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Look Again: A Memoir
Once, years ago, while walking her dogs in the woods, Elizabeth found a dead body.
Trauma can make truth hard to find. Have you ever experienced a terror, grief, or confusion so great that when you try to share it you can only find shattered images floating in darkness? You try over and over, but can’t tell the story, to yourself or to anyone else. Look Again presents us with six variations of the same event, seen through the different lenses caused by other life revelations. It explores the fragmenting nature of trauma by tracing the convoluted evolution of the author’s story, a process often experienced by trauma sufferers and their loved ones.
Trauma can make truth hard to find. Have you ever experienced a terror, grief, or confusion so great that when you try to share it you can only find shattered images floating in darkness? You try over and over, but can’t tell the story, to yourself or to anyone else. Look Again presents us with six variations of the same event, seen through the different lenses caused by other life revelations. It explores the fragmenting nature of trauma by tracing the convoluted evolution of the author’s story, a process often experienced by trauma sufferers and their loved ones.
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2022
2 people are currently reading
341 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth A. Trembley
5 books5 followersElizabeth Trembley is a graphic memoirist whose debut memoir, Look Again (Street Noise 2022), was a finalist for the Graphic Medicine International Collective Award. Writing also under the pen name Josie Gordon, she is a Lambda Literary Award-winning mystery author. Beth teaches and coaches creators in prose and comics, facilitating the Graphic Memoir + Medicine Working Group at the Sequential Artists Workshop and leading workshops online, in-person, and individually. She holds a Ph.D. in literature from the University of Chicago, has studied at The Sequential Artists Workshop, Disney University, The Center for Cartoon Studies, and other programs, and has published widely on popular culture. After decades teaching, mentoring, and consulting, she has helped thousands explore storytelling. She lives in west Michigan with her spouse, pets, and a collection of Batman memorabilia, walking daily in the woods.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
December 5, 2022
Once, years ago, while walking her dogs in the woods, Elizabeth found a dead body. What transpires after that over 25 years is (at least) six different versions of her story, each of them revealing the effects of trauma on memory. But they also reveal to her over time aspects of her identity, including her own sexual identity, and her blocking out childhood experiences.
I really like stories that reveal that the stories we tell are always limited, always partial, told from our limited and complicated memories. Rashomon stories, too--a story told from three different perspectives by Kurosawa. Memoir as fiction, because you don't completely know yourself, or you tell lies to yourself, and so on.
Trembley claims that it is comics that helped her tell her story, given that comics themselves use gutters between panels, gaps in telling, the unknown that readers help construct. Her own drawings are simple but effective. It's essentially a comics essay on the challenges of telling one's story. Or any story.
And do you trust what a witness says? Trembley doesn't have clear memories of the moment--even on the same day, as she was in shock--and some of these memories come back to her gradually.
Trembley creates a kind of true crime (it was a suicide, not a murder 0r accident) mystery story, with incremental "reveals" about "the case" and herself (as often happens in detective stories, too). I learned Trembley actually has written a mystery series under the pseudonym Josie Gordon. She learns that what usually seems obvious in mystery writing has to be re-thought. Few people know what they are actually seeing at a murder scene.
I also learned--see, I was doing my own sleuthing!--that Trembley recently (2019) retired from her position as an English professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Having grown up in western Michigan, having lived in Holland, I am quite sure I have been in the very woods in which she saw this body. Somehow that seems important for me to note (to myself, I guess, but it gave me a kind of shudder, for some reason). I liked her talking to her Memoir Writing class at Hope about this story, one version of it; I've taught classes like this in that area of the country, so felt a familiarity.
I didn't love the little talking animals that represent the voices in her head telling her how to respond to information/memory as it presented itself to her. Maybe I would have liked it more, too, if the book had been a bit more about her (hidden, unspoken) sexual identity, which she seemed to set up early on as a more major secret of her growing up in (ultra-conservative) western Michigan. But on the whole I thought it was great.
I really like stories that reveal that the stories we tell are always limited, always partial, told from our limited and complicated memories. Rashomon stories, too--a story told from three different perspectives by Kurosawa. Memoir as fiction, because you don't completely know yourself, or you tell lies to yourself, and so on.
Trembley claims that it is comics that helped her tell her story, given that comics themselves use gutters between panels, gaps in telling, the unknown that readers help construct. Her own drawings are simple but effective. It's essentially a comics essay on the challenges of telling one's story. Or any story.
And do you trust what a witness says? Trembley doesn't have clear memories of the moment--even on the same day, as she was in shock--and some of these memories come back to her gradually.
Trembley creates a kind of true crime (it was a suicide, not a murder 0r accident) mystery story, with incremental "reveals" about "the case" and herself (as often happens in detective stories, too). I learned Trembley actually has written a mystery series under the pseudonym Josie Gordon. She learns that what usually seems obvious in mystery writing has to be re-thought. Few people know what they are actually seeing at a murder scene.
I also learned--see, I was doing my own sleuthing!--that Trembley recently (2019) retired from her position as an English professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Having grown up in western Michigan, having lived in Holland, I am quite sure I have been in the very woods in which she saw this body. Somehow that seems important for me to note (to myself, I guess, but it gave me a kind of shudder, for some reason). I liked her talking to her Memoir Writing class at Hope about this story, one version of it; I've taught classes like this in that area of the country, so felt a familiarity.
I didn't love the little talking animals that represent the voices in her head telling her how to respond to information/memory as it presented itself to her. Maybe I would have liked it more, too, if the book had been a bit more about her (hidden, unspoken) sexual identity, which she seemed to set up early on as a more major secret of her growing up in (ultra-conservative) western Michigan. But on the whole I thought it was great.
October 10, 2024
In 1997, Elizabeth A. Trembley was traumatized when she discovered a corpse hanging from a tree during a daily walk in the woods with her dogs. A couple decades down the road, she reexamines the effect that day had on her, from her initial shock and panic through the evolving story she told herself and others about the event over the years, to breakthroughs she has experienced regarding truth, the fallibility of memory, and other fallout from the moment your whole worldview shatters.
A long-time writer, but new to graphic novels, Trembley deftly uses the format to visually present her emotional turmoil and healing journal.
FOR REFERENCE:
Trembley told another version of this story in the 2006 anthology Fresh Water: Women Writing on the Great Lakes. She also cites the book Betsy & Bill & the Nice Bad Man, which she read as a child, as a contributing factor to how her brain processed her shock in the moment.
A long-time writer, but new to graphic novels, Trembley deftly uses the format to visually present her emotional turmoil and healing journal.
FOR REFERENCE:
Trembley told another version of this story in the 2006 anthology Fresh Water: Women Writing on the Great Lakes. She also cites the book Betsy & Bill & the Nice Bad Man, which she read as a child, as a contributing factor to how her brain processed her shock in the moment.
January 31, 2023
I'm back again with another graphic novel review.
Thank you to my friend Michelle for sharing her copy with me.
This graphic memoir is about a traumatic event the author had one day while walking through the woods. It's an interesting look at how our brains process trauma. There are quite a few triggers in this one as it gets pretty dark.
The drawings were somewhat basic and messy but that correlated to how messy our memories can be.
The story did drag a bit in the middle but overall an intriguing story and left me with food for thought.
3.5 stars
Thank you to my friend Michelle for sharing her copy with me.
This graphic memoir is about a traumatic event the author had one day while walking through the woods. It's an interesting look at how our brains process trauma. There are quite a few triggers in this one as it gets pretty dark.
The drawings were somewhat basic and messy but that correlated to how messy our memories can be.
The story did drag a bit in the middle but overall an intriguing story and left me with food for thought.
3.5 stars
October 7, 2022
3.5 stars--One day, while walking her dogs along her favorite nature trail, the author happened upon a deeply disturbing sight--a man's dead body. This is her story--of what happened that day, and of the years she spent grappling with this ugly and unwanted memory.
The illustrations are amateur--but I can respect that. You don't have to be a professional artist with a huge budget to tell your story via the comics medium. Hopefully this book will inspire more people to use the power of graphic storytelling to share their experiences.
The illustrations are amateur--but I can respect that. You don't have to be a professional artist with a huge budget to tell your story via the comics medium. Hopefully this book will inspire more people to use the power of graphic storytelling to share their experiences.
September 23, 2022
Absolutely love the way Trembley invites us to consider our own stories...what we use them for, how they may change with time.
Completely entertaining and thought provoking. Deeply personal yet universal . A satisfying emotional and intellectual journey.
Completely entertaining and thought provoking. Deeply personal yet universal . A satisfying emotional and intellectual journey.
January 30, 2025
I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It was not at all what I expected from the synopsis in the best way. A story of trauma, self discovery, and the way memories take shape in our minds. A quick and engaging read that makes you think.
May 2, 2024
Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 for this one.
Look Again is a graphic memoir about trauma. The author experiences a traumatic event when she unexpectedly comes across a dead body while walking with her dogs in 1996. In this book, she walks us through how her brain processed this event over time, slowly unburying more and more of the event's details.
Look Again is a graphic memoir about trauma. The author experiences a traumatic event when she unexpectedly comes across a dead body while walking with her dogs in 1996. In this book, she walks us through how her brain processed this event over time, slowly unburying more and more of the event's details.
March 10, 2023
Not what I was expecting - ended up being pretty boring and vague.
December 30, 2022
Finding a body on one of my many walks with dogs in secluded places has been a lifelong fear! It seems irrational, a trope from crime shows, but it does happen, as this book shows! And I HAVE found bodies on my walks… just of deer, rabbits, and possums and not people… YET! 😱
This graphic novel on one of my fears coming true is so much more than a “you’ll never guess what happened to me!” memoir, though. It’s about the fickleness of memory, shame, fear, repression, how our brains work, how we write and tell stories and remember… And of course it’s brilliantly and creatively told because the author is a writing professor. It’s extremely fascinating! A page-turner like a thriller, but also cerebral, poetic, powerful, and intimate.
I can see this book being helpful to lots of different people, beyond just those who have experienced trauma firsthand. From lawyers who have to pick apart witness testimony to counselors who have to pick apart our traumas, this handy book provides useful insight into why we sometimes do the inexplicable and irrational when faced with violence.
I’ve read almost 300 books this year and this—here on New Year’s Eve eve, is one of my favorites.
This graphic novel on one of my fears coming true is so much more than a “you’ll never guess what happened to me!” memoir, though. It’s about the fickleness of memory, shame, fear, repression, how our brains work, how we write and tell stories and remember… And of course it’s brilliantly and creatively told because the author is a writing professor. It’s extremely fascinating! A page-turner like a thriller, but also cerebral, poetic, powerful, and intimate.
I can see this book being helpful to lots of different people, beyond just those who have experienced trauma firsthand. From lawyers who have to pick apart witness testimony to counselors who have to pick apart our traumas, this handy book provides useful insight into why we sometimes do the inexplicable and irrational when faced with violence.
I’ve read almost 300 books this year and this—here on New Year’s Eve eve, is one of my favorites.
September 21, 2023
I really enjoyed this — an exploration of memory and trauma. Felt quite like the very analytical, later work of Alison Bechdel. Recommended, particularly for those interested in the mechanics of graphic memoir.
December 20, 2023
A really interesting and jarring memoir about how our brains respond to, process, and remember trauma.
May 1, 2024
Stumbled across this and found it was an interesting depiction of processing a traumatic event - especially as it unrolls for her over time. I took a couple notes along the way, and appreciated the list of references.
October 14, 2025
It was…interesting and somewhat thought provoking, but ultimately I can’t say I enjoyed it. It goes through the experience of the author in finding a body while walking her dogs, and the variations of the story that she told in the intervening years, as she peels back layers of her memory and puts pieces of her life together. One thing is I’m not a fan in any way of the art style. It’s messy and choppy, and hurts my brain a little.
I thought it was weird that she barely looked at the body, but talks about how the man had a short clothesline around his neck - though it’s drawn as a regular rope. Two different people inform her years later that she’s missing whole parts of her memory for that day, parts she doesn’t even know she’s missing. I also thought it was strange that she blamed some of her reactions that day on internalized homophobia. She later concludes that she didn’t do anything weird that day, it all made sense, and is trying to unravel why she felt shame for years about her reactions. I mean. She DID act weird. It would NOT make sense to anyone she told the story to, even if she had reasons to act in those ways, it just means there are reasons for the strange behavior. Something that makes sense to your brain does not mean it makes sense outside of that. She seemed like an overly imaginative person that had a shock and went into a fugue state while also having her brain leap around like a hamster on crack.
I don’t know if I trust her revelations, because in my opinion when people go looking to explain things, they often make connections that don’t exist because it “makes sense,” and we don’t like to admit that some things don’t and won’t make sense 🤷🏻♀️
It does mention something that I’ve said for years and wish more people understood - that is that we only see things from our own perspective, which can have many flaws and blind spots. We experience things differently because we see them through our own lens and understanding of what is occurring. It doesn’t make our understanding wrong per se, but it also doesn’t make it right. I like the basic premise, that is that as we get new information, our perspective alters to fit that in. I don’t personally think they’re separate “variations” so much as more complete tellings that change from only the first person perspective to incorporate more outside insights.
I thought it was weird that she barely looked at the body, but talks about how the man had a short clothesline around his neck - though it’s drawn as a regular rope. Two different people inform her years later that she’s missing whole parts of her memory for that day, parts she doesn’t even know she’s missing. I also thought it was strange that she blamed some of her reactions that day on internalized homophobia. She later concludes that she didn’t do anything weird that day, it all made sense, and is trying to unravel why she felt shame for years about her reactions. I mean. She DID act weird. It would NOT make sense to anyone she told the story to, even if she had reasons to act in those ways, it just means there are reasons for the strange behavior. Something that makes sense to your brain does not mean it makes sense outside of that. She seemed like an overly imaginative person that had a shock and went into a fugue state while also having her brain leap around like a hamster on crack.
I don’t know if I trust her revelations, because in my opinion when people go looking to explain things, they often make connections that don’t exist because it “makes sense,” and we don’t like to admit that some things don’t and won’t make sense 🤷🏻♀️
It does mention something that I’ve said for years and wish more people understood - that is that we only see things from our own perspective, which can have many flaws and blind spots. We experience things differently because we see them through our own lens and understanding of what is occurring. It doesn’t make our understanding wrong per se, but it also doesn’t make it right. I like the basic premise, that is that as we get new information, our perspective alters to fit that in. I don’t personally think they’re separate “variations” so much as more complete tellings that change from only the first person perspective to incorporate more outside insights.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2024
Trauma affects the brain in diverse and multitudinous ways.
As a young woman, Trembley was walking in the woods, a daily ritual with her dogs, when a short distance in she saw a person hanging in a tree. The visual memory fragments as she analyzes the situation. On the ground is a fast food cup. The body appears dead. The rope is very short. The tree itself has many dead limbs. As her mind tries to make sense of what she sees, her fight or flight response tells her she is in danger. Could this be a murder and the killers are still in the woods? Her dogs are off lead in a state park so if she calls the police before getting them, will her rule-break make her a suspect?
What happens, what happened, and how she deals with it as her memory changes is the main crux of this graphic memoir. As a writer, she explores how her story changed five times over the years. She learns about trauma’s affect on the brain, which helps her remember other incidents of memory loss in childhood due to significant events. Mostly she uses this event to explain how we can never trust our own brain, our own record of events.
Trembley admits her drawings are crude but they are hers and helps the reader see her memory of that day. While the way she draws hands is a little disturbing, there is no substitution for the impact and importance of her original sketches and this final product.
A very interesting read that inspires one to learn more about memory, trauma, and how the two affect a person.
As a young woman, Trembley was walking in the woods, a daily ritual with her dogs, when a short distance in she saw a person hanging in a tree. The visual memory fragments as she analyzes the situation. On the ground is a fast food cup. The body appears dead. The rope is very short. The tree itself has many dead limbs. As her mind tries to make sense of what she sees, her fight or flight response tells her she is in danger. Could this be a murder and the killers are still in the woods? Her dogs are off lead in a state park so if she calls the police before getting them, will her rule-break make her a suspect?
What happens, what happened, and how she deals with it as her memory changes is the main crux of this graphic memoir. As a writer, she explores how her story changed five times over the years. She learns about trauma’s affect on the brain, which helps her remember other incidents of memory loss in childhood due to significant events. Mostly she uses this event to explain how we can never trust our own brain, our own record of events.
Trembley admits her drawings are crude but they are hers and helps the reader see her memory of that day. While the way she draws hands is a little disturbing, there is no substitution for the impact and importance of her original sketches and this final product.
A very interesting read that inspires one to learn more about memory, trauma, and how the two affect a person.
December 2, 2022
Reading 2022
Book 163: Look Again: A Memoir by Elizabeth A. Trembley
For #NonfictionNovember I looked for graphic novel memoirs and other nonfiction. The first one I found was this book.
Synopsis: Once, years ago, while walking her dogs in the woods, Elizabeth found a dead body.
Trauma can make truth hard to find. Have you ever experienced a terror, grief, or confusion so great that when you try to share it you can only find shattered images floating in darkness? You try over and over, but can’t tell the story, to yourself or to anyone else. Look Again presents us with six variations of the same event, seen through the different lenses caused by other life revelations. It explores the fragmenting nature of trauma by tracing the convoluted evolution of the author’s story, a process often experienced by trauma sufferers and their loved ones.
Review: This book was different. A memoir wrapped up with a bit of true crime. Memory is a funny thing, what you remember about something is not how someone else remembers the same thing. This book had a few twists and turns I did not see coming. This was a personal story, but relatable as it deals with how we perceive and remember events years later. 4⭐️.
Book 163: Look Again: A Memoir by Elizabeth A. Trembley
For #NonfictionNovember I looked for graphic novel memoirs and other nonfiction. The first one I found was this book.
Synopsis: Once, years ago, while walking her dogs in the woods, Elizabeth found a dead body.
Trauma can make truth hard to find. Have you ever experienced a terror, grief, or confusion so great that when you try to share it you can only find shattered images floating in darkness? You try over and over, but can’t tell the story, to yourself or to anyone else. Look Again presents us with six variations of the same event, seen through the different lenses caused by other life revelations. It explores the fragmenting nature of trauma by tracing the convoluted evolution of the author’s story, a process often experienced by trauma sufferers and their loved ones.
Review: This book was different. A memoir wrapped up with a bit of true crime. Memory is a funny thing, what you remember about something is not how someone else remembers the same thing. This book had a few twists and turns I did not see coming. This was a personal story, but relatable as it deals with how we perceive and remember events years later. 4⭐️.
March 6, 2023
Trembley shares how she coped with a traumatic experience in her life.
One day when Trembley takes her dogs to the park for a walk (unleashed), she finds the body of a person hanging in a tree. To deal with the trauma of this finding, she realizes over the course of many years that her memories of the aftermath produced six different variants of the events of the day. It kept changing based on conversations with others, recovered memories, and research she did to find out what actually happened to her that afternoon after she discovered the corpse.
Trembley puts this together just as if it as much a puzzle as the memories were. She seeks the help of family and mental health experts to help her cope with the trauma, showing a good example of why it is important to talk about trauma with a counselor or other trusted person.
Her gray-shaded B&W line artwork is primitive, yet effective. This is one that bears reading multiple times for the many layers of memory that is uncovered.
Highly Recommended for ages 17+. This could be useful for bibliotherapy by counselors/therapists.
One day when Trembley takes her dogs to the park for a walk (unleashed), she finds the body of a person hanging in a tree. To deal with the trauma of this finding, she realizes over the course of many years that her memories of the aftermath produced six different variants of the events of the day. It kept changing based on conversations with others, recovered memories, and research she did to find out what actually happened to her that afternoon after she discovered the corpse.
Trembley puts this together just as if it as much a puzzle as the memories were. She seeks the help of family and mental health experts to help her cope with the trauma, showing a good example of why it is important to talk about trauma with a counselor or other trusted person.
Her gray-shaded B&W line artwork is primitive, yet effective. This is one that bears reading multiple times for the many layers of memory that is uncovered.
Highly Recommended for ages 17+. This could be useful for bibliotherapy by counselors/therapists.
February 9, 2024
I would lie if I said it didn’t trigger me a little. Reading the book I kept thinking back on the many traumas I’ve been through. Trying to remember the smallest details. It is also somehow nice to know that “I’m not crazy”. That my brain probably has chosen to forget some things to protect me and even made a “new” story or ending to my trauma - again to protect me. I wish there would have been some more samples of how trauma can manifest. I feel I now have to research it. I’m not sure how smart it is. But I did learn that I am super hyperventilating. It explains the constant anxiety I have for a lot of things.
It’s a nice way of explaining trauma and the many different stories and sides to that one trauma. And maybe also a funny way of saying “don’t always trust your memories”. There are many different sides to one memory.
A friend recommended this book to me. I finished it in a couple of hours. I think I expected a lot from it. Maybe too much. A solution to my problems. But it definitely is not. Just an explanation to some things.
It’s a nice way of explaining trauma and the many different stories and sides to that one trauma. And maybe also a funny way of saying “don’t always trust your memories”. There are many different sides to one memory.
A friend recommended this book to me. I finished it in a couple of hours. I think I expected a lot from it. Maybe too much. A solution to my problems. But it definitely is not. Just an explanation to some things.
January 15, 2023
I thought the story would just be about finding the body in the woods, but I'm glad it wasn't (that would have been a very short book indeed.) Instead, it was a fascinating journey about how stories of events,
especially events that caused trauma, change and grow over time as the people who experienced them change, grow, and learn more about themselves. The last section of the book also felt like a class on how to tell a traumatic story through the medium of comics/graphic novels, in a good way. It made me want to pick up a pen and start drawing.
The art is not the most beautiful, but it doesn't need to be. It tells the story and conveys what needs to be conveyed. I did like that the style seems to become cleaner and more set as the story it's portraying becomes clearer to Trembley.
Overall, I find it a fantastic book about the changing nature of life stories.
especially events that caused trauma, change and grow over time as the people who experienced them change, grow, and learn more about themselves. The last section of the book also felt like a class on how to tell a traumatic story through the medium of comics/graphic novels, in a good way. It made me want to pick up a pen and start drawing.
The art is not the most beautiful, but it doesn't need to be. It tells the story and conveys what needs to be conveyed. I did like that the style seems to become cleaner and more set as the story it's portraying becomes clearer to Trembley.
Overall, I find it a fantastic book about the changing nature of life stories.
April 11, 2023
I just cannot say enough good things about this. The four is a 4.5 as some of the art of Trembley was not "my thing" but I could have overlooked it, but a couple images threw off the flow for me. Which I am sure was the point. This book has more layers than Trembley has versions of her story. You need to read in a quiet, comfortable place, and need to be willing to go on the ride, and assume nothing until you get to the end of things. But then again, it needs to be a question mark, as maybe there is more. If you read, you know this (my interpretation) is because we are the worst witnesses to our own evetns. We are the ones that protect ourselves by shutting our brains off, hitting delete on the memory files and even rearranging a few things. Several mature themes included.
March 11, 2025
I randomly came across this book in the Hamilton Grange library an hour ago, on a table with several comic books and a sign that says “Comics aren’t just for kids”! I started reading the first few pages, then a dozen more, still standing up, then I realized I was blocking the exhibit from other librarygoers, so I sat down at a table and read the entire book to the end (instead of doing my EdTech homework, as I had originally planned).
It was awesome; I love comics; I also just learned from the author’s note that Trembley started making comics quite late in life, and spent most her life believing she couldn’t draw. This gives me lots of hope, because I would love to make comics, but I don’t know (yet) how to draw. I’m excited to learn.
It was awesome; I love comics; I also just learned from the author’s note that Trembley started making comics quite late in life, and spent most her life believing she couldn’t draw. This gives me lots of hope, because I would love to make comics, but I don’t know (yet) how to draw. I’m excited to learn.
November 29, 2023
I ordered this book through my library because I saw it on some “best of” list. I didn’t know anything else about it. I picked it up today and read it all in an hour or so. I’m blown away.
“Look Again” is a graphic memoir. In ‘96, Elizabeth Tremblay was walking her dogs through the woods of a park when she stumbled upon a man hanging from a tree. She was traumatized by it for years.
The book traces her trauma and her retelling of the event. As time goes on, she realizes/learns that she doesn’t remember anything about that “Last Afternoon.” The graphic novel, imaginatively, details her healing from the trauma.
“Look Again” is a graphic memoir. In ‘96, Elizabeth Tremblay was walking her dogs through the woods of a park when she stumbled upon a man hanging from a tree. She was traumatized by it for years.
The book traces her trauma and her retelling of the event. As time goes on, she realizes/learns that she doesn’t remember anything about that “Last Afternoon.” The graphic novel, imaginatively, details her healing from the trauma.
April 17, 2025
This “graphic medicine” genre graphic novel deals with how memory is fallible, especially after a trauma, and how it can be stubbornly insistent on its veracity. I used to think not remembering was a moral fault—a negation, disregard, or un-valuing of existence, friendship, and relationships. But I guess I was wrong!
This book’s structure uses an interesting device where the author recounts the same story five different times. As her understanding of what happened evolves based on new information, the story is told again. It’s similar to a graphic novel I’m starting to work on and hope to publish someday. If I could make mine as good as this, I’d be very happy!
This book’s structure uses an interesting device where the author recounts the same story five different times. As her understanding of what happened evolves based on new information, the story is told again. It’s similar to a graphic novel I’m starting to work on and hope to publish someday. If I could make mine as good as this, I’d be very happy!
November 3, 2022
What a brilliant and vulnerable book! I had to stop reading not once or twice, but almost every chapter because it was both so beautiful and so close to home. Trembley's book tells the story of what happens when we experience trauma. One a walk with her dogs, she discovers something no one wants to find and it's the excavation of this event that frames this amazing graphic novel. The story itself stands alone, but it's the careful truthtelling that makes this novel so transcendent. It's one of those I got from the library, but I need my own copy.
April 25, 2025
I understand that the art was done by the author in a therputic way and to communicate the story properly, and I loved the composition of the narrative telling, however it was hard for me to take seriously because of the visuals.
If you don't have an artistic eye that dominates everything you see begrudgingly, and you enjoy memoirs, psychology, and self refelction, this is the graphic novel for you.
If you don't have an artistic eye that dominates everything you see begrudgingly, and you enjoy memoirs, psychology, and self refelction, this is the graphic novel for you.
September 16, 2025
I gotta say when I started getting mid way into the fourth variation, I was getting a bit bored, but man that fifth variation is great. I really like how detailed she is about not only the day but about her life and trauma in general. Also, after being done with the book, I actually really like how she wrote about each of the five different ways she told the story like it was such an interesting idea. I definitely see myself reading this book maybe on a bi-yearly basis
November 29, 2022
Everything the author thinks is "weird" about her experience is the SAME EXACT thing I would do. Acting like nothing is going on, and running away? Me. Thinking a murderer is silently lurking to get you next? ME. Then feeling bad and going so out of your way to get help? Me, again.
I would have thought he was murdered by the same people, as well. Because that's what was going on at that time.
I would have thought he was murdered by the same people, as well. Because that's what was going on at that time.
August 2, 2024
Really interesting. It had more depth than I was expecting, which is good. I appreciated how the author explained some of the things she was figuring out about her experience. In an early part of the book, she describes how in a traumatic moment our best decisions make no sense, but they make sense as the person is trying to survive the experience.
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March 10, 2025While walking her dogs in the woods one morning, Trembley discovered a dead body. In this graphic memoir, she examines her trauma response and how it impacted her for years to come. By sharing different "variations" of the story as she understood them over the years, Trembley deftly explores how our memories and ability to tell "the truth" is faulty. This was fascinating.
December 21, 2022
A really interesting story about memory, trauma, and the way that we tell ourselves and others stories. I do wish the author had worked with an artist rather than doing the art herself, as the art is quite rough.
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