A review by szucker6
Transitions: A Mother's Journey by Élodie Durand

4.0

This was an interesting and challenging read. It was hard and painful to read Anne’s perspective as she was refusing to see Alex for who he was and instead was seeking ways to affirm her own worldview. Once she started to step up and towards her son, it was like releasing a held breath. Given that Anne is a biologist, I felt like there was so much more opportunity to explore the diversity of sex and gender in nature and was surprised that only a few pages were dedicated to this. 

 

I appreciated the sort of “mixed media” approach in this graphic novel, including illustrated depictions of documentaries, and emails from Anne’s son (that I found particularly impactful given that this story is told from Anne’s perspective, it gave direct insight into her child’s feelings). The choice of when to use color was inventive and engaging. 

 

While this won’t be a problem when the book goes to print, it was frustrating that the ARC had a giant watermark in the center of every page—it makes it much, much harder to read a graphic novel. 

 

Disclaimer:  I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.