A raw, honest, and frequently hilarious account of becoming a parent in the worst possible year.
A cartoonist reflects on the birth of her first child and how it upends her life.
In this appealingly candid graphic memoir, Wertz (Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story, 2023) returns with a very different kind of book: her pregnancy and entrée into motherhood. She opens in Petaluma, California, where she and her boyfriend, Oliver, are still adjusting to the quiet of small-town life. An unexpected pregnancy prompts a moment of self-reflection in Wertz. She wonders why she doesn’t feel more prepared, as her career is relatively stable and she and Oliver are on “the wrong side” of their mid-30s. A miscarriage at seven weeks renders the question moot but also clarifies things; she and Oliver try again, and, this time, the pregnancy results in the birth of their son, Felix. What distinguishes the book from the crowded shelf of new-parent memoirs is its unflinching catalog of everything else that goes wrong at once. The pregnancy unfolds against a backdrop of Northern California wildfires and, soon enough, a global pandemic, lending the book’s domestic anxieties an almost surreal scale. A life-altering accident, family trauma, and a hasty wedding round out what Wertz, with characteristic self-deprecation, presents as a perfectly ordinary disaster. The format is a happy mix: Cartoons, photographs, stick-figure doodles, and short prose essays sit side by side, toggling between slapstick and sincerity in a way that every parent will recognize. Wertz’s line work—spare, expressive, and very funny—carries as much emotional weight as the text. Her self-portrait as a wide-eyed, hapless protagonist navigating body horror and new parental love is, ultimately, a portrait of frazzled resilience.
A raw, honest, and frequently hilarious account of becoming a parent in the worst possible year.Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9780762468287
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
A memoir for those who want to laugh through the free fall of their own emotional roller coaster.
A humorous take on dread.
In her amusing graphic memoir, cartoonist Correll turns her emotional roller coaster into a literal, visual experience with her own amusement park of worries that she calls Anxietyland. Within this playful framework, she guides readers through her lifelong struggle with severe anxiety—there are attractions like the “worry-go-round,” “booze cruise,” “downward spiral,” and more, all culminating in finding the help that not only helps her manage the anxiety, but pushes her to do the work in confronting and living with it. To her credit, Correll uses the amusement park concept to dissect points in her life where her anxiety was holding her hostage from leading a fulfilling life. One panel shows Correll’s whimsical approach, as when her cat, Oliver, goes missing. “Why hasn’t he come home?” she thinks, her eyes full of worry, her mouth downturned. “What if he’s dead?” The subsequent image shows her pet peeking into the panel; the accompanying text reads, “Oliver (very much alive).” It’s one thing to read a memoir that breaks down episodes with the benefit of time and knowledge; it’s a completely different experience to see someone living through their depression while hanging on for dear life in “anxie-tea” cups. Readers who hold season passes to Anxietyland will be able to laugh along with the author, but this book will also benefit those coming to terms with a new or future anxiety diagnosis. These readers may, for the first time, be able to put their swirling emotions into a tangible context that makes more sense to them and others. That’s the beauty of Correll’s memoir: The book provides a comical medium lens that can open doors to understanding—rather than a door to the house of horrors.
A memoir for those who want to laugh through the free fall of their own emotional roller coaster.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781668004159
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
An impassioned message of rage and hope.
The author of Persepolis returns with a collection about burgeoning activism in Iran.
In September 2022, the beating and death of Mahsa Jina Amini, an Iranian student arrested for not wearing her headscarf properly, incited a solidarity movement among women and men that spread around the world. To publicize and bear witness to this major uprising, Satrapi has gathered stories, cartoons, and essays from more than 20 artists, activists, journalists, and academics. The author has two aims: “to explain what’s going on in Iran, to decipher events in all their complexity and nuance for a non-Iranian readership, and to help you understand them as fully as possible”; and “to remind Iranians that they are not alone.” Setting the movement in context, Iranian American historian Abbas Milani offers an overview of the political upheavals and revolutions that have led to the current misogynist, repressive regime and the “resolute defiance” that has emerged in protest. As each contributor attests, life under a wrathful dictatorship is consistently frightening and dangerous: “The Islamic Republic ensures its own survival by murdering people. During the successive demonstrations” over Amini’s murder, “several hundred people were killed in an attempt to strike fear into the hearts of protesters. Young people were forced to confess under torture.” Women are especially vulnerable. Since November 2022, young students in schools across Iran have been poisoned by toxic gas as part of an attempt to force girls’ schools to close. Protecting the regime falls to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary organization that answers directly to Khomeini, the Supreme Leader, and for the past four decades has carried out a reign of terror. This collection pays homage to victims and celebrates the dreams of Iran’s determined activists. Other contributors include Joanne Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, Paco Roca, and Mana Neyestani.
An impassioned message of rage and hope.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781644214053
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Seven Stories
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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