shannanhicks's review
5.0
I enjoyed this graphic novel by Merrrill Markoe. It took me back to the days of "seeing scenery" in my own youth. I am glad to see that graphic novels like this and Roz Chast's are being published. It is a really accessible way to read a humorous book.
karenchase's review
3.0
Well. I am generally a fan of graphic biographies and memoirs, but this one was difficult for me. I can totally relate to the idea of revisiting your childhood diaries, as my mum is a prodigious diarist and I have maintained one most of my life too. But the structure of this book left me confused. Clearly Markoe is working on some stuff here. She shows a lot of discontent with her childhood, having what seems like a terrible relationship with her mother, especially, feeling like an outcast among her peer group, and yearning for relationships with boys but utterly failing—and feeling really shitty about it—until she was hanging out with artsy beatniks at the end of high school (in the mid-1960s). Considering that this is a woman who has made herself a fairly successful career as a comedy writer, this book is pretty bleak. I suppose many comedians have pretty sad, fucked up lives, so this shouldn’t be a surprise, but if this was supposed to be funny, I didn’t find it so. Also I kept getting thrown off by the order of the speech bubbles in sections with dialogue or exchanges between characters (mostly adult Markoe speaking to her younger self), and also the chronology, which jumped around a lot. I’ve read a fair amount of graphics and I found this a poor design choice—it really messed up the rhythm of the reading for me. Altogether it was fairly disappointing and I won’t be in any kind of hurry to read anything else she has written.
jessloveslit's review
4.0
So painfully and hilariously relatable. I also have my hoards of childhood and teenage diaries and journals that are so shame inducing and cringe-worthy. I LOVE this approach of imagining having a conversation with your young self, and the illustrations are the perfect way to bring it to life.
j_b_'s review
4.0
What a fun ride through an angst filled adolescence. I hope Merrill plans to continue a graphic novel memoir series. My hippocampus is just as mysterious as hers.
I'm also feeling inspired to begin journaling again. I would be fun to see what my hippocampus decides to remember.
I'm also feeling inspired to begin journaling again. I would be fun to see what my hippocampus decides to remember.
thedoctorsaysrun's review
3.0
A somewhat non-linear memoir that quite frankly is depressing as hell.