Book picks similar to
Cuckoo by Madison Clell
comics
graphic-novels
mental-health
graphic-medicine
Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash
Dave McKean - 2016
Dark Horse proudly presents a new original graphic novel by the legendary artist based on the life of Paul Nash, a surrealist painter during World War 1. The Dreams of Paul Nash deals with real soldier's memoirs, and all the stories will add up to be a moving piece about how war and extreme situations change us, how we deal with that pain, and, in Nash's case, by turning his landscapes into powerful and fantastical psycho-scapes.Praise for one of Dave McKean's previous graphic novels, Cages: "One of the most important works of comic art in the last decade." -The Comics Journal"It is compulsively readable, with a lyrical tone that moves the reader through the rougher, more elusive passages as it strives at the very edge of the form's limitation." -Comic Foundry Magazine"The finest comic being created today. Get it and see what heights narrative graphic art can achieve." -The Fine Print
Barely Functional Adult: It’ll All Make Sense Eventually
Meichi Ng - 2020
Prepare to excitedly shove this book in your friend’s face with little decorum as you shout, “THIS IS SO US!”In this beautiful, four-color collection compiled completely of never-before-seen content, Meichi perfectly captures the best and worst of us in every short story, allowing us to weep with pleasure at our own fallibility. Hilarious, relatable, and heart-wrenchingly honest, Barely Functional Adult will have you laughing and crying in the same breath, and taking solace in the fact that we’re anything but alone in this world
We Can Fix It: A Time Travel Memoir
Jess Fink - 2013
One time machine, one frustrated girl, one sexy futuristic jumpsuit... infinite possibilities!
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
Julie Gregory - 2003
Just twelve, she’s tall, skinny, and weak. It’s four o’clock, and she hasn’t been allowed to eat anything all day. Her mother, on the other hand, seems curiously excited. She's about to suggest open-heart surgery on her child to "get to the bottom of this." She checks her teeth for lipstick and, as the doctor enters, shoots the girl a warning glance. This child will not ruin her plans.SickenedFrom early childhood, Julie Gregory was continually X-rayed, medicated, and operated on—in the vain pursuit of an illness that was created in her mother’s mind. Munchausen by proxy (MBP) is the world’s most hidden and dangerous form of child abuse, in which the caretaker—almost always the mother—invents or induces symptoms in her child because she craves the attention of medical professionals. Many MBP children die, but Julie Gregory not only survived, she escaped the powerful orbit of her mother's madness and rebuilt her identity as a vibrant, healthy young woman.Sickened is a remarkable memoir that speaks in an original and distinctive Midwestern voice, rising to indelible scenes in prose of scathing beauty and fierce humor. Punctuated with Julie's actual medical records, it re-creates the bizarre cocoon of her family's isolated double-wide trailer, their wild shopping sprees and gun-waving confrontations, the astonishing naïveté of medical professionals and social workers. It also exposes the twisted bonds of terror and love that roped Julie's family together—including the love that made a child willing to sacrifice herself to win her mother's happiness. The realization that the sickness lay in her mother, not in herself, would not come to Julie until adulthood. But when it did, it would strike like lightning. Through her painful metamorphosis, she discovered the courage to save her own life—and, ultimately, the life of the girl her mother had found to replace her. Sickened takes us to new places in the human heart and spirit. It is an unforgettable story, unforgettably told.
March
John Lewis - 2013
He marched side-by-side with Martin Luther King as the youngest leader of the Civil Rights Movement that would change a nation forever.Now, experience John Lewis' incredible story first-hand, brought to life in a stunning graphic novel trilogy. With co-writer Andrew Aydin and Eisner Award-winning artist Nate Powell, John Lewis' MARCH tells the story of how a poor sharecropper's son helped transform America, from a segregated schoolhouse to the 1963 March on Washington and beyond.
Daddy's Little Secret: A Daughter's Quest to Solve Her Father's Brutal Murder
Denise Wallace - 2016
In her quest to assist the detectives, the daughter and author discovers deadly secrets that could help her father's killer escape the death penalty, should she come forward.From the Book: "He cruised by slowly, peering intently over his steering wheel at the well-manicured grounds. Though he had been brought up in the Bible Belt of North Carolina, Wes had not attended worship services there. He had gone to the church on this day for another reason: Derek Carney.Carney was a twenty-two-year-old white youth who had been sleeping on the church grounds. Wes wanted to once again offer him a place to stay for the night and was hoping the young man would take him up on the offer this time. The young heroin addict had discovered that he could shoot up in the bathroom of the church despite his filthy, disheveled appearance and not get caught. Most other churches kept their facilities locked at night, but the pastor, Reverend Bill Withers, had a notoriously kind heart. The first time he had come across Carney sleeping on the church lawn, he had awoken him, invited him in for counsel, and taken him to breakfast.As Wes passed in his car the reverend gave him a wave from the open door of the church. Wes waved back at him and grinned, then threw his head back and took a long drag on his Marlboro cigarette."From the author: What surprises me about the book is my love of Florida that comes through. Not only is the book an inside look at the complex and fascinating psyche of my father, it is also a historical look at south Florida and it's colorful past. The reader gets to experience places like E. R. Bradley's Saloon on the island of Palm Beach, where patrons were known to have danced on the bar as it became a rowdy party scene after dark.
Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope
Emmanuel Guibert - 2000
So I did."When Alan Cope joined the army and went off to fight in World War II, he had no idea what he was getting into. This graphic memoir is the story of his life during wartime, a story told with poignant intimacy and matchless artistry.Across a generation, a deep friendship blossomed between Alan Cope and author/artist Emmanuel Guibert. From it, Alan's War was born - a graphic novel that is a deeply personal and moving experience, straight from the heart of the Greatest Generation - a unique piece of WWII literature and a ground-breaking graphic memoir.
Couldn't Keep it to Myself: Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution
Wally Lamb - 2003
For several years, Lamb has taught writing to a group of women prisoners at York Correctional Institution in Connecticut. In this unforgettable collection, the women of York describe in their own words how they were imprisoned by abuse, rejection, and their own self-destructive impulses long before they entered the criminal justice system. Yet these are powerful stories of hope and healing, told by writers who have left victimhood behind. In his moving introduction, Lamb describes the incredible journey of expression and self-awareness the women took through their writing and shares how they challenged him as a teacher and as a fellow author. Couldn't Keep It to Myself is a true testament to the process of finding oneself and working toward a better day.
Amongst Ourselves: A Self-Help Guide to Living with Dissociative Identity Disorder
Tracy Alderman - 1998
They describe what it’s like to live with DID and make practical suggestions for coming to terms with the condition, managing the confusion and self-destructive behaviors that often accompany it, and deciding to “come out” to others.Karen lends a unique and immensely important perspective, in that she is able to speak as both a therapist and as an individual with DID. Through her insights, as well as guided exercises throughout the text, readers learn:New skills and strategies to help them manage living with DID An appreciation for DID’s positive aspects What to expect from therapy and available treatment options How to become more aware of themselves and the ways in which DID affects their lives
Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You
Sue William Silverman - 1996
From age four to eighteen, Sue William Silverman was repeatedly sexually abused by her father, an influential government official and successful banker. Through her eyes, we see an outwardly normal family built on a foundation of horrifying secrets that long went unreported, undetected, and unconfessed.
Heart Transplant
Andrew Vachss - 2010
Newspapers, magazines, television, and movies all reflect the ugly truth ... bullying is not only on the rise, but becoming more dangerous every day. Whether it's a teenager committing suicide as a result of a Facebook posting or a group of schoolchildren taunting another autistic child and filming it for the "entertainment" of others, the longest-lasting, deepest-scarring impact of bullying is emotional, not physical. Failure to understand this has handicapped an already-insipid series of failed "solutions."Heart Transplant is aimed at actually *changing* the way we deal with perhaps the most critical issue for children and parents alike today. To accomplish this mission, an entirely new medium was created. Neither a graphic novel nor a self-help book, it uses elements of both to deconstruct bullying, and to offer both teens and their parents the true "facts of life." Nine-year-old Sean's only experience with parenting was the series of men his alcoholic mother made him call "Daddy." He knows he doesn't belong ... anywhere. And never will. He sees himself as others see him: Outsider.When Sean comes home from school one day, he opens the door to a pair of corpses — his latest "father's" attempt at dope-dealing ended badly. The police arrive, the bodies are bagged, and the "Welfare lady" is telling Sean how much he's going to love his new foster home when an older man suddenly crosses the threshold. He tells the social worker that he's the father of the dead man, so that makes him responsible for his "grandson." And he offers Sean a choice: come and live with him, or take his chances with foster care.Life with the man Sean comes to call "Pop" is Paradise compared to the past. A brilliant and hardworking student, Sean finally has someone to show his report card to ... and he listens to Pop harder than he ever did to a teacher. Still an Outsider, yes, but now there's one place on earth where he knows he's always welcome. And always safe.But puberty brings Sean into a new world; a world where he is bullied every day ... a world where his status as "Outsider" is confirmed in endlessly cruel ways. He never complains, but Pop quickly discovers the truth. When Sean protests that "It didn't hurt." his real father responds that he knows that's a lie ... because when his son is hurt, he hurts, too. This is Sean's first experience with empathy, and his first understanding of emotional abuse.His understanding of bullying comes later ... when Pop shows him not only its true roots, but its antidote. Pop gives his son what he needs most: A heart transplant. It is not until after Pop's death that Sean learns the special sacrifice his father had made to give him that transplant, and that final understanding is Sean's ultimate legacy.Timely and confrontational, HEART TRANSPLANT is the gripping story of young boy's transformation from bullied "outsider" to true manhood. The universality of this work is such that what Sean learns is communicated to bullied children and their parent(s) alike. It speaks with a truth that cannot be denied, but also with a response that can be replicated.
Dar: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary, Volume One
Erika Moen - 2009
Along the way there are many vignettes about sex, farts, the queer community, the Brits, vibrators and figuring out sexual identity. The first DAR volume, collecting re-toned strips from 2006-2009 of the award-winning weekly webcomic —PLUS bonus, behind-the-scenes material!DAR Volume 1 (A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary)ASIN: 0982343701Title: DAR Volume 1Binding: PaperbackPublication date: 2009
The Parakeet
Espé - 2021
She often has what his father and grandparents call episodes. She screams and fights, scratches and spits, and has to be carted away to specialized clinics for frequent treatments. Bastien doesn't like it when she goes, because when she comes home, she isn't the same. She has no feelings, no desires, and not much interest in him. According to the doctors, Bastien's mother suffers from bipolar disorder with schizophrenic tendencies, but he prefers to imagine her as a comic-book heroine, like Jean Grey, who may become Dark Phoenix and explode in a superhuman fury at any moment.Based on the creator's own childhood experiences, The Parakeet is the story of a boy whose only refuge from life's harsh realities lies in his imagination. In his eyes, we see the confusion and heartache he feels as he watches his mother's illness worsen and the treatments fail. Through his eyes, we see how mental illness can both tear families apart and reaffirm the bonds of love. Poignant yet playful, The Parakeet follows Bastien's struggle to accept the mother he has while wishing for the mother he needs.
Melody: Story of a Nude Dancer
Sylvie Rancourt - 2013
Rancourt passes the reader a gift: the ability to experience and see a venal adult life through the forgiving, blameless and easily-wounded eyes of a child."-Chris Ware, from his introductionIn 1980, Sylvie Rancourt and her boyfriend moved to Montreal from rural Northern Quebec. With limited formal education or training, they had a hard time finding employment, so Rancourt began dancing in strip clubs. These experiences formed the backbone of the first Canadian autobiographical comic book, Melody, which Rancourt wrote, drew, and distributed, starting in 1985. Later, she collaborated with the artist Jacques Boivin, who translated and drew a new series of Melody comics for the American market-the comics were an instant cult classic. Until now, the Rancourt drawn-and-written comics have never been published in English. These stories are compelling without ever being voyeuristic or self-pitying, and her drawings are formally innovative while maintaining a refreshingly frank and engaging clarity. Whether she's divulging her first experiences dancing for an audience or sharing moments from her life at home, her storytelling is straightforward and never sensationalized. With a knowing wink at the reader, Rancourt shares a world that, in someone else's hands, might be scandalous or seedy, but in hers is fully realized, real, and often funny. The Drawn & Quarterly edition of Melody: Story of a Nude Dancer, featuring an introduction by Chris Ware (Building Stories), places this masterpiece of early autobiographical comics in its rightful place at the heart of the comics canon.
Bread and Wine
Samuel R. Delany - 1999
Award-winning science fiction author Samuel Delany and Dennis, a homeless New Yorker selling books from a blanket, discover sexual joy and explode stereotypes while exploring the possibilities for compassion and acceptance in this moving graphic novel -- all the more touching because it's true.