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howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)
I'm gonna be honest: I have no idea what's happening or what to expect, I'm just along for the ride. I need issue #3 like, YESTERDAY.
Subjectively, I'd say this was a 3-star read for me, but I'm really not the target audience for this book and I think it's an important title that needs to exist for a lot of people, which is why I'm not adding an actual star rating to this review.
The artwork was lovely and I enjoyed reading about Maia's long journey to self-acceptance, but the storytelling was very all over the place at times, and I quickly grew weary of how frequently the subject returned to sex and masturbation (this is totally a personal thing—again, I'm sure a lot of what is said will be highly valuable to many readers who need to see themselves reflected in these pages, but it felt very repetitive). I also thought the ending was shockingly abrupt, to the point that I scrolled back on my iPad to make sure my copy hadn't glitched past a few pages.
Overall, I'd recommend this graphic novel, especially to anyone questioning their identity, but it wasn't for me, and that's fine.
✨ Representation: the author is genderqueer and uses e/em/eir pronouns; multiple of the people we meet throughout the memoir are also queer
The artwork was lovely and I enjoyed reading about Maia's long journey to self-acceptance, but the storytelling was very all over the place at times, and I quickly grew weary of how frequently the subject returned to sex and masturbation (this is totally a personal thing—again, I'm sure a lot of what is said will be highly valuable to many readers who need to see themselves reflected in these pages, but it felt very repetitive). I also thought the ending was shockingly abrupt, to the point that I scrolled back on my iPad to make sure my copy hadn't glitched past a few pages.
Overall, I'd recommend this graphic novel, especially to anyone questioning their identity, but it wasn't for me, and that's fine.
✨ Representation: the author is genderqueer and uses e/em/eir pronouns; multiple of the people we meet throughout the memoir are also queer
This was adorable! I love cats anyways, so of course I adored Princess Sparkles, Destroyer of Worlds, but I also really loved Sanity & Tallulah, and their parents. Tallulah is such a mischievous little trouble-maker, her mom is firm but very loving, and Sanity is absolutely brilliant and a total superhero! I wish we'd spent more time with Sanity's dad, because he was great, too—and I wish we'd gotten more backstory on Tallulah's dad, since he's apparently famous or something but I don't think we were told why. I thought this was such a fun graphic novel and I definitely recommend it for anyone who enjoys MG graphic novels or has a kid in their life who needs a fun new adventure to enjoy.
In Limbo is an incredibly moving, and at times very heavy memoir that I couldn't put down. This book follows Lee's teen years, showcasing the combination of not only her specific experiences as a young Korean immigrant—dealing with a mother who asks too much, a cultural identity she feels both distanced from and burdened by, and the relentless racism and bullying she faces—but also the widely-felt pain of being an alienated teen with mental illness and without many friends to lean on.
I related way too well to some of Deborah's struggles, especially with her mental illness and her very small group of friends to whom she attached herself too strongly (leaving her destitute when any one of them pulled away or slighted her in real or imagined ways). There was one moment where she was spiraling into a panic over the idea that her best friend had "replaced" her with other friends, and all I could do was sigh quietly to myself, because gods, hadn't I been there before in my teen years?
Not only that, but watching her struggle with her relationship with her mother was brutal at times. Like I said, this is a heavy read and not much is left to the imagination when it comes to Lee's mother's verbal or physical abuse. Overall, I have to be honest and say that In Limbo is mostly a fairly bleak memoir without a lot of bright spots or hope peeking through, but it is a memoir, and I respect and admire the fact that the author was so honest and didn't sugarcoat things in the end.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
I related way too well to some of Deborah's struggles, especially with her mental illness and her very small group of friends to whom she attached herself too strongly (leaving her destitute when any one of them pulled away or slighted her in real or imagined ways). There was one moment where she was spiraling into a panic over the idea that her best friend had "replaced" her with other friends, and all I could do was sigh quietly to myself, because gods, hadn't I been there before in my teen years?
Not only that, but watching her struggle with her relationship with her mother was brutal at times. Like I said, this is a heavy read and not much is left to the imagination when it comes to Lee's mother's verbal or physical abuse. Overall, I have to be honest and say that In Limbo is mostly a fairly bleak memoir without a lot of bright spots or hope peeking through, but it is a memoir, and I respect and admire the fact that the author was so honest and didn't sugarcoat things in the end.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
This was adorable and entirely too relatable for my own comfort levels.
The author has depression, anxiety, and ADHD (wow, me too!), and all of that is totally laid out on display in these comics in the best way. I especially loved the commentary on the fact that society is totally fucking broken and useless and yet, nobody who can fix it wants to fix it. Sigh. Good times...
The author has depression, anxiety, and ADHD (wow, me too!), and all of that is totally laid out on display in these comics in the best way. I especially loved the commentary on the fact that society is totally fucking broken and useless and yet, nobody who can fix it wants to fix it. Sigh. Good times...
Apparently I'm on a roll with the tough reads today, because Hungry Ghost is a painful one for sure. It follows a teen girl named Val whose mother's constant body-shaming and food obsessions have gradually pushed her to the point of disordered eating. Don't go into this expecting a perfect protagonist who heals easily or quickly, or views the world in the right ways, because we definitely get to see how broken her perspective is at times, especially when she even begins to body-shame her fat best friend.
As a fat person with a long history of disordered eating, stories like this can carry an extra layer of pain because of the combination of ED rep mixed with the main character's fatphobic views of those around them, but I'm really glad that I kept going, because Val grows so much as a character within these pages and I was absolutely rooting for her all the while. I only wish we had seen some sort of character growth from her mother, anything at all, but unfortunately, that isn't always how these things go.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
As a fat person with a long history of disordered eating, stories like this can carry an extra layer of pain because of the combination of ED rep mixed with the main character's fatphobic views of those around them, but I'm really glad that I kept going, because Val grows so much as a character within these pages and I was absolutely rooting for her all the while. I only wish we had seen some sort of character growth from her mother, anything at all, but unfortunately, that isn't always how these things go.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
This was absolutely precious. The artwork is stunning (especially the mermaids' character designs, and Skylla in human form—the sparkles! the shimmer! the colors!) and the characters, aside from Seth, are so lovable. Corinth is a little goth delight and I loved her so much. I'm a total sucker for the "inhuman character learns how to act human" trope, so I got a kick out of Corinth teaching Skylla things, but most of all, I absolutely cherished watching the relationship bloom between these two. I need more!
Shiver is a collection of Junji Ito's shorter stories, some from previous collections and others brand new to this one. I really enjoyed this book! I thought it was a nice example of Junji Ito's range, with some stories on the more disgusting side (like 'Greased') and others a bit more subtle and supernatural (such as 'Hanging Balloons'). My favorite 'Tomie' story is even included in here!
Since some of them were printed elsewhere, people who are very familiar with Junji Ito's works may have already read one or more of the included stories, but I feel like I've read a lot of Junji's work at this point and I still had only read one of these before! My favorite piece was 'Fashion Model', closely followed by 'The Long Dream', but I can honestly say I enjoyed every single work in the collection and I highly recommend picking it up.
Since some of them were printed elsewhere, people who are very familiar with Junji Ito's works may have already read one or more of the included stories, but I feel like I've read a lot of Junji's work at this point and I still had only read one of these before! My favorite piece was 'Fashion Model', closely followed by 'The Long Dream', but I can honestly say I enjoyed every single work in the collection and I highly recommend picking it up.
Strange Fruit is a series of nonfiction graphic novels about lesser-known heroes and notable figures in Black American history, and while they feel geared towards preteens and early teens, they're a valuable read for readers of all ages. I've read other volumes in the series before and always feel like I learn a lot from these books, and I highly recommend them!
This was absolutely adorable. It's a middle-grade graphic novel featuring a couple of alligators who investigate mysteries and seem to work for their odd little version of the FBI, and there's a LOT going on, but it's very entertaining and full of puns that are amusing for kids as well as some easter eggs thrown in for adults. I read this with my 6 1/2 year old son and he giggled throughout SO much of the story and has already asked when we can read it again. I laughed out loud a few times and even my spouse was laughing across the room at a few of the dialogue bits because it was so cute. The only complaint I have is that there was a little too much going on with the plot at times, so I'd give this a 4.5, but I can't justify NOT rounding up, given how much we enjoyed this one!