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xabbeylongx's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Spoilers Ahead:
This book is a graphic novel memoir, and is talking about how Debbie started to overcome her anxiety and put herself first. As we go through her life, we can see that she suffers with crippling social anxiety. She’d prefer her own company, or that of a book, and hates going out and socialising. She has no qualms about plans being cancelled - that’s the best-case scenario for her (honestly, it sounds pretty good to me also). She graduates, and then finds an office job, but socialising never really gets easier. It always feels disingenuous, and her social battery runs out quickly. Eventually, she ends up quitting her job and starting a freelance job in the creative industry (just like she wanted from when she was a child). As people don’t make the time to make adjustments for her, she starts to put herself first and doesn’t force herself to do stuff for other people.
It’s a lovely book. The art is cute, simple but really effective. The panels are all neat, which sits very nicely in my brain. And Debbie is quite a relatable character, to me anyway, so it was nice to get some representation for people with anxiety. Sometimes, it’s nice to be heard. And sometimes, it’s nice to read about something affecting you that also affects one of the characters in the stories you read. It’s really refreshing, and relieving, to be honest.
This book is a graphic novel memoir, and is talking about how Debbie started to overcome her anxiety and put herself first. As we go through her life, we can see that she suffers with crippling social anxiety. She’d prefer her own company, or that of a book, and hates going out and socialising. She has no qualms about plans being cancelled - that’s the best-case scenario for her (honestly, it sounds pretty good to me also). She graduates, and then finds an office job, but socialising never really gets easier. It always feels disingenuous, and her social battery runs out quickly. Eventually, she ends up quitting her job and starting a freelance job in the creative industry (just like she wanted from when she was a child). As people don’t make the time to make adjustments for her, she starts to put herself first and doesn’t force herself to do stuff for other people.
It’s a lovely book. The art is cute, simple but really effective. The panels are all neat, which sits very nicely in my brain. And Debbie is quite a relatable character, to me anyway, so it was nice to get some representation for people with anxiety. Sometimes, it’s nice to be heard. And sometimes, it’s nice to read about something affecting you that also affects one of the characters in the stories you read. It’s really refreshing, and relieving, to be honest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders