Raised By Ghosts

by Briana Loewinsohn

Set in the author’s own teenage years, Raised By Ghosts begins in 1991 with semi autobiographical Briana in middle school. Classes are a bummer, but lunches are worse; either spent alone, or being teased. Traditionally a good student, Briana is not doing well in her academics, but keeps it a secret. Her parents (divorced) are a mess, and largely absent. She spends a lot of time by herself. By high school, she makes friends, and those connections are her only source of happiness as they help each other navigate adolescence. But life at home with each parent remains fraught. When her relationships at school begin to falter, she has no one to turn to, forcing Briana to grapple with her sense of self-worth, her longing for belonging, and her desire for authenticity in her relationships.Raised By Ghosts is a powerful, affecting graphic novel for young adult readers. The story is told by shifting between Briana’s first-person class notes and diary entries. In her understated yet masterful approach to comics storytelling, Loewinsohn eschews dramatic confrontations and overt sentimentality, preferring instead to underscore the idea that sometimes acceptance and love can be communicated through quiet, everyday moments and close family bonds.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Young Adult, Graphic Novels Comics, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Family

Kindle Edition

First published February 4, 2025

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never gobbled up a book so fast. There was everything in this book that I love. Ephemera type notes where we get into the characters head and haunting scenes that utterly break your heart. I’ve been walking around with this book sitting in my chest.

Briana grew up exactly in the years I did. So not only did I feel the nostalgia, I also felt the pain. I went from my mom and dad’s house and I knew how it was radically different both places. My heart feels a little broken.

Thank you to NetGalley, Fantagraphics Books and Briana Loewinsohn for granting my wish and letting me read the ARC for an honest review.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A downbeat graphic memoir of an often sad girl muddling her way through middle school and high school.

Born in 1980, Briana Loewinsohn is on the cusp of Generation X, nearly a Millenial. And she does sort of comes off as a slacker Anne Shirley. I've been reading a lot of Anne of Green Gables adaptations lately, and this certainly evokes them with a protagonist who is overflowing with imagination and a desire to fit in as she matures from girl to young woman through a series of short anecdotes. Of course, Anne was driven academically while Loewinsohn is more inclined to skip her homework.

Loewinsohn is in a dysfunctional family situation, commuting between the homes of her aloof, distracted, and divorced parents. Her previous book, Ephemera: A Memoir elaborated more on her relationship with her mother, who was often emotionally and physically absent due to her mental health issues, and indeed, Mom barely appears in this book, usually calling out disapproval from off panel. Dad is also a void, sequestering himself away from his children.

With the parents out of the picture, the majority of the book is just Loewinsohn hanging out with her school friends in the 1990s, and unfortunately that got boring pretty fast. It bottoms out with a dream sequence so long you can literally see it from the outside of the book as a solid back line along the page edges.



At least the book includes a halfway decent playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vU...


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Middle School, 1991-1994 -- High School, 1995 . . . Or Whatever -- How to Fold a Note: Three Ways -- About the Author

[Manon (bookswithonno) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the art and the colors! The emotions were conveyed really well. However, the pacing felt a bit off and I personally like a more detailed plot.

[Renee Godding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not an avid graphic-novel reader, but there’s something about themes of mental-health and revisiting childhood memories that this medium lends itself incredibly well to. This was no exception. A beautifully illustrated tale of a young girls coming of age in a family, shaped by the mothers mental health problems.
The illustrations hit the exact vibe I wanted from it; a melancholic mix of sweet nostalgia and the deep isolation and loneliness that many of us have experienced in adolescence. I loved the way the mother’s character was portrayed in our protagonist story: she’s never in the frame, always just outside the panel. Like the titular ghost, lingering just out of sight, we only meet her through her influence on the character around her. I think that was a brilliant way to approach it.
I also loved the way Brianna’s inner-world and emotions were made visual through the illustrations, in addition to the text in the form of journal entries. Both complement each other, making for a total that is more than the sum of its parts.

Thank you to the author for sharing this partly autobiographical tale in such a unique way. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Matt Graupman · Rating 5 out of 5]

At one point in her devastatingly poetic memoir, cartoonist Briana Loewinsohn writes, “Is there a word in the English language that means nostalgia for the present moment?” and it’s just one line of many that absolutely gutted me. As someone who also grew up in that same hazy late-1990s time period, a lot of “Raised By Ghosts” hit very close to home, except I never experienced anything like Briana’s negligent upbringing; I had/have very loving, doting parents. As I read this beautiful and sad graphic novel, I found myself getting more and more angry with her parents and I just wanted to pick up sensitive little artist Briana and protect her. The world is cruel enough and home is supposed to be a safe place. I guess it speaks to how effective this comic is that I had such a visceral reaction. It’s extremely well done, extremely melancholy, and it looks amazing.

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Briana is a quiet, introspective teen living between two households with two neglectful parents. She drifts through school, rarely completely assignments, mostly just waiting for the bell to ring so she can sit in a sports field with her friends, listening to music, talking, and constantly writing and passing along notes. The majority of the text in this book is in the form of diary entries mediating on the powerlessness and bitter sweetness of being a teenager- the moments of joy and connection with friends, the flashes of love from family, but also the vast stretches of just waiting for something to happen, for summer break, for the weekend, or just the end of the school day. I liked how the book showed that restless teen searching for belonging and the use of writing and drawing to try and fill the void, even if the book itself doesn't offer any particular answers.

[Hannah Showalter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted a bit more from the plot but I loved this. Exactly the kind of story I love; the complications of adolescence and having absent parents. The art was also sooo beautiful. Made me want to read Ephemera again!

[J MaK · Rating 3 out of 5]

(2.5) Meaningful perspective with mediocre storytelling. The artwork has gothic tones that won’t inspire the imagination.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raised By Ghosts is a beautiful, nostalgic graphic novel inspired by the author's life growing up in the 90s. The book follows Briana as she graduates from middle school and moves on to high school Her parents are divorced and she feels like she has to raise herself. She struggles in school and doesn't really see the point in doing the work. In middle school, Briana didn't have any friends, but in high school she finds some kindred spirits to pass notes with, make mix tapes for, and go to shows and parties together. Despite their similarities, Briana still doesn't really feel like she fits in and that loneliness of adolescence permeates the entire book.

This book is really nostalgic of the 90s, especially 90s music, so it will definitely appeal to people who grew up around that time. I think this book will also appeal to anyone of any age who has had trouble fitting in. I really enjoyed the illustrations and I feel like the color palette helped to heighten the emotions the book was trying to elicit. There isn't a whole lot of dialogue and most of the book was told through diary entries or the notes that Briana had passed, which was a really unique way to get inside the character's head. This graphic novel sort of reminded me of Freaks and Geeks or My So-Called Life, so I think it will appeal to people who enjoy stories about outcasts and coming of age stories.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

[Zola Goodrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like opening a time capsule for 90’s kids

[Carol Tilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Sylva · Rating 5 out of 5]

skvělý grafický román o dospívání, samotě a pocitu nepatřičnosti. ocení každá a každý, kdo vyrůstal s duchy (jedno jestli v devadesátkách nebo dřív).

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5? While her high school years were my college ones, the pop culture references and anguishes of growing up rang true. a lot of pain and a lot of hope and I read it in one sitting. and sometimes had to read the smallish print over my glasses because now we are also old.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this from NetGalley and really enjoyed the way it was structured - image panels next to text that looked like handwritten notes. The book seems to take place in the '90s and Briana is basically raising herself as her mother and father - inside their separate homes - are pretty distant, as is her brother (who barely makes an appearance). The book begins with her alone and friendless, but she slowly begins to make friends with the misfits. The illustrations are beautiful, and it does a great job of capturing the feeling of loneliness that is felt by so many of us even when we are in a group of people. Overall, I liked it, although I did sometimes feel like it meandered a bit.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

[lucy black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raised By Ghosts is a melancholy account of adolescence in 90's suburban America. Briana is bored, lonely and anxious and her parents are like absent, off page, disembodied voices who aren't interested. The story is told in handwritten letters and snatches of dialogue, sometimes it's hard to follow who is who and which house is where. The story doesn't have a beginning or end, more just vibes. The drawings are brown and corduroy like, grungey and beautiful.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely lil memoir of teenage angst with very specific pop culture references.
.
I adored this, on the one hand. OTOH, it was like watching a too-dark movie and there were multiple pages where the color of the text was too close to the color of the background. I had to pull out my light-up magnifying glass and it was quite the struggle. Not sure if that’s a printing issue or an artist preference but it was frustrating.
.
Really liked the mopey, melancholy, everything’s awful but everything’s fine, story. Like many other things before it, it made me really conscious in this moment of how much I lucked out when it comes to parents.

[The Flying Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been in love with this author’s work since the first page of her debut graphic novel 𝓔𝓹𝓱𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓻𝓪. When Raise by Ghosts was announced I couldn’t hold my excitement!

The tittle couldn’t be more literal. We follow Briana’s journey from middle school into high school by reading what seems to be notes in a diary like style. She herself has mastered the life of a ghost, with parents so lost in their tiny worlds they can’t be bothered to make room for her. She drifts “𝓘𝓶 𝔀𝓪𝓵𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓷 𝓪 𝓯𝓲𝓮𝓵𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓯𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓘 𝓼𝓾𝓭𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓲𝔃𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓪𝓲𝓵𝓼” between school and her house (I can’t call it home), often anxiously wondering what version of parenting she’s meeting that day.

At school she’s invisible until she isn’t, finding those who are “𝓗𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓪𝓭 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝔂” and keeping them close even when silence is all she can give. Home takes shape in a group of friend, and I for one, completely get that.

Briana talks about nostalgia for the present, the permanent “tomorrowness” of her hopes and the solitude that was her condition. But she also discovers an escape when the world closes in, suffocating, her drawings and notes come to life and she’s finally free.

There’s a quote from her favorite movie, that goes “𝓛𝓮𝓽𝓼 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓼𝓪𝔂 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓭𝓮𝓮𝓹𝓵𝔂 𝓾𝓷𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓘 𝓭𝓲𝓭𝓷𝓽 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓽 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓼𝓸 𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮” (is it L.A. Story? - the only match I could find), that really resonate with me.

Her drawings are as always, deeply captivating. I loved how despite Briana’s own expression, her hair seemed to have a voice of its own, often when she wasn’t able to say everything she was feeling.

If you two were raised by ghosts, you will relate to every word (even the tea names that never taste exactly as they sound), and if you were lucky enough to get amazing parents, you’ll probably question yourself on all the ghosts you let wonder.

[Logan H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read Loewinsohn's other work, but Raised By Ghosts made me feel like I should immediately locate it. A haunting is loneliness, and this memoir made that all too clear. The writing itself is candid and overly aware of itself and its use. I felt the writing confined the narrator to the page a little too much, but it aided readers in understanding this loneliness as well as "ghosts" taking up space and removing the narrator's agency. This section of shared life felt very intimate and was moving to read. Thanks for the opportunity to read this important work as an e-ARC, NetGalley and Fantagraphics!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made my heart ACHE. The nostalgia was so raw and real. My youth growing up in the 90’s definitely had more stability than Briana’s, but I made one, huge mistake. Before moving into our new house, I didn’t think I needed my notes from middle school anymore and didn’t know what to do with them. In threw them away, quickly, so I wouldn’t think about it. I know this might seem silly, but after reading this perfect time capsule of 90’s youth, I long, yearn, and ache for those nuggets of time back. I’m so jealous Briana has hers. Happy for her…but jealous. At least I have my mixtapes. 🖤

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

*NetGalley ARC* (thank you!)

This one hit different, I think it might for 90s/2000s kids. A time before rampant social media use. A time of passing notes. I feel like this book is relatable to some of how I grew up. Parents that were largely absent in adolescence, being somewhere between lower/middle class. Being in a small town and hanging out with friends... this book was sad but nostalgic. I don't know how else to describe it.

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this gorgeous memoir about the high school experience. Although it's set in the 90's, the way it perfectly captures what it feels like to be a teenager is timeless. I wish I'd had this book when I was a young person trying to figure out how to exist in the world. There is so much joy in this book, especially the way it accurately depicts the importance of friendship, music, film, art, and discovery. But the devastatingly beautiful way it addresses loneliness and self-doubt is what makes it worth coming back to again and again. If I were an educator, I'd make this required reading for all teenagers. It's also a deeply moving and relatable read for adults. Highly recommended.

[Emmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say?? Briana just gets it.

My only complaint is that I wish it was longer, cause I feel like some parts of her story could be developed more. I really liked the format of her old journal entries and notes paired with each illustrated, graphic novel part of the story. I’ve never read anything like that, it’s very creative. This reminded me of the autobiographical graphic novels I always read as a kid, but with more complex concepts that I wouldn’t have fully understood.

[Starr ❇✌❇]

This was a melancholy story if adolescence with beautiful, abstract art. I do think the black pages are my favorite, where things get almost more distanced from reality and it almost feels like it turns into a poem. I do feel like this is a malleable, vague narrative, instead of a firm plot and storyline, which sometimes works well but leaves you with more of an after taste than a concrete feeling.

[Paulina Rowińska · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the copy.

I really liked the artwork and the artist’s style, but that’s pretty much where it ends for me. The story was unclear—I honestly couldn’t tell what it was even about. If the whole point was just "being a teenager is hard," well, we already know that. I think it would’ve been way better with a more focused story and some deeper reflections from the author.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

This was such a beautiful little memoir in graphic novel format with art that felt extremely nostalgic and perfect for its time. I loved the style and the aesthetic, it felt like a perfect time capsule showcasing the timeless experience of fragmented memories from high school days.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very sweet and lovely graphic novel.

Briana Loewinsohn’s Raised By Ghosts is a partial autobiography about growing up. We follow a young Briana who flits between her divorced parents’ houses and struggles with connecting with people her age. We follow her from middle to high school. We see her struggle with grades. Struggle with maintaining friendships. Struggle with having absent divorced parents.

It was honestly kind of relatable for me. As a kid of divorced parents who also struggled at home for similar reasons that are detailed in this book, I really felt for Briana. When she struggles with what to do when she thinks a friend is mad at her..also relatable. It was very poignant and when Briana finds solace in art and in writing, it was just such a beautiful moment of growth.

Overall, I think this is a lovely book. I at times felt too old for some of it but I think it’s a lovely way to pass 20 minutes.

[Kayla Zabcia]

DNF; page 50

a ghost of a 'story'. pure vibes, but hardly decipherable ones.

[Sarah BT]

A gorgeous and dark ode to being a teenager and all the emotions that come with it. Especially great for 90's teens, but it doesn't feel so dated that teens today wouldn't appreciate it.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this. It's set in highschool in the mid 90s. focuses on how important friendships are to teens, and uses those brilliant notes we passed to each other every day to convey so much emotion.

[Leah Agirlandaboy]

This is fine, with some good 90s nostalgia and fun East Bay details.