Reviews

I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together: A Memoir by Maurice Vellekoop

venomskyline's review

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

4.5

jwinchell's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Vellekoop really does look like his renderings of himself! I tore through this thick graphic memoir of Vellekoop’s life as a graphic artist and gay man, wrestling with his inheritances from his Dutch Canadian parents. Definitely an adult graphic memoir, I found the parts about therapy very interesting. 

strikingthirteen's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

fictionlostandfound's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is not your typical graphic novel. It is a the story of the artist Maurice Vellekoop's journey to acceptance from the religious, conservative, immigrant family that he grew up in. This story is full of candid self-discovery which literally left me in tears (both happy and sad) by the end. I loved to see therapy being highlighted in a positive light as it truly shows how forgiveness can heal wounds you weren't even aware were there. Such a beautiful, inspiring story. And the artwork!! You can see the Sleeping Beauty inspiration on every page. 

Thanks to Pantheon for the gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

bgoodbookclub's review

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

3.25

3.5 rounded down to 3. I enjoyed the graphic novel format of this book but I didn't love the format of the chapters. I felt like a lot of thoughts were left unresolved or just abandoned from page to page. They were all tied up in the end up I flipped back and forth a few times wondering if I missed something.

This book discusses growing up in an immigrant and religious household, going to therapy, coming out and dating, suicidal ideations, depression, death of a friend, and a lot of other heavier topics so I would check content warnings before reading!

Read this if you liked Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel.

Thank you to Panteon for a copy of this book!

finleygrace's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

__karin's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

bunbun22's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

5.0