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marenkae 's review for:
Mis(h)adra
by Iasmin Omar Ata
like, almost 4 stars?
This is an extremely poignant graphic novel about the struggles of living with epilepsy. I knew going into this that it was an own voices story and although it is fictional, I often felt like this read like a memoir. I do not have epilepsy so there were a lot of aspects of this book that taught me a lot and opened me up to an experience with which I was completely unfamiliar. But I also found that I could intensely relate to other points of the story. The way that Isaac's epilepsy interfered in both social and academic settings was extremely similar to ways mental illness has affected me in my life. This made for a really successful balance for me, personally. I felt like I could completely understand the protagonist in some ways but in others, his life was fresh and interesting.
One of my favorite parts of this book was the art and the way everything was laid out! It was so lovely--I absolutely adored that this book was large and bright and colorful. I genuinely felt like the art depicted what it was like to experience a seizure in a way that words couldn't. It was evocative and effective.
As far as criticisms go, I do feel like sometimes the conflict in this book was streamlined.... it was more repetitive than nuanced. At points I felt like it was on the borderline of being too cheesy in its messages and in showing character growth.
But on the whole I really enjoyed this! I sat down with it and got completely sucked in and ended up finishing the entire book in one setting. It's a story that I'm glad Iasmin Omar Ata is allowed to share with the world and I'm really glad it was in this medium.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!
This is an extremely poignant graphic novel about the struggles of living with epilepsy. I knew going into this that it was an own voices story and although it is fictional, I often felt like this read like a memoir. I do not have epilepsy so there were a lot of aspects of this book that taught me a lot and opened me up to an experience with which I was completely unfamiliar. But I also found that I could intensely relate to other points of the story. The way that Isaac's epilepsy interfered in both social and academic settings was extremely similar to ways mental illness has affected me in my life. This made for a really successful balance for me, personally. I felt like I could completely understand the protagonist in some ways but in others, his life was fresh and interesting.
One of my favorite parts of this book was the art and the way everything was laid out! It was so lovely--I absolutely adored that this book was large and bright and colorful. I genuinely felt like the art depicted what it was like to experience a seizure in a way that words couldn't. It was evocative and effective.
As far as criticisms go, I do feel like sometimes the conflict in this book was streamlined.... it was more repetitive than nuanced. At points I felt like it was on the borderline of being too cheesy in its messages and in showing character growth.
But on the whole I really enjoyed this! I sat down with it and got completely sucked in and ended up finishing the entire book in one setting. It's a story that I'm glad Iasmin Omar Ata is allowed to share with the world and I'm really glad it was in this medium.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!