Mansfield and Me: A Graphic Memoir

by Sarah Laing

Part memoir, part biography, Laing charts her life and journey to being a writer against Katherine Mansfield's own journey. An examination of how our lives connect to those of our personal heroes.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Graphic Novels Comics, Queer

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Zealand author and artist Sarah Laing blends memoir with literary biography. Two central storylines intertwine, as Laing draws parallels between aspects of her own experiences and those of classic author Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield was first introduced to Laing by her grandmother, who lived close to where Mansfield grew up, an introduction that led to Laing’s ongoing fascination with Mansfield’s life and work. Laing imbues her narrative with a sense of spontaneity but it’s actually based on extensive, careful research on Mansfield. Although, one of Laing’s aims is to make Mansfield easily relatable to modern audiences, so she playfully reimagines her in more informal, contemporary terms. One obvious source of inspiration for Laing’s approach is Alison Bechdel and her acclaimed graphic memoirs, particularly Are You My Mother with its links to To the Lighthouse and Virginia Woolf - whose literary circle overlapped with Mansfield’s, sometimes sparking a curious mix of rivalry and attraction.

Laing examines Mansfield from multiple angles from her queer relationships to her unorthodox partnership with John Middleton Murray and close bonds to Ida Baker, through to her creative ambitions and beliefs. There are even some unexpectedly comic interludes particularly the reframing of an ill-fated visit to D. H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda. Laing’s artwork’s fresh and immediate but also carefully thought out. I liked Laing’s inventiveness and loved the small details like Laing’s imitation of things like Mansfield’s handwriting; and the way her visual style sometimes alludes to artists like Anne Estelle Rice whose famous painting of Mansfield frequently resurfaces on the covers of Mansfield studies and biographies. And I enjoyed Laing’s use of ink washes and watercolour - the way shifting tones and colours conveyed mood and atmosphere. I picked this up because of Mansfield but found Laing far more engaging than I’d expected.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in New Zealand an aspiring writer, Laing looked to Mansfield as one of her idols. This graphic novel blends biography and autobiography in a convincing way as Laing alternates between vignettes from her own past in vivid colour and scenes from Mansfield's short life in black and white. She even uses a few Mansfield story titles as chapter headings, has Mansfield's ghost turn up to comment on her choices, and compares and contrasts the course of their careers: Laing published her first short story collection at 34, the age at which Mansfield died. This made me want to read more of Mansfield's stories; I've only read a few thus far. "Katherine's stories were full of those little lamps - moments of illumination, flashes of truth. I don't need to be famous, but I would like someone to really see me," Laing concludes. I liked this a bit more than her earlier graphic memoir Let Me Be Frank. This was a great find for a random Waterstones clearance purchase!

[Colleen Fauchelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The weather, The earthquakes and not feeling well. It was good to hide in a easy to read and interesting graphic memoir. I liked that Sarah Laing did Katherin Mansfield's part in black and white.

[Marcus Hobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Laing's book works brilliantly on lots of levels.
It is a great story of her own literary journey, contrasted with events from the life of Katherine Mansfield who acts as her literary heroine.

My own knowledge of Mansfield is sadly limited to having read a couple of her short stories, but this densely packed book gives me lots of back story and sent me off in search or more. It has certainly made me want to read more of those stories but also read some biography too.
On a completely different level the book reminds me of the insecurities of writing and trying to get published and to some extent the luck that you need. All writers have self doubt, but we don't always express it openly, so it is great to read sometimes as it makes us all feel better.

Unlike many graphic novels this is a long story. I use the word dense because there is so much text and illustration that this is not a quick read. There is plenty of body to it and the illustrations make it real.
A truly lovely book.

[Mari / 1001 kirjaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hieno, hieno sarjakuvateos uusimmasta hurahduksestani Katherine Mansfieldistä. Laing kertoo sekä omansa että Mansfieldin tarinan. Eri vuosisatojen naiskirjailijoiden elämässä on paljon yhtymäkohtia ja paljon tunnistettavaa. Teoksessa on myös joitakin Mansfieldin (juuri lukemiani) novelleja kuvitettuna, hieno kokemus lukea heti Puutarhakutsut-novellikokoelman perään.

[jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️

[Belinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read lots of GA's and this one is up there with the best, Persepolis, Maus, The Encyclopedia of Earth and Fun Home (which draws parallels - memoir, sexuality, family relationships).

Sarah's pictures are soft and informal - is that even a way to describe it? They're not crisp and life like, they have a much looser style.

KM is well researched. I've read lots about KM and grew up on her stories, but I learned new things in Mansfield and Me. I'm now keen, for example, to read the last days of KM's life as well as her journals and letters.

I love all the themes of growing up and finding oneself in the NZ landscape, especially when the landscape is literary. It's not an easy road in a country with 4 million people and a big, fat, squally sea isolating you. There are some brilliant philosophical and reflective moments in the book as well.

Mansfield and Me deserves international recognition.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant graphic memoir that is part potted-biography of Mansfield, part personal memoir of/for Laing and a blurring of the two characters and some fantasy sections; stunningly honest and real and exquisitely put together - a real marriage of/between text and images - this is a brilliant book.

[Wendy Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was borrowed from a friend and (embarrassingly) sat on my shelf for over a year, unread. Yesterday afternoon, I picked it up because I felt in the mood for something completely different to read, and ended up devouring it in one sitting. I loved the format - the mix of memoir and some biography of Katherine Mansfield. I also found the artwork beautiful (special mention of NZ native birds on page 8). Definitely one of my favourite graphic novels to date.
[Coincidentally, I was poking around in a thrift shop earlier today, and what did I find? Selected stories of Katherine Mansfield! It came home with me, of course.]

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so clever! An auto-bio graphic novel like this could come across as pretentious/comparative but it just doesn't. The narratives flow along so readily and it took me back to reading Mansfield all over again which was lovely. I'm glad Laing didn't die at 34 of TB.

Knocked down a star as (although I believe it was mimicking the handwriting of Mansfield) my aged eyes struggled with the typeface.

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic memoir follows the template established by Art Spiegelman in Maus, with the shifts back and forward in time, but with the past narrative in this case not strictly connected to the author's present. Katherine Mansfield's life provides some parallels to Laing's efforts to become an author and overcome the isolation of New Zealand. The story has a lot of resonance for me, having grown up and gone to university in Palmerston North at the same time as the author, and I know some of the people mentioned, but beyond that it's very well done, both with the writing and the art.

[Daisybirch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the art more than I thought I would once I got into reading this. I would’ve given it a higher rating for its honest depiction of writing and the desire for fame, but there were a few things about the way Laing chose to end the graphic memoir which left me feeling surprised and disgruntled. It seems bizarre that the writing of this book is absent from what is largely a reflection on a writing career; it would have been interesting to see how Laing felt about using Mansfield’s life and work in this way, whether she felt conflicted or guilty about giving her thoughts, using her as a conversant on her own life. It felt bizarre to leave Mansfield’s life behind before the ending - the book is called Mansfield and me and yet it ends largely preoccupied with Laing and her children, with Mansfield rendered silent. Additionally, I understand this is not a novel but I felt there were some themes which preoccupied the first half of the memoir but were abandoned largely by the end - namely Laing’s sexuality. She went from seriously considering she was a lesbian to seemingly happily married to a man without even a retrospective reflection on her sexuality. Also, the character of her husband did not seem very likeable or to understand her work, even though Laing’s author’s note seems to claim the opposite - it felt like there was an absence where this important figure in her life should have been.

It feels like I have a lot to criticise but this is mostly because I just finished the book and so I’m getting my thoughts down quickly - and it’s easier to criticise than compliment. I am glad to Laing had the admirable dedication and perseverance to launch her writing career alongside being a mother - and that this culminated in her writing this graphic memoir.

[Dorothy Dentata · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was so beautiful, and so much of the teenage move to Wellington/local scenery/wistful small town nz teenager felt so genuine and relatable to me. I also love reading graphic novels about parenthood. The Katherine Mansfield sections totally intrigued me too.

I think my fave thing about this book was the art, I want so many of the bigger illustrations as framed prints!

Reason it's not a 5 is because I feel like the two storylines could have been woven together a bit more smoothly or organically or something?

[Elisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an utterly delightful book, in all the ways. It's very engaging and personal as a memoir. It convinces as a biography of a literary icon. The connections between the two strands of the story are clear as day and, as a result, the narrative never feels choppy; instead, the transitions are near seemless. The drawings are lovely and highly expressive. And there's a good mix throughout of humour, sadness, poignancy, inspiration, and joy. Unlike, for example, Mary and Bryan Talbot's Dotter of Her Father's Eyes - which has a relatively similar premise and structure to this book but I find far inferior - Mansfield and Me genuinely feels like a life story, because it showcases its two protagonist experiencing pretty much everything that life can throw at them. Moreover, the two women at its centre feel entirely real and rounded and sympathetic, which makes them fascinating to read about regardless of what is (or isn't) happening to them at any particular point. This is a really basic thing to say, but this is just a really nice book. It made me feel all happy and warm when I was reading it - despite its many dark undercurrents - and I kind of wanted to flick back through and read it all over again once I'd finished. For all its grounding in realism and non-fictional practise, this is a book that feels escapist and lively and joyous. I for one am never going to complain about a book that takes me in so entirely.

Prior to reading this, I knew nothing at all about Sarah Laing, and had only very limited knowledge of Katherine Mansfield. I read Bliss once for uni, but that was several years ago now, and the only other times that I've encountered Mansfield have been when she is compared to or commenting on other writers of her time, notably Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster. I therefore took a lot of what happens in Mansfield and Me at face value, so I'm perhaps not best placed to comment on how accurate it is. However, in my personal opinion, accuracy is not particularly important in this book, as it's obviously an act of imaginative non-fiction first and foremost. I mean, Sarah and Katherine literally interact at certain points, which is absolutely not accurate because Katherine died before Sarah was born, but really works within the context of the story because it represents Sarah taking inspiration from one of her literary heroes. Fittingly, in a book about two masterful female storytellers, this book is more about storytelling than anything else. It's about these two women's journeys to become writers, but it's also about how the ordinary aspects of their lives can be transformed into something remarkable, and about how nothing is worth nothing as long as someone else is there to remember it. It's through the telling and passing on of stories that remarkable women like Katherine Mansfield survive, even though she died long before her time, and I think that Laing captures that beautifully in this book. It feels both like an elegy and a celebration of life in all its messy glory. For me, the facts pale in comparison to that sort of meaningful recreation.

The biggest compliment that I can pay to Mansfield and Me is that it made me want to go away and read some of Mansfield's work. In fact, off the back of this book, I've finally started making my way through the copy of Mansfield's Collected Stories that I've owned since I read Bliss for uni and hadn't so much as touched since (the fact that I'm currently in quarantine due to coronavirus and have an excess of time on my hands to read was also instrumental in this decision, I must say). That's a pretty big deal, right? Previously, I had little to no interest in Mansfield's work, yet now I'm intentionally seeking it out, and that's all because of Sarah Laing's glorious rendering of it in her own creative work. I absolutely adored the way that Laing used Mansfield's stories in this graphic novel, from weaving some of Mansfield's most recognisable symbols into her own life story, to comparing events that she experienced to ones that Mansfield depicts, to using strategically placed quotations, to portraying old high school English lessons which show just how prominent a literary figure Mansfield is in New Zealand. I also really appreciated Laing's inclusion of her own interpretations of some of the stories, which have most definitely influenced my readings since. I think that one of the things that makes Mansfield and Me so remarkable is that it successfully brings to life both Katherine Mansfield the person and the work produced by Katherine Mansfield the writer, rather than sacrificing one for the other. In large swathes, Katherine just feels like an ordinary woman, with her own struggles and her own weaknesses, and yet, in between the sad episodes, her genius is allowed to shine through. It's that which makes this such a glorious book to read even though it deals with subjects including illness, death, war, and miscarriage: there's a balance of sorrow and joy, which creates a wonderfully emotive reading experience overall.

I have no idea at all whether any of my thoughts on Mansfield and Me make any sense at all because, even though I absolutely adore this book, I find it hard to say exactly what it is that makes me love it so much. I think it's just how real it felt to me all the time I was reading it. I don't really care whether or not the version of the truth it portrays is real or not, because it felt real to me, and that's infinitely more important in a work as involving as this one is. It feels like so much more than a memoir; it's an experience, and I've never encountered anything quite like it before. For anyone out there who takes any interest at all in female creatives, remarkable historical women, or the preservation of women's stories and voices, I would urge you to read this, regardless of how much or how little you know about Mansfield. It's just a lovely little story about two women finally getting the credit they deserve - even though this is belated, in Katherine's case - told in a gorgeous colour palate. Honestly, what's not to love? I could read books like this all day long.

[Kathryn Beek · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a treat. A moving insight into the lives of two important New Zealand writers, rendered with humour and accompanied by fresh and evocative illustrations.

[Rochelle Sewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was drawn to the description; A Graphic Memoir. It was an experiment to pick up a story depicted in graphic form, with only speech and thought bubbles, with the briefest of footnotes to tell the tale. Mansfield and Me is the first graphic novel that I’ve read and it won’t be my last.

I was intrigued to follow Sarah Laing’s memoir as she recounts a plotted history of her life in parallel with that of New Zealand’s treasured storywriter Katherine Mansfield. Laing tells so much in few words and her delightful pictures support the narrative. Her style is funny and honest, and she’s not afraid to reveal the highs and lows of her personal life as she navigates through her journey to become a writer. She uses extensive research to bring Katherine Mansfield to life. She enables the reader to live through the dramatic turn of events that shaped Katherine’s short life. In the end Mansfield becomes a sort of rebellious ghost. Counselling Sarah on what it will take for her to “make it” as a writer.

Laing finds serendipitous parallels between her life and that of Katherine Mansfield. Her relationship with Mansfield grows as Laing herself matures as a writer and as an individual. While described as a memoir, Laing distances herself from her lovable warts and all character. You know that young Sarah Laing the writer will get there in the end. I relished the pictorial depiction of Mansfield’s life as it weaved its way through Laing’s experience. Feeling as though I too was getting to know this literary treasure.

This book was brilliant. I couldn’t put it down. It gets a ten out of ten from me.

[Stephen Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel tells the story of Katherine Mansfield, one of the most famous short story writers, cut with the story of the artist's/author's life.

I absolutely loved the drawings in this and it actually took me a while to read as I lingered over the art work. I loved the facial drawings, and at the beginning of each chapter there were terrific full page paintings. The amount of work that must have gone in to creating all this artwork, I just can't imagine.

I would say it wasn't the most original story. The imagined parallels between KM and the author i.e. that they both yearned to be famous authors, they both wanted to get out of NZ to experience the world, were flimsy at best I would say - most people want to be authors don't they, especially someone who is actually an author, and most NZers want to get out and see the world.

That said it was still a very enjoyable read and I learnt a lot about Katherine Mansfield and Sarah Laing.

[Shanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read much (or any?) Katherine Mansfield which probably makes me a bad literary inclined New Zealander. Especially because I live about five minutes from the Katherine Mansfield museum thingy. But I read this anyway. I loved how Laing explored the idea that you have to leave New Zealand to be a writer when she (unlike Mansfield) was able to make her career right here. The mansfield/laing sections are intertwined really well, and the art is just so gorgeous. I did find the writing a bit hard to read at times, but that's okay. One thing I did find was that the inclusion of both character's non-straight sexual identities was a bit...unresolved? but it's real people so I guess it doesn't always work out that way.

[orphia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laing captured me with her method of intertwining her life with Katherine Mansfield.

For some reason, I found by the end of the novel I hated Laing. I think her own self hatred was a clear undercurrent of the entire story. She finally “makes it”, except all the misery of the chase seems to say otherwise! It seems all that matters to her is her notoriety as an artist, which she only really brings up at the end of the graphic novel as a small “I wonder if all the chasing fame was worth it?” Which is then dismissed.

She left out all the interesting parts! Why did she start drawing? What challenges did she face creating and selling comics? Why did she stop exploring her sexuality? Does she identify as LGBT+? How does motherhood influence her work? I’m left with so many questions.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two things I should first admit: first I was an English teacher at PNGHS when Sarah was a student there and secondly, I shared the English department's passion for Mansfield's writing and went on the annual Year 13 pilgrimage to Wellington to follow Mansfield's steps. Laing's combination of her life and Mansfield's life is witty and poignant and beautifully linked. The illustrations are simple and clear and effective. If you know Mansfield's stories well, you will immerse yourself in the book. If you do not know them, read the book in accompaniment with the stories. Immerse yourself or read it in bites.

[Barnaby Haszard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me some time to get used to switching back and forth between the Laing and Mansfield narratives (I should say there is an admirable effort to connect the two, thematically and directly), but over time, a real sense of lives lived and time passing builds up. The final section is surprisingly cathartic, even beautiful. That's a pretty good word for this book: beautiful. You'd need more words to uncover the depth of intimate detail, the examination of creative success, the feminist strength underpinning it all, but it's the trees and flowers that stick in my head most of all.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am now a convert to graphic novels! I cut my work short and read this in one day. I completely related to the cultural references in this memoir and having read all of Sarah Laing's other books it was fascinating to have their "backstory" outlined in this book. I can't wait for the next one.

I am also now inspired to re-read some Katherine Mansfield stories and am tracking down her memoir of her trip to the Urewera.

[Tante Tzvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are parts of the book I love. The switching between Sarah and Katherine Mansfield’s life, and the way Laing brings Mansfield to life. But Sarah’s story didn’t manage to capture me. The raw style of the drawings is not for me. I find the text balloons hard to read. All in all, we’re not a perfect match - but I’m happy to read about the enthusiasm of others for this graphic novel.

[Jonathon Hagger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every page of this book. The beautiful combination of lovely writing, introspection by the author, intertwining the story with Katherine Mansfield’s life and colourful pages. All combine to make for a wonderful story.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrific with lovely illustrations. So overjoyed that my new home library has an informed graphic novels buyer. The stacks were filled with amazing looking choices. I would like to read her (non-graphic) short stories and fiction now :)

[Joana Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

It didn’t quite live up to my expectations, maybe my fault for not reading what this book was carefully before starting to read it. I was expecting it to be more about Katherine Mansfield and her life.

[Daeron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it!

[Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I personally have never read any Mansfield, and wasn't really aware of her life. I found it trying hard to find similarities between the two women's lives and not really succeeding.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful painting!

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful interweaving of lives and stories.