What do you think?
Rate this book
Coma
In May 2013 Zara Slattery's persistent sore throat turned into a deadly bacterial infection, after the paracetamol and ice pack prescribed by her GP failed to work. The world of Zara's 15-day drug-induced coma, which she describes as 'being trapped in a nightmare state that you can't wake up from', is rendered as a full-colour fantasy, with mythological creatures appearing out of nowhere as she battles to protect her three children against the forces of evil that threaten to engulf her. Meanwhile, her husband Dan tries to keep family life going as he faces the most difficult task of all: preparing the children for the likely loss of their mother. His diary, and that of the nurses in the Intensive Care Unit, who kept a record of Zara's illness, interweave to make a heartbreaking graphic memoir.
Coma was shortlisted for the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition 2018, the Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2020 and longlisted for the LDComics Awards 2019.
Coma was shortlisted for the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition 2018, the Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2020 and longlisted for the LDComics Awards 2019.
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 2021
2 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
May 16, 2021
Storytelling is a strange art. Finding the hook that draws in the reader comes in many different forms. And it certainly helps if that hook is an original one. I wasn’t anticipating the story in Coma – I thought it would exclusively be a trippy, Gaimenesque journey through a fantastical world serving as an allegory. There are aspects of this, but the driving force is something different entirely.
Coma is based on the real-life experience of the author. Starting with a sore throat, her health deteriorates until she’s barely able to stand. Doctors at the hospital are initially baffled until, eventually, a deadly bacterial infection is diagnosed. Drastic surgery, intensive care and a coma follow. She’s barely recognisable as the person she was just days before due to the swelling. It can’t get more serious.
Throughout Zara’s coma her mind attempts to rationalise her experience. In her delirium she is confronted by many oddities and confusing scenarios, and this bizarre journey is documented throughout the book. Fascinating as it is to experience her frenzied inner battles, it’s the other story that takes a firm hold of your heart. For in the outside world Zara has a husband and three children. A father, wider family, and friends. And it’s through their eyes that we really get to understand the trauma of the situation.
The intensive care staff encourage Dan, Zara’s husband, to keep a diary. This is for Zara’s benefit, so she can make sense of the days she will lose to the coma. And it’s largely (but not exclusively) this diary that Zara uses later to construct the narrative of the book. Dan’s faith in the NHS, and his initial optimism, wrong-foot him entirely, and by the time the full seriousness of the illness is revealed he becomes increasingly lost in helplessness. Surrounded by routine, necessity, and the kindness of family and strangers he wants for nothing in the care and provision of the children, not to mention emotional support. But, when all’s said and done, there’s simply nothing he can do that can make a difference to his wife’s sickness. That’s a battle she must fight alone.
Because it’s a diary, it’s honest, it’s immediate, and it’s raw. Some things the family does, like shopping trips, enjoying fish and chips, and a birthday party, all feel incongruous. Almost an act of unfaithfulness when a wife and mother fights for her life across town. But what else should they do, and the diary helps to underscore that Zara is far from forgotten or ignored. The distractions are, of course, essential.
I took this book to bed with me to read. It’s quite thick, so I figured two evenings would do it. I read it in one, unable to step away from the heart-wrenching experience.
The following morning my mind keeps churning over aspects of the story. The fragile nature of our health, the brilliance of our NHS, the kindness of neighbours, and the importance of family. It’s a book that shows us what’s really important. Genuinely moving and extremely thought-provoking, Coma is a book everyone should spend some time with.
Coma is based on the real-life experience of the author. Starting with a sore throat, her health deteriorates until she’s barely able to stand. Doctors at the hospital are initially baffled until, eventually, a deadly bacterial infection is diagnosed. Drastic surgery, intensive care and a coma follow. She’s barely recognisable as the person she was just days before due to the swelling. It can’t get more serious.
Throughout Zara’s coma her mind attempts to rationalise her experience. In her delirium she is confronted by many oddities and confusing scenarios, and this bizarre journey is documented throughout the book. Fascinating as it is to experience her frenzied inner battles, it’s the other story that takes a firm hold of your heart. For in the outside world Zara has a husband and three children. A father, wider family, and friends. And it’s through their eyes that we really get to understand the trauma of the situation.
The intensive care staff encourage Dan, Zara’s husband, to keep a diary. This is for Zara’s benefit, so she can make sense of the days she will lose to the coma. And it’s largely (but not exclusively) this diary that Zara uses later to construct the narrative of the book. Dan’s faith in the NHS, and his initial optimism, wrong-foot him entirely, and by the time the full seriousness of the illness is revealed he becomes increasingly lost in helplessness. Surrounded by routine, necessity, and the kindness of family and strangers he wants for nothing in the care and provision of the children, not to mention emotional support. But, when all’s said and done, there’s simply nothing he can do that can make a difference to his wife’s sickness. That’s a battle she must fight alone.
Because it’s a diary, it’s honest, it’s immediate, and it’s raw. Some things the family does, like shopping trips, enjoying fish and chips, and a birthday party, all feel incongruous. Almost an act of unfaithfulness when a wife and mother fights for her life across town. But what else should they do, and the diary helps to underscore that Zara is far from forgotten or ignored. The distractions are, of course, essential.
I took this book to bed with me to read. It’s quite thick, so I figured two evenings would do it. I read it in one, unable to step away from the heart-wrenching experience.
The following morning my mind keeps churning over aspects of the story. The fragile nature of our health, the brilliance of our NHS, the kindness of neighbours, and the importance of family. It’s a book that shows us what’s really important. Genuinely moving and extremely thought-provoking, Coma is a book everyone should spend some time with.
November 7, 2022
A tremendous attempt to convey the experience of a catastrophic health crisis both for the person close to death in ICU and the family outside. The graphic form is used to brilliant effect to show the delusional confusion of coma and the way daily life has to carry on for children despite the life changing events the family face. I hope creating this memoir was a positive process for the author and has been a part of her recovery.
March 7, 2022
conceptually and artistically breathtaking
May 24, 2021
(3.5) In May 2013, Zara Slattery’s life changed forever. What started as a nagging sore throat developed into a potentially deadly infection called necrotising fascitis. She spent 15 days in a medically induced coma and woke up to find that one of her legs had been amputated. Colour is used to differentiate different realms: Monochrome sketches in thick crayon illustrate her husband Dan’s diary of the everyday life that kept going while she was in hospital, yet it’s the coma/fantasy pages in vibrant blues, reds and gold that feel more real.
Slattery remembers, or perhaps imagines, being surrounded by nightmarish skulls and menacing animals. She feels accused and guilty, like she has to justify her continued existence. In one moment she’s a puppet; in another she’s in ancient China, her fate being decided for her. Watery landscapes like a splash park and sunken theatre recur. There’s also a giant that reminded me a lot of one of the monsters in Spirited Away.
Meanwhile, Dan was holding down the fort, completing domestic tasks and reassuring their three children. Relatives came to stay; neighbours brought food, ran errands, and gave him lifts to the hospital. He addresses the diary directly to Zara as a record of the time she spent away from home and acknowledges that he doesn’t know if she’ll come back to them. A final letter from Zara’s nurse reveals how bad off she was, maybe more so than Dan was aware.
This must have been such a distressing time to revisit. In this interview, Slattery talks about the courage it took to read Dan’s diary even years after the fact. I admired how the book’s contrasting drawing styles recreate her locked-in mental state and her family’s weeks of waiting – both parties in limbo, wondering what will come next.
Brighton, where Slattery is based, is a hotspot of the Graphic Medicine movement spearheaded by Ian Williams (author of The Lady Doctor). Regular readers know how much I love health narratives, and with my keenness for graphic novels this series couldn’t be better suited to my interests.
Originally published, with images, on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Slattery remembers, or perhaps imagines, being surrounded by nightmarish skulls and menacing animals. She feels accused and guilty, like she has to justify her continued existence. In one moment she’s a puppet; in another she’s in ancient China, her fate being decided for her. Watery landscapes like a splash park and sunken theatre recur. There’s also a giant that reminded me a lot of one of the monsters in Spirited Away.
Meanwhile, Dan was holding down the fort, completing domestic tasks and reassuring their three children. Relatives came to stay; neighbours brought food, ran errands, and gave him lifts to the hospital. He addresses the diary directly to Zara as a record of the time she spent away from home and acknowledges that he doesn’t know if she’ll come back to them. A final letter from Zara’s nurse reveals how bad off she was, maybe more so than Dan was aware.
This must have been such a distressing time to revisit. In this interview, Slattery talks about the courage it took to read Dan’s diary even years after the fact. I admired how the book’s contrasting drawing styles recreate her locked-in mental state and her family’s weeks of waiting – both parties in limbo, wondering what will come next.
Brighton, where Slattery is based, is a hotspot of the Graphic Medicine movement spearheaded by Ian Williams (author of The Lady Doctor). Regular readers know how much I love health narratives, and with my keenness for graphic novels this series couldn’t be better suited to my interests.
Originally published, with images, on my blog, Bookish Beck.
January 22, 2022
This graphic memoir recounts a period of 15 days in 2013 when Slattery was placed in a drug-induced coma, after contracting a life-threatening bacterial infection that aggressively attacks the skin and muscle. The account flits back and forth between events in the “real world”, where her husband’s diary entries explain the efforts being made my medical staff to save Slattery’s life, while he looks after their children, and the hallucinogenic nightmares experienced by Slattery throughout her coma as she fights to regain consciousness.
The contrast between monochrome (real world events) and kaleidoscopic colour (Slattery’s nightmares) works really well to emphasize both the bewilderment the author experienced, and the necessary persistence of mundane, domestic life for her loved ones, despite them living through a time of such heightened anxiety and emotion.
Slattery’s story is a great example of how people can rally together during a crisis, and how illness is so often a shared experience. Being written and published some years on from the incident, however, I felt it would have benefitted from a little more reflection on her subsequent recovery, both physical and mental.
Still, this is a striking read that highlights a little-known medical condition, while showcasing the unique strengths of the graphic novel form.
The contrast between monochrome (real world events) and kaleidoscopic colour (Slattery’s nightmares) works really well to emphasize both the bewilderment the author experienced, and the necessary persistence of mundane, domestic life for her loved ones, despite them living through a time of such heightened anxiety and emotion.
Slattery’s story is a great example of how people can rally together during a crisis, and how illness is so often a shared experience. Being written and published some years on from the incident, however, I felt it would have benefitted from a little more reflection on her subsequent recovery, both physical and mental.
Still, this is a striking read that highlights a little-known medical condition, while showcasing the unique strengths of the graphic novel form.
November 15, 2024
After meeting author Zara Slattery at a comics fair last year in Bowness (a last minute addition to our English countryside road trip), I was immediately moved by the concept of her story - a telling of her experience in a 15 day coma in the ICU, both from her hallucinating experiences and her husband & nurses perspectives, who kept a journal of everything that happened in the real world while she was unconscious.
I’ve been saving this one for the right time and it did not disappoint - a beautiful, haunting, and inspiring story, and made all the more special by the fact that it’s all true.
When I met Zara, she said - “spoilers, it has a happy ending, but you already knew that because I’m here signing your book”. Thank you Zara - for sharing your heart.
Highly recommend this story for anyone who works in healthcare, or anyone who’s had a family member in the hospital. A beautifully told graphic novel.
I’ve been saving this one for the right time and it did not disappoint - a beautiful, haunting, and inspiring story, and made all the more special by the fact that it’s all true.
When I met Zara, she said - “spoilers, it has a happy ending, but you already knew that because I’m here signing your book”. Thank you Zara - for sharing your heart.
Highly recommend this story for anyone who works in healthcare, or anyone who’s had a family member in the hospital. A beautifully told graphic novel.
April 10, 2022
One of those stories which is amplified, or just told better, through the art of a graphic novel than words only. Beautifully conveyed difficult pictures of how the experience was from the inside out as well as words and pics by her loved one. Tender and powerful. Recommend. I thought a 3.5 as not enough of her perspective but I've been still thinking about it a few days later so worth a 4
July 10, 2022
A striking and dramatic depiction of Zara Slattery's time spent in a coma due to a very aggresive Staph-A infection. I loved the contrasting styles between what was happening to Zara and what she felt and saw in ther mind during her coma and her husband's experience of looking after their children, visiting Zara and dealing with her very serious health issue.
December 19, 2025
I love the use of art and color to differentiate the perspectives between Zara and her husband. I found the perspective of husband to be more emotionally impactful on me, and teared up at times as he was facing the reality of the situation.
April 13, 2022
A stunning masterpiece.
May 17, 2021
Ever wondered what it is like to be suspended in a coma, not dead, but not entirely alive either? Zara Slattery has been there, lived to tell the tale, and fortunately for us has the artistic skills to draw the whole thing for us in exquisite detail.
There's a lot to learn here, for medical staff as well as us curious civilians - what innocuous details of everyday hospital life will be swept up by a half aware consciousness and respun into the dream logic of the medically induced coma? What do we tap into when our consciousness has been artificially subdued, and is there such a thing as a universal consciousness through which our ancient myths have been channelled? If not... why did Slattery find herself navigating through landscapes she later discovered form part of mythologies around the world?
Such hefty considerations are not spelled out but they are beneath the surface of this readable graphic novel. Despite the tragedy of a sudden infection, life or death medical intervention and eventual amputation, it's the details of the loving family and the dad's efforts to ensure everyone "keeps calm and carries on" that will stay with you.
More than the story of a coma, this is a story of deep, abiding love, between spouses, and between parents and their children. Slattery has pulled off a remarkable book at the apex of what the graphic novel form can achieve and it stands head and shoulders above most graphic works of our generation. Something for other comic artists to aspire to - and a definite must-buy for all who seek an engaging and educative read.
There's a lot to learn here, for medical staff as well as us curious civilians - what innocuous details of everyday hospital life will be swept up by a half aware consciousness and respun into the dream logic of the medically induced coma? What do we tap into when our consciousness has been artificially subdued, and is there such a thing as a universal consciousness through which our ancient myths have been channelled? If not... why did Slattery find herself navigating through landscapes she later discovered form part of mythologies around the world?
Such hefty considerations are not spelled out but they are beneath the surface of this readable graphic novel. Despite the tragedy of a sudden infection, life or death medical intervention and eventual amputation, it's the details of the loving family and the dad's efforts to ensure everyone "keeps calm and carries on" that will stay with you.
More than the story of a coma, this is a story of deep, abiding love, between spouses, and between parents and their children. Slattery has pulled off a remarkable book at the apex of what the graphic novel form can achieve and it stands head and shoulders above most graphic works of our generation. Something for other comic artists to aspire to - and a definite must-buy for all who seek an engaging and educative read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2022
The two weeks Zara Slattery was in hospital after a throat turns out to be something much worse, necrotising myositis, necrotising fasciitis...
It doesn't seem to be very clear what it was, but that is the case so many times with rare diseases: if you get a diagnosis, it could turn out to be something different later on, or they could start looking into a disease and then turn out to be another one (I was being tested for lupus before focusing on a myositis, and arthritis was another word that was mentioned a couple of times).
The thing is, Zara has an infection affecting her leg and causing her a lot of pain.
She has to be sedated while the doctors try to get the infected tissue out... by amputating her leg.
Our journeys were very different, but there were things I could relate to. It was mainly interesting to see how her partner had to deal with everyday life, including kids' school runs and birthdays, while also trying to keep up with what was going on with her.
Partners, family and caregivers are so many times forgotten when talking about spoonies, zebras, or people with disabilities.
And the letter from the nurse at the end really helps clarifying some things.
Stunning visuals, scary story. A great book.
A great read to start #MyositisAwarenessMonth
It doesn't seem to be very clear what it was, but that is the case so many times with rare diseases: if you get a diagnosis, it could turn out to be something different later on, or they could start looking into a disease and then turn out to be another one (I was being tested for lupus before focusing on a myositis, and arthritis was another word that was mentioned a couple of times).
The thing is, Zara has an infection affecting her leg and causing her a lot of pain.
She has to be sedated while the doctors try to get the infected tissue out... by amputating her leg.
Our journeys were very different, but there were things I could relate to. It was mainly interesting to see how her partner had to deal with everyday life, including kids' school runs and birthdays, while also trying to keep up with what was going on with her.
Partners, family and caregivers are so many times forgotten when talking about spoonies, zebras, or people with disabilities.
And the letter from the nurse at the end really helps clarifying some things.
Stunning visuals, scary story. A great book.
A great read to start #MyositisAwarenessMonth
January 16, 2022
Just pretty much inhaled this stunning book. Not in one sitting though, I needed a break mid-way to literally come up for air.
Having lived the experience of a loved one’s battle to make it out of ICU as their body fights a vicious internal battle, Dan’s story felt very real and close to home. The tone of his diary captures the feeling or almost non-feeling of that existence, as your energy goes towards simply dragging through each day, and taking it as it comes. And always hoping, holding on. It was familiar even down to the car troubles that show up at the most awkward of times.
And Zara’s story, I’m not sure how you could better tell it than through the sights and sounds she recreates. It is visual poetry.
This is a deeply moving book, a fabulously and beautifully told story.
Having lived the experience of a loved one’s battle to make it out of ICU as their body fights a vicious internal battle, Dan’s story felt very real and close to home. The tone of his diary captures the feeling or almost non-feeling of that existence, as your energy goes towards simply dragging through each day, and taking it as it comes. And always hoping, holding on. It was familiar even down to the car troubles that show up at the most awkward of times.
And Zara’s story, I’m not sure how you could better tell it than through the sights and sounds she recreates. It is visual poetry.
This is a deeply moving book, a fabulously and beautifully told story.
January 27, 2024
True story. Zara has a sore throat, and soon after hurts her leg, she slowly gets more and more unwell and ends up being hospitalised. I won’t spoil the rest of the plot, but it’s equal parts uplifting, moving, challenging and basically sad. Her husband Dan keeps a diary of the following weeks (which makes up the majority of the reading) of how he copes, his visits to the hospital, and keeping his family going. I had no idea it is set in Brighton, near to my home, so that was a fun part of the read for me. Moments of how Zara’s coma was depicted lost me a little, but I understood it was intentionally a psychedelic, abstract representation of what that experience was like for her. I enjoyed more the journey through the events of her illness, as narrated by Dan.
September 7, 2021
Lying sedated, and paralysed attached to a ventilator. Asleep to the outside world, thinking nothing, knowing nothing. This is myth of the unconscious person in an ITU. The reality though is that when you're trapped within your own mind the world bleeds in and your subconscious takes over creating a sometimes bizarre and frightening reality.
This is truely one of the best graphic novels ever, dark, frightening but equally filled with hope. An absolute must read for anyone who works or is thinking of working in an ITU.
This is truely one of the best graphic novels ever, dark, frightening but equally filled with hope. An absolute must read for anyone who works or is thinking of working in an ITU.
January 9, 2023
A graphic novel about Zara Slattery's experience of being in a drug-induced coma while she fought the ravages of necrotizing fasciitis. As someone who takes care of people in drug-induced comas and the wife of someone who experienced a coma (though not drug-induced), this account is fascinating and brought a better level of understanding of what those I care for may be experiencing.
I'm happy to have found this on my library's shelves. I don't think I would have come across it otherwise, but I'll be recommending it to my other ICU colleagues.
I'm happy to have found this on my library's shelves. I don't think I would have come across it otherwise, but I'll be recommending it to my other ICU colleagues.
January 21, 2023
Graphic memoir split between two people. A mother who is in a coma while her body fights off a flesh eating bacteria called necrotizing fasciitis, and a father who is trying to keep it together despite the fact that the wife very well may die. The husband's sections were all written in second person, which I found unique. Also, the wife's portions were surreal, barely coherent nightmares. A good book.
February 13, 2023
Made the mistake of finishing “Coma” on my lunchbreak. This was a mistake, as I’m now looking at my laptop through a mist of tears. I started three days ago, thinking I would read it in a sitting. I quickly realised it was a very different book to what I first expected, and I needed to take my time and absorb it, giving myself time to cry and lose myself in the fantasy, feel the weight of it and the beauty of it.
Raw, beautiful, essential.
Raw, beautiful, essential.
February 1, 2023
This is almost perfectly described, it’s not too depressing despite the topic and still has that humour, but still portrays the struggles of someone being i’ll in both perspectives which is wonderful.
the switch between colour and not colour as well really puts things in preceptive and the illustrations are just phenomenal
the switch between colour and not colour as well really puts things in preceptive and the illustrations are just phenomenal
March 5, 2022
Emotionally jarring, mesmerizing and emotionally affecting book of the inner experiences of coma, as well as the experiences of the family through alternate storylines.
Unique, beautifully artistic, and important addition to the graphic medicine canon
Unique, beautifully artistic, and important addition to the graphic medicine canon
December 18, 2022
4.5 stars //
fuck, man. it takes a lot to make me tear up, and this masterpiece of a graphic novel did it multiple times. beautifully raw in art and storytelling alike… brilliant brilliant brilliant
fuck, man. it takes a lot to make me tear up, and this masterpiece of a graphic novel did it multiple times. beautifully raw in art and storytelling alike… brilliant brilliant brilliant
May 23, 2021
Amazing book. I loved the transitions and the art is superb. Definitely worth getting.
October 26, 2021
This book is beautiful, and a gripping tale well told. One of my top reads ever, and beautifully illustrated. A very compelling read
January 2, 2022
The drawing in this book is lovely and it's a great human story.
March 27, 2022
I may have cried a few times
March 31, 2022
Raw, emotional and deeply compelling with some gorgeous, almost haunting artwork.
October 10, 2022
There was a lot going on in this one. I don’t think I always appreciated the coma-dream bits.
July 18, 2023
Stunning throughout.
November 25, 2023
Great, but i did make the mistake of reading this while sick with strep. Don't recommend that.
June 26, 2024
I found Dan’s perspective more compelling than Zara’s, and I don’t think that was what I supposed to take away from this memoir.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews