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Passing for Human: A Graphic Memoir
A visually arresting graphic memoir about a young artist struggling against what’s expected of her as a woman, and learning to accept her true self, from an acclaimed New Yorker cartoonist.
In this achingly beautiful graphic memoir, Liana Finck goes in search of that thing she has lost—her shadow, she calls it, but one might also think of it as the “otherness” or “strangeness” that has defined her since birth, that part of her that has always made her feel as though she is living in exile from the world. In Passing for Human, Finck is on a quest for self-understanding and self-acceptance, and along the way she seeks to answer some eternal questions: What makes us whole? What parts of ourselves do we hide or ignore or chase away—because they’re embarrassing, or inconvenient, or just plain weird—and at what cost?
Passing for Human is what Finck calls “a neurological coming-of-age story”—one in which, through her childhood, human connection proved elusive and her most enduring relationships were with plants and rocks and imaginary friends; in which her mother was an artist whose creative life had been stifled by an unhappy first marriage and a deeply sexist society that seemed expressly designed to snuff out creativity in women; in which her father was a doctor who struggled in secret with the guilt of having passed his own form of otherness on to his daughter; and in which, as an adult, Finck finally finds her shadow again—and, with it, her true self.
Melancholy and funny, personal and surreal, Passing for Human is a profound exploration of identity by one of the most talented young comic artists working today. Part magical odyssey, part feminist creation myth, this memoir is, most of all, an extraordinary, moving meditation on what it means to be an artist and a woman grappling with the desire to pass for human.
In this achingly beautiful graphic memoir, Liana Finck goes in search of that thing she has lost—her shadow, she calls it, but one might also think of it as the “otherness” or “strangeness” that has defined her since birth, that part of her that has always made her feel as though she is living in exile from the world. In Passing for Human, Finck is on a quest for self-understanding and self-acceptance, and along the way she seeks to answer some eternal questions: What makes us whole? What parts of ourselves do we hide or ignore or chase away—because they’re embarrassing, or inconvenient, or just plain weird—and at what cost?
Passing for Human is what Finck calls “a neurological coming-of-age story”—one in which, through her childhood, human connection proved elusive and her most enduring relationships were with plants and rocks and imaginary friends; in which her mother was an artist whose creative life had been stifled by an unhappy first marriage and a deeply sexist society that seemed expressly designed to snuff out creativity in women; in which her father was a doctor who struggled in secret with the guilt of having passed his own form of otherness on to his daughter; and in which, as an adult, Finck finally finds her shadow again—and, with it, her true self.
Melancholy and funny, personal and surreal, Passing for Human is a profound exploration of identity by one of the most talented young comic artists working today. Part magical odyssey, part feminist creation myth, this memoir is, most of all, an extraordinary, moving meditation on what it means to be an artist and a woman grappling with the desire to pass for human.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
65 people are currently reading
4517 people want to read
About the author
Liana Finck
20 books247 followersLiana Finck is a cartoonist, illustrator and regular contributor to the New Yorker where she also authors the “Dear Pepper” advice-from-a-dog column. As the author of eight books, her work also frequently appears in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and more. She is the recipient of Fulbright, Guggenheim and New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships. She teaches creative writing at Barnard College. www.lianafinck.com
Photo credit: Jorge Colombo
Photo credit: Jorge Colombo
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 378 reviews
January 15, 2019
“The day was green. They said, ‘You have a blue guitar. You do not play things as you are.’”—Wallace Stevens
Liana Finck’s Passing for Human is my idea of a great and truly inventive graphics memoir, using comics to explore the essence of her life story, and using every literary tool at her disposal to accomplish that goal. Franck says she has never been quite comfortable in the world, which makes us think: Outsider, alien, ennui, other. Finck says her “less than human” experience is in part “neurological,” which is also to say that she identifies with some aspects of the autistic spectrum. She is more comfortable with animals than humans. She is uneasy in her own skin. Lonely, she is also most comfortable being alone. Introvert? To the max.
Passing for Human is Finck’s attempt to explain who she is, and in many ways what I have described above seems unremarkable, familiar territory. What makes this tale special? Finck endeavors to tell her story in the context of her personal (and sometimes amusing, disarming) renditions of creation/origin myths. It feels like a fairy tale or fable of a life, which points to her own view of the world, of creativity, of identity, of family, of stories. She tells of her meeting—after being alone for many years—another artist who is like her, who she connects to. She writes of her mother, and especially her father, who shares some characteristics with her. She writes of her grandmother, whose story inspires and shapes her as other stories do.
So she tells of her family as memoirs usually do, but she almost never does this in a linear way. Her approach is kind of meta-narrative in that she shares “failed” beginnings to the memoir, “false starts” that she includes, anyway, and then begins again. How does an introvert tell her story? Well, not confidently and straightforwardly, which seems just right. It feels original and lyrical and simple and sweet and vulnerable for her to have shared her story in this way, and I love it.
Her relationship to the world, always so unreal, changes, becomes more substantial, and real, when she makes connections to others who understand her:
“It’s only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea, but it wouldn’t be make-believe, if you believed in me.”—Harold Arlen, “It’s Only a Paper Moon.”
So this memoir is poetry comics in places, where words or narrative seem to fail her, and where images need to embody her struggle, and where other stories like the creation myths help out. One image or analogy she uses is the idea of a shadow throughout; the shadow is her best and often only friend. It advises her, and abandons her for sometimes useful purposes, throughout.
I liked this subtle, quiet, intensely rendered memoir a lot. I also read Finck’s A Bintel Brief, which also revealed her interest in stories, but other people’s stories, taken from the (Jewish) Forward’s letters pages by the same name. But this, Passing for Human, is Finck’s own articulate and sometimes anguished and occasionally funny story, and is more emotional than it is a record of the details of her life, which is to say it resembles a poem made up of stories.
Is it a bit surreal? Is it speculative fiction? I say yes to both; I say it is true to Liana Finck. Philip Pullman was once asked if his work is fantasy and he said that the category of fantasy was something others put on his work. He sees it as realistic fiction to me, because this is how he sees the world. I have a tendency to think that the representations Finck shares in this book is pretty much how she sees the world. And it may only be a fictional depiction—a paper moon—version of the truth, but it’s good enough for me.
Peter Pan shadow scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvheN...
Me and my shadow , with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-4uK...
Liana Finck’s Passing for Human is my idea of a great and truly inventive graphics memoir, using comics to explore the essence of her life story, and using every literary tool at her disposal to accomplish that goal. Franck says she has never been quite comfortable in the world, which makes us think: Outsider, alien, ennui, other. Finck says her “less than human” experience is in part “neurological,” which is also to say that she identifies with some aspects of the autistic spectrum. She is more comfortable with animals than humans. She is uneasy in her own skin. Lonely, she is also most comfortable being alone. Introvert? To the max.
Passing for Human is Finck’s attempt to explain who she is, and in many ways what I have described above seems unremarkable, familiar territory. What makes this tale special? Finck endeavors to tell her story in the context of her personal (and sometimes amusing, disarming) renditions of creation/origin myths. It feels like a fairy tale or fable of a life, which points to her own view of the world, of creativity, of identity, of family, of stories. She tells of her meeting—after being alone for many years—another artist who is like her, who she connects to. She writes of her mother, and especially her father, who shares some characteristics with her. She writes of her grandmother, whose story inspires and shapes her as other stories do.
So she tells of her family as memoirs usually do, but she almost never does this in a linear way. Her approach is kind of meta-narrative in that she shares “failed” beginnings to the memoir, “false starts” that she includes, anyway, and then begins again. How does an introvert tell her story? Well, not confidently and straightforwardly, which seems just right. It feels original and lyrical and simple and sweet and vulnerable for her to have shared her story in this way, and I love it.
Her relationship to the world, always so unreal, changes, becomes more substantial, and real, when she makes connections to others who understand her:
“It’s only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea, but it wouldn’t be make-believe, if you believed in me.”—Harold Arlen, “It’s Only a Paper Moon.”
So this memoir is poetry comics in places, where words or narrative seem to fail her, and where images need to embody her struggle, and where other stories like the creation myths help out. One image or analogy she uses is the idea of a shadow throughout; the shadow is her best and often only friend. It advises her, and abandons her for sometimes useful purposes, throughout.
I liked this subtle, quiet, intensely rendered memoir a lot. I also read Finck’s A Bintel Brief, which also revealed her interest in stories, but other people’s stories, taken from the (Jewish) Forward’s letters pages by the same name. But this, Passing for Human, is Finck’s own articulate and sometimes anguished and occasionally funny story, and is more emotional than it is a record of the details of her life, which is to say it resembles a poem made up of stories.
Is it a bit surreal? Is it speculative fiction? I say yes to both; I say it is true to Liana Finck. Philip Pullman was once asked if his work is fantasy and he said that the category of fantasy was something others put on his work. He sees it as realistic fiction to me, because this is how he sees the world. I have a tendency to think that the representations Finck shares in this book is pretty much how she sees the world. And it may only be a fictional depiction—a paper moon—version of the truth, but it’s good enough for me.
Peter Pan shadow scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvheN...
Me and my shadow , with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-4uK...
July 18, 2018
Oh my god this book. It opens like a hand full of seeds and then blooms, and keeps blooming.
Read
December 9, 2018Might talk about this at more length later on, I just want to note that this book is explicitly autism-related; this detail wasn't clear to me from the advance promo, only that it had SOME kind of neuroatypicality topic. I wish marketing people dared to be clearer about this type of content, it would help me assemble my "upcoming diverse books" lists a lot. (I am autistic! I am always on the lookout for this type of stuff! I am not the only one!)
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library
January 23, 2019
Autobiography as creation myth. Hm.
It starts, restarts, spirals, crosses over and circles back around on itself. Full of metaphor, symbolism and other foofaraw and fiddle-faddle for which I've little use or patience.
It starts, restarts, spirals, crosses over and circles back around on itself. Full of metaphor, symbolism and other foofaraw and fiddle-faddle for which I've little use or patience.
April 22, 2019
A Distaff G-d Spins Herself a Universe -- and an Artist
I loved the way artist/writer Liana Finck takes the trope of the biblical origin myth and spins it, re-spins it, spins it again, creating her own nested, interwoven artistic, familial, and cosmological origin story about a young woman (named "Leola") who loses and finds her own shadow -- her "strangeness" -- the "otherness" that makes her an artist but also makes it challenging to feel at home in the world of humans. In tracing her own "neurological coming of age" story (as Finck calls it), "Leola" spins the shadow-stories of her mother, her father, her grandmother, her great-grandmother, and even, delightfully, G-d, Creator, or should I say Creatrix, of the Universe, who appears as a giant, tenderly smiling Woman with a crown. I found the Goodreads book description to be not quite right -- the emphasis is not really on sexism as a primary obstacle, though there's definitely some of that, including her mother's marriage to and escape from her first, abusive, husband -- rather, it's a universal story also applicable to "strange," artistic men like her (mythical) father, or any person who deeply feels their own "otherness," regardless of gender.
Words like magic, enchant, and grace sing from the cover blurbs and they are all true.
Artist/author Liana Finck and her graphic novel. Definitely an artist I want to follow.
I loved the way artist/writer Liana Finck takes the trope of the biblical origin myth and spins it, re-spins it, spins it again, creating her own nested, interwoven artistic, familial, and cosmological origin story about a young woman (named "Leola") who loses and finds her own shadow -- her "strangeness" -- the "otherness" that makes her an artist but also makes it challenging to feel at home in the world of humans. In tracing her own "neurological coming of age" story (as Finck calls it), "Leola" spins the shadow-stories of her mother, her father, her grandmother, her great-grandmother, and even, delightfully, G-d, Creator, or should I say Creatrix, of the Universe, who appears as a giant, tenderly smiling Woman with a crown. I found the Goodreads book description to be not quite right -- the emphasis is not really on sexism as a primary obstacle, though there's definitely some of that, including her mother's marriage to and escape from her first, abusive, husband -- rather, it's a universal story also applicable to "strange," artistic men like her (mythical) father, or any person who deeply feels their own "otherness," regardless of gender.
Words like magic, enchant, and grace sing from the cover blurbs and they are all true.
Artist/author Liana Finck and her graphic novel. Definitely an artist I want to follow.
November 23, 2018
I am not a huge connoisseur of graphic novels, but I've read my fair share. I've always found they need to have a special spark to really strike me and get under my skin. This one wasn't quite there for me.
Though I can relate to the story of a girl who never really fit in and how her family history led her to who she is, this story lacked a certain cohesive element. I kept waiting for it all to come together into something quietly dramatic, inspirational and profound in a true-to-life way, but it doesn't quite reach that point.
I did enjoy the structure of the story, how the writer and the bad, gnawing thoughts (imagined as rats on her shoulders) interrupted the story and the narrative would begin again from a different point of view.
In the end, I just wanted more substance. When I think of the graphic novel/memoirs that have really worked for me, they dig deeper, and I wanted this story to have another side to it, an angle that made me identify with it and really feel.
My thanks to Random House for sending me this one to read and review.
Though I can relate to the story of a girl who never really fit in and how her family history led her to who she is, this story lacked a certain cohesive element. I kept waiting for it all to come together into something quietly dramatic, inspirational and profound in a true-to-life way, but it doesn't quite reach that point.
I did enjoy the structure of the story, how the writer and the bad, gnawing thoughts (imagined as rats on her shoulders) interrupted the story and the narrative would begin again from a different point of view.
In the end, I just wanted more substance. When I think of the graphic novel/memoirs that have really worked for me, they dig deeper, and I wanted this story to have another side to it, an angle that made me identify with it and really feel.
My thanks to Random House for sending me this one to read and review.
October 29, 2018
I'm not sure what to make of Passing for Human. I'm fairly certain it's a graphic memoir about family and the autism spectrum, but the format makes it hard to grasp. Finck repeatedly reboots the narrative because the previous version wasn't good enough. She also tosses in several Bible stories for no apparent reason. And there's a great deal of discussion about shadows that mostly coasted over my head.
In the end, I think I read her biography and a biography of her parents, but I was also left with the uncomfortable question: what was real and what was a dream? I also feel like I didn't learn particularly much about Finck herself aside from the fact that she's an introvert who likes circular narratives. And yes, the simplistic art was a bit of a turn-off too (but I can't really fault Finck there since that's just her style). All told, I think I was just looking for something a bit more straightforward.
In the end, I think I read her biography and a biography of her parents, but I was also left with the uncomfortable question: what was real and what was a dream? I also feel like I didn't learn particularly much about Finck herself aside from the fact that she's an introvert who likes circular narratives. And yes, the simplistic art was a bit of a turn-off too (but I can't really fault Finck there since that's just her style). All told, I think I was just looking for something a bit more straightforward.
November 15, 2018
This book is almost a genre unto itself. Call it “poetic memoir” or something, I guess.
The main character’s name is not “Liana” but that's clearly who she's intended to be, or at least to represent. There are recurring passages throughout, and they gain power with repetition.
“A draw-er doesn't draw because she loves to draw. She doesn't draw because she draws well. She draws because once she lost something. And by drawing she will find it again.”
This is a book about losing one's shadow, and finding it again. The shadow is clearly a metaphor for something, possibly several somethings--innocence, the soul, a sense of otherness and/or purpose, creativity … It resists easy analysis--by design, I’m sure--and I'm not willing to do this book the disservice of trying too hard to pin it down. I think it works better if it remains fluid and free. Each reader will have to make up their own mind about it.
By aiming for emotional and poetic truths rather than literal ones, Finck has created a whole new version of the memoir. I suppose it's not going to be to everyone's taste, but I loved it. I’d even go so far as to say that it's one of the best graphic novels I’ve read all year. It deserves a place among the classics of the genre like Fun Home or Maus or Our Cancer Year just to name a few. Highly recommended!
The main character’s name is not “Liana” but that's clearly who she's intended to be, or at least to represent. There are recurring passages throughout, and they gain power with repetition.
“A draw-er doesn't draw because she loves to draw. She doesn't draw because she draws well. She draws because once she lost something. And by drawing she will find it again.”
This is a book about losing one's shadow, and finding it again. The shadow is clearly a metaphor for something, possibly several somethings--innocence, the soul, a sense of otherness and/or purpose, creativity … It resists easy analysis--by design, I’m sure--and I'm not willing to do this book the disservice of trying too hard to pin it down. I think it works better if it remains fluid and free. Each reader will have to make up their own mind about it.
By aiming for emotional and poetic truths rather than literal ones, Finck has created a whole new version of the memoir. I suppose it's not going to be to everyone's taste, but I loved it. I’d even go so far as to say that it's one of the best graphic novels I’ve read all year. It deserves a place among the classics of the genre like Fun Home or Maus or Our Cancer Year just to name a few. Highly recommended!
October 3, 2018
A dark sad book about a girl who grows up believing that she is barely human and unreachable to other humans who might make her more human. She chooses to stay away from other children and social situations but longs for them at the same time. She wants badly to write a book yet comes up darkly blank when she attempts to create artwork or write. Imaginary friends are enticing but she also struggles with whether they are good for her or not. Is she two people instead of one? The author is a cartoonist from The New Yorker and this apparently is her first novel. I found it interesting but quite dark and unsettling. I'm not sure exactly what to say.
December 3, 2018
I didn't dislike this, but I did feel like it wasn't the book I expected it to be; I was expecting the author to speak about herself, and instead, she mostly spoke about how her parents - how their lives had affected her, how she inherited their "strangeness" in some way. Her father's inability to connect to people. Her mother's shadow. Their (vague, undefined) struggles when her father's weirdness apparently overwhelmed his ability to maintain his facade of normality.
While that's certainly interesting in its own way, there wasn't much of a coherent thread to follow between the stories, and apparently I completely blanked out the bits where she retold Bible stories in between stories about her parents. That's never a good sign for a book you read barely a month ago!
All in all, I left this book none the wiser about Finck, although with slightly more information about her parents. Interesting? Sure, decently. Memorable or impactful? Not for me, unfortunately.
While that's certainly interesting in its own way, there wasn't much of a coherent thread to follow between the stories, and apparently I completely blanked out the bits where she retold Bible stories in between stories about her parents. That's never a good sign for a book you read barely a month ago!
All in all, I left this book none the wiser about Finck, although with slightly more information about her parents. Interesting? Sure, decently. Memorable or impactful? Not for me, unfortunately.
March 22, 2021
Cry now. Write review later.
It is now later. This graphic novel memoir is a wonderful representation of what If feels like to grow up neurodivergent. It shows the constant knowledge that there is something off or wrong but not being able to put your finger on it or give it reason. I love the use of the shadow to represent something around individuality and identity. The ability of one to interact with the self is such a nice touch to show how identity plays a part in creation and major life decisions. All in All, an absolutely delightful read that had me thinking about my own shadow and loss.
My shadow and I had a great time crying at this one.
It is now later. This graphic novel memoir is a wonderful representation of what If feels like to grow up neurodivergent. It shows the constant knowledge that there is something off or wrong but not being able to put your finger on it or give it reason. I love the use of the shadow to represent something around individuality and identity. The ability of one to interact with the self is such a nice touch to show how identity plays a part in creation and major life decisions. All in All, an absolutely delightful read that had me thinking about my own shadow and loss.
My shadow and I had a great time crying at this one.
April 1, 2019
The memoir of an autistic woman, told through family history and creation myth. The scribbled, doodled art grew on me but never really appealed--I'd call this an issue of personal taste. The fantastical, metaphorical, metatextual concept of self is more my style, and it's successful when juxtaposed with concrete "real" events. But there's an excess of the former and a limited amount of the latter, especially in the conclusion. This has a poetic logic, but not enough to grasp on to, not enough of the author herself.
June 29, 2022
I’m a reluctant memoir reader, Especially when it’s memoirs by people who are way, way too young to be writing them. But I do check out some here and there in graphic form.
This one actually turned out quite lovely.
I’m not familiar with the author and I’m not sure I’ve seen her New Yorker cartoons, but she certainly draws like a cartoonist – very minimalistic, squiggly lines, funny faces, etc.
So not my traditional graphic novel fare art-wise, but the storytelling was first rate. Absolutely gorgeous. Every page read like a page out of a storybook, but these ones were (presumably real). Musings about her family, her own life, done in a sort of dreamy, lightly surreal, poetic in a good way style.
Didn’t even know it was my thing, but yeah, I ended up enjoying it. Don’t know if I’d say it was visually arresting, though. For me, it was definitely words over art with this book. Either way, though, a surprisingly lovely read. Best use of shadow imagery since J.M Barrie. Recommended.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
This one actually turned out quite lovely.
I’m not familiar with the author and I’m not sure I’ve seen her New Yorker cartoons, but she certainly draws like a cartoonist – very minimalistic, squiggly lines, funny faces, etc.
So not my traditional graphic novel fare art-wise, but the storytelling was first rate. Absolutely gorgeous. Every page read like a page out of a storybook, but these ones were (presumably real). Musings about her family, her own life, done in a sort of dreamy, lightly surreal, poetic in a good way style.
Didn’t even know it was my thing, but yeah, I ended up enjoying it. Don’t know if I’d say it was visually arresting, though. For me, it was definitely words over art with this book. Either way, though, a surprisingly lovely read. Best use of shadow imagery since J.M Barrie. Recommended.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
November 25, 2018
I love graphic memoirs so much, but this book just wasn't really for me. The shadow concept is interesting, but at first it was just a bit weird. Overall, the graphic memoir is pretty confusing. It is more like small memoirs (one of her relationship with a man, one of her mom's story, one of her dad, and one where she gets into detail about the shadow—I might be missing another one). My point is it's more like mini memoirs thrown together. The truth is that they barely delve into or reveal anything. The one about her dad is especially vague. There's a weirdness that she assigns to him and says she has it too, but it's never actually explored other than she just has it. The section about her mom was the absolute best with so much depth. The rest got a bit boring. The parts about creation felt a little derivative of Isabel Greenberg's work. That feels like a mean thing to say, but that was my experience as the reader.
November 5, 2018
I wanted to like this more than I did!
It was pretty high concept, deeply personal, and it didn't quite deliver a punch on either of those levels. But I like what Liana Finck is doing (critical but cautious, and singular, for sure) and I love her drawing style (like, scrunched up, simplified, slightly ragey Roz Chast? New Yorker Pals!), so I'll take it! I'll even give it an extra star I like her so much! :)
It was pretty high concept, deeply personal, and it didn't quite deliver a punch on either of those levels. But I like what Liana Finck is doing (critical but cautious, and singular, for sure) and I love her drawing style (like, scrunched up, simplified, slightly ragey Roz Chast? New Yorker Pals!), so I'll take it! I'll even give it an extra star I like her so much! :)
October 11, 2022
Definitivamente es la mejor novela gráfica que leí en mucho tiempo. Una automática favorita de la vida. Narrada con una gracia increíble, atraviesa una vida entera sin abandonar la fantasía ni la poesía. Una belleza absoluta.
La voy a estar saboreando durante mucho tiempo.
La voy a estar saboreando durante mucho tiempo.
August 29, 2018
I respect the author's quest to rediscover herself, and the struggles that are tied to that. It's a tough thing, and in this case she describes her weirdness as her "shadow," a somewhat tangible thing that marks her as separate from other people.
It was just too repetitive for me. The illustrations themselves and the actual print were just duplications of the one fundamental idea. And since the whole graphic novel is the same story repeated several times (with very little in the way of actual plot), it felt like it was beefed up just to add pages. Sort of like research papers in high school or college--you add in lots of repetitive sentences that mean the same thing to lengthen how many pages you have.
It was just too repetitive for me. The illustrations themselves and the actual print were just duplications of the one fundamental idea. And since the whole graphic novel is the same story repeated several times (with very little in the way of actual plot), it felt like it was beefed up just to add pages. Sort of like research papers in high school or college--you add in lots of repetitive sentences that mean the same thing to lengthen how many pages you have.
Read
July 30, 2023Beautifully written and expressively drawn. I want to allow that kind of freedom in my own work. Nuanced storytelling that gives you just enough but doesn't over explain everything.
January 31, 2019
Some of the artwork is compelling (especially the scratch art), but I wish the author had spent more time telling her story. There is a meta-narrative throughout the book that takes over; the "how to tell the story" line starts to overwhelm the "story" line. The narrative is circular and repetitive, which is interesting for effect to a degree, but I think the balance is off (for me)--too much meta! I left this book knowing little about the author, even though it's a "memoir." Aside from the meta-narrative, there's a mystical, Biblical metaphorical layer that is--in my humble opinion--lovely but overplayed (a little metaphor goes a long way), and again, this edges out what I crave in a memoir: a thinking, feeling person telling in detail his or her story.
August 23, 2019
It's been a while since I've read a graphic novel, and it's because I get so attached to them. I found this book to be stunning. Finck's repetitive chorus of a story from altered perspectives seems almost lyrical. Early on, she says to another something along the lines of, "You make me almost remember how I used to draw as a child." The frames all echo that childish nostalgia of composition, though still clearly experiencing a frustration of whimsy or quashing of embellishment. Childish, but extremely not. As far as narratives about self-love and discovery, interrelational existence, and generational trauma go, this one is eloquent in its simplicity and heart-aching-mending in its loving frankness. I want all my friends to read this book.
May 24, 2018
Wonderful memoir of being an artist and working on who you are and how you fit into what is around you. It is dealing with all the doubts and disappointments and finding out you aren’t who you think you are sometimes and that neither is anyone else. Trying to find ourselves, our place and our story and how others stories are part of what makes our story. There is no easy cure for feeling lonely and not really human, but picking up a pen and writing a story is a beautiful way to be human! Loved it!
August 28, 2018
... It's not exactly what I thought it was going to be... the title kind of gave me the feeling it would be like Allie Brosh's Hyperbole & a Half (the deeper parts). And it's not to say this book isn't deep, but it's just not what I thought it was going to be...
I like the style.
I love the title.
The epilogue was interesting.
The shadows were delightful.
But I found myself confused at times.
So for now, 2 stars.
I like the style.
I love the title.
The epilogue was interesting.
The shadows were delightful.
But I found myself confused at times.
So for now, 2 stars.
August 30, 2024
I've gotten through about half this graphic memoir and have enjoyed it somewhere beyond simple entertainment, way out into the frontier of empathy and self-understanding. However, I'm going to rate it 4 stars for now and stop reading until I can access it as an ebook. In hardcover, it's in an extremely irregular hand-done tiny font that required headache-inducing focus - and for this reason alone I've given up trying to finish it. But I will finish it. 4 stars for now.
December 31, 2018
requested via pn-library
August 3, 2019
I liked it. A sketchy rough art style perfectly fits the harsh grasping at relating one's deepest self on a page. Lots of pain, lots of growth. I need some time to ruminate on it.
February 27, 2019
The story and the art go together. Both are good. It didn’t grab me, but there are people who would enjoy this.
March 6, 2019
What a great follow up to Why Art?, and probably one of the best graphic novels I have read in a while. As an artist and “other” myself (mainly an introvert), this narrative deeply resonated with me. Finck effortlessly captures all the feels I wish I could muster into a visual experience - losing and searching for ones passion, the harrowing and frequent confusion due to isolation within society, and the deeply rooted aspects of character that come from our parents' experiences and history. I loved how the narrative mirrored the way her memories are reflected on by her own neurosis which cause her to restart over and over...it fully captured the individual truths I expect from good memoirs. I also adore her illustration style and want to look up more of her artwork. This is one that I will be reading many times in the future, and I am glad I picked it up.
June 1, 2024
I am not sure what to make of this. I think this is the story of a person struggling with being different, being on the autistic spectrum, but I'm not sure.
The idea of the shadow having a humanity makes me think that the shadow is the part of the author that is different and sets her apart from the others. But, perhaps not....perhaps it's a matter of each person having two sides and these two sides each being a part of the whole. We all need our two sides to be complete and this story is the author's struggles to find that completeness.
The graphics are simple line drawings. Some are very effective for the moment; others were vague for me as to their impact.
All in all, an interesting story of finding one's strength and learning to believe in one's self. However, I found it a big jumpy and not clear enough to be certain about the point of the story.
The idea of the shadow having a humanity makes me think that the shadow is the part of the author that is different and sets her apart from the others. But, perhaps not....perhaps it's a matter of each person having two sides and these two sides each being a part of the whole. We all need our two sides to be complete and this story is the author's struggles to find that completeness.
The graphics are simple line drawings. Some are very effective for the moment; others were vague for me as to their impact.
All in all, an interesting story of finding one's strength and learning to believe in one's self. However, I found it a big jumpy and not clear enough to be certain about the point of the story.
July 1, 2019
"i don't draw because i love to draw. i don't draw because i draw well. i draw because once i lost something, and by drawing, i will find it."
i'm gonna review this book like they do on the dust jackets:
"sensitive. empathetic. an enchanting work!" - the new york times
but really, it was all of those things. i devoured it in a couple of hours on a sunday morning and found myself falling in love. there's layers to this and my brain is content and fuzzy, swimming through all the possibilities. this was my first graphic novel/memoir! and it really has me wanting to dive in more to that genre. this doesn't deal with feel-good topics, but dealt with serious topics with a charming, inquisitive perspective that leaves you closing the book with a faint smile on your lips.
i'm gonna review this book like they do on the dust jackets:
"sensitive. empathetic. an enchanting work!" - the new york times
but really, it was all of those things. i devoured it in a couple of hours on a sunday morning and found myself falling in love. there's layers to this and my brain is content and fuzzy, swimming through all the possibilities. this was my first graphic novel/memoir! and it really has me wanting to dive in more to that genre. this doesn't deal with feel-good topics, but dealt with serious topics with a charming, inquisitive perspective that leaves you closing the book with a faint smile on your lips.
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