Quietly arresting and ultimately empowering.
An intimate visual exploration of depression.
In this introspective graphic novel, Mona Starr, a sensitive, bespectacled high schooler with a floppy bob, loves journaling, making art, and music. Mona struggles with both depression and anxiety, which she imagines as “dark matter,” an internal shadow she must constantly fight to keep it from consuming her. Mona comes from a comfortable middle-class home with loving, supportive parents. She regularly attends therapy and practices self-care. Although she is doing all the seemingly right things, her journey is arduous: She faces debilitating physical pain eventually leading to hospitalization for GI issues. Resolving to take her life back, Mona establishes a personalized self-care plan and surrounds herself with “Artners” (a portmanteau of partners and art) who share “creative intimacy.” Mona’s story is loosely based on events from Gulledge’s (Sketchbook Dares, 2018, etc.) own life, which she discusses in an introduction and author’s note along with sharing her own plan for self-care. With an emphasis on both physical and emotional health, this should appeal to older readers of Raina Telgemeier’s Guts (2019). Gulledge’s absorbing black-and-white art highlighted with bright yellow splashes easily pulls readers into Mona’s innermost thoughts as she strives to bring her own darkness into the light. Mona and her family appear white; her therapist, Dr. Vega, may be Afro-Latinx, and there is diversity in secondary characters.
Quietly arresting and ultimately empowering. (introduction, reading list, soundtrack, self-care plan, author’s note) (Graphic fiction. 12-adult)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3423-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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