A review by pinkpassionpages
Invisible Differences by Julie Dachez

4.0

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

4.5 out of 5 stars

'Invisible Differences' is the English translation of a French graphic novel about autism. The story of Marguerite shows how diagnosing works, which struggles autistic people face, how to deal with disbelieve, and much more.

First of all: the drawings are very neat. They are simple but still contain a certain amount of detail. The artist was also very creative with color. In the beginning, the drawings are black, white, and greyish. The only color used is red. This is used to mark all the noise and other things that bother Marguerite, or for things, she finds difficult to do. At a later stage, when Marguerite gets her diagnosis, the drawings become colorful.
It is nice to see how the author not only wants to explain autism but also wants to show what it is like for someone to have autism. You soon notice that a lot of research has been done. Mainly because in between the drawings, some information is given about autism or other psychological matters. At the end of the graphic novel, the author also spends a lot of time explaining what autism is. She also tries to provide a brief overview. Like how social contacts go. She also raises the situation in France, which I found very interesting because I did not know this at all.

It is a beautiful graphic novel with pretty drawings and a very strong message. Sometimes it does feel a bit rushed. Which is why it didn't get five stars. Some things could be explained more or explained in more detail.