid of panels with text at the top and a descriptive doodle or joke underneath. This book is REALLY long though for a graphic novel, so adding more complex layouts or color would have taken much much more work. It's more important that he spent time on his research.
Also, there's some pretty egregious and unnecessary fatphobia throughout. This shows up as:
- Page discussing his own intentional weight loss, including numbers
- Encouraging people with ADHD to try "healthy diet" and frequent exercise as a treatment, which makes sense, but he doesn't really acknowledge that (a) what a "healthy diet" is is totally different depending on who you ask and public understanding of "healthy diet" changes from decade to decade, and (b) that lots of people can't exercise that frequently for various reasons, including disability
- using "resisting unhealthy food" as a frequent metaphor for behavioral inhibition/disinhibition
- drawing fat characters to convey that they are lazy or unhealthy - for example, a doodle of a fat person in an easy chair labeled "USA" to convey that the US is resistant to change
Semi-related, at one point he describes classic binge eating behavior in his teens without ever describing it as "binge eating" - even though he mentions binge eating disorder later in the book, unrelated to his own story. That struck me as weird
Negatives: Page has "white guy with ADHD" handwriting, which isn't his fault, but the book is not that large, so the text is difficult to read, especially for extended periods. He should have hired someone else to do the lettering. His comic style is also not super original - it's mostly a 3x3 grid of panels with text at the top and a descriptive doodle or joke underneath. This book is REALLY long though for a graphic novel, so adding more complex layouts or color would have taken much much more work. It's more important that he spent time on his research.
Also, there's some pretty egregious and unnecessary fatphobia throughout. This shows up as:
- Page discussing his own intentional weight loss, including numbers
- Encouraging people with ADHD to try "healthy diet" and frequent exercise as a treatment, which makes sense, but he doesn't really acknowledge that (a) what a "healthy diet" is is totally different depending on who you ask and public understanding of "healthy diet" changes from decade to decade, and (b) that lots of people can't exercise that frequently for various reasons, including disability
- using "resisting unhealthy food" as a frequent metaphor for behavioral inhibition/disinhibition
- drawing fat characters to convey that they are lazy or unhealthy - for example, a doodle of a fat person in an easy chair labeled "USA" to convey that the US is resistant to change
Semi-related, at one point he describes classic binge eating behavior in his teens without ever describing it as "binge eating" - even though he mentions binge eating disorder later in the book, unrelated to his own story. That struck me as weird
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Fatphobia