Memoir

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands / Kate Beaton

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Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
By: Kate Beaton
Genre: Graphic Novels, Memoir
Number of Pages: 430
Published: September 13, 2022
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Dates Read: November 14, 2023 - November 17, 2023
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Trigger Warnings: misogyny, sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape

To help pay off her student loans quicker, Kate Beaton takes advantage of Canada’s oil rush and gets a job in the oil sands. Being one of only a handful of women amongst thousands of men is both a culture shock and a smack of harsh reality; trauma is an everyday occurrence but is never discussed. In this graphic memoir, Kate Beaton describes her experience working the oil sands between 2005 – 2008.

This graphic novel broadened my knowledge on the Canadian oil sands (which, okay, went from 0 to what I was given by Beaton). I never even knew this type of work was in Canada. Having no knowledge of that going into this book, I believe this captured the experience, during that particular time, of one female worker wonderfully.

The subjects aren’t preachy and Beaton doesn’t really input her current thoughts on her experiences until the very end, but you see her experience come out organically and her realization of just how toxic the environment is. That being said, Beaton is also very clear that she had nicer relationships with some men – including ones who would be fatherly towards her.

Overall, I know this book won’t be for everyone, but I do think people should read it. For not only the information on the oil sands of Canada, but also what it’s like for women in a male dominated work environment.

Mala’s Cat / Mala Kacenberg, Kristin Atherton (Narrator)

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My first full audiobook!! 😀

Mala’s Cat
By: Mala Kacenberg, Kristin Atherton (Narrator)
Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction
Number of Pages: 288
Published: January 4, 2022
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Dates Read: September 19, 2023 - September 21, 2023
Format: Audiobook, Library Book, Hardcover

Trigger Warnings: Holocaust, war, genocide 

Growing up in the Polish village of Tarnogród, Mala Szorer’s and her large family was poor – but they had each other and that was enough. But, at the age of twelve, the German invasion began and her village became a ghetto and her family and their neighbors were reduced to starvation. Mala wouldn’t let her family go hungry, so she would take her yellow star off and sneak into the surrounding villages to barter for food.

On her way back home one day, she sees her family rounded up for deportation and receives a smuggled letter from her sister, warning her to stay away. Even though she wants nothing more than to be with her family, Mala retreats back into the forest, not only hiding from the Nazi, but also hostile villagers. A stray cat joins her side, who ends up saving her time and time again – Mala names her Malach, Hebrew for ‘angel’.

Malach becomes Mala’s family and closest friend as she fights against the loneliness of being completely on her own as she fights to survive through the Hitler Regime. 

This is my first audio book I listened to mostly all the way through (except the last 50 pages, I read in my library book because I wanted to finish it but it was bedtime and I would fall asleep if I only listened). I would listen to it while doing some work and there were a few times I couldn’t help but comment out loud – especially when Malach would warn Mala of danger (again) and she would be surprised.

Since this was told through the eyes of the author as a teenager, it reads a little simpler than some memoirs. It also allowed the reader to watch as Mala ages and grows and begins to understand more and more about the war around her. Malach isn’t always mentioned, as sometimes she’s not always there – but this story is about the author’s survival, with the help of her guardian angel cat.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone that wants to read about the survival of a young girl in the forest during the Holocaust.

In Limbo / Deb JJ Lee

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In Limbo
By: Deb JJ Lee
Genre: Graphic Novel, Memoir, Nonfiction
Number of Pages: 348
Published: March 7, 2023
Publisher: First Second
Dates Read: August 27, 2023
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Trigger Warning: suicide attempt(s), child abuse by parent

In Limbo is a graphic novel memoir about a Korean-American teenager, Deborah (Jung-Ji) Lee, as she navigates the struggles of high school while still feeling like an outsider. As the pressures of high school and the ever growing changing in her personal life, Deb doesn’t have anywhere to turn to – even home isn’t a safe place as the fights with her mom continue to worsen as time goes on. Her mental health falls fast.

But Deb’s a fighter. She soon discovers her real love is art. With that, along with self-care, Deb gradually begins her road to recovery. During a trip to South Korea, she realizes something that changes her perspective on everything.

The artwork in this graphic novel is beautiful. The topics and themes are hard. Being an immigrant is no doubt hard enough – but being an immigrant as a kid or teenager that’s stuck between two worlds is probably even harder. There are a lot of themes of not belonging and not being enough of one thing or the other. What was really hard for me was the abuse at the hands of her mother. The graphic novel made it very real for me as he captured the anger of her mother’s face.

I think the author’s note at the end of this is important – especially because the ending is almost kind of abrupt, but it works. Not everything is tied up in a nice bow and understood. It is a memoir afterall, but it does show the author and her journey through pain, anger, resentment (of herself and others), and forgiveness (both of herself and others).

Overall, I think a lot of people will be able to see themselves and possibly their experiences in this graphic novel memoir. For others, it will shine a light on someone else’s experiences growing up as an immigrant.

Everything/Nothing/Someone / Alice Carrière

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Everything/Nothing/Someone
By: Alice Carrière
Genre: Memoir
Number of Pages: 288
Published: August 29, 2023
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Dates Read: August 15, 2023 - August 19, 2023
Format: ARC / eBook

Trigger Warnings: sexual abuse, false memory, inherited trauma, mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction

In this memoir of Alice Carrière, she tells the story of her unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village as the daughter of renowned artist Jennifer Bartlett and European actor Mathieu Carrière. Growing up in the bohemian 90’s, Alice must navigate her mother’s recovered memories of ritualized sexual abuse that she turns into art, and her father’s odd and confusing attentions. For the most part, Alice is left alone with little-to-no enforcement of boundaries or supervision.

When she enters adolescence, Alice begins to lose herself as a dissociative disorder begins to take over. She bounces in and out of mental hospitals and takes up various roles around town while bouncing from one experience to another in a medicated state. Eventually, she finds purpose in caring for her Alzheimer’-afflicted mother. With the help of a recovering addict who loves her, Alice also finds the courage to confront her father, whose words and actions splintered her. 

I haven’t read a lot of written memoirs (I’ve read a few graphic novel memoirs/biographies). But, this year I’m trying to make sure I branch out and read a different variety of genres. This one caught my eye because of the mental health aspect and growing up in the 90’s. Mental health and the stigma around it has drastically changed within the last few years. I grew up in the 90’s/00’s and I remember you didn’t talk about mental health – now I make jokes with my coworkers about our crippling depression/anxiety almost daily.

This memoir won’t be for everybody. Everything/Nothing/Someone deals with a lot of heavy subjects, but it is very thought-provoking and a look at how mental health was tackled and the stigma with it in the 90’s, early 2000’s. 

*Thank you Spiegel & Grau, Publishers Weekly, and NetGalley for a digital advance copy of this memoir in exchange for an honest review

It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth / Zoe Thorogood

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It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth
By: Zoe Thorogood
Genre: Graphic Novel, Memoir
Number of Pages: 120
Published: November 15, 2022
Publisher: Image Comics
Dates Reads: February 20, 2023
Format: eBook

Trigger Warnings: Mental health; depression, mentions of suicide and suicide attempts

Cartoonist Zoe Thorogood records 6 months of her life as it falls apart and she tries to put it back together, all while trying to battle the inner demons of her depression.

By now, I’ve read my fair share of mental health battling graphic novels. Sometimes the writer’s battles are not quite the same as my own, Zoe Thorogood’s battle is still not 100% me, but my goodness, did she mention stuff that hit my gut and gave me tears. Growing up, talking about mental health wasn’t a thing quite yet – I remember after my dad passed, being asked by my mom if I wanted to speak with a therapist and being horrified about even the thought of it. Now, my siblings and I are pretty open about our mental health, but I still don’t always talk to my mom about it though, and this quote from Thorogood was me:

“…But now that I’m an adult I feel like I can protect them (parents) from it now, or at least I should. That’s the isolating part of mental illness- It seems to come after the ones you care about most.”

This isn’t an easy read, and it’s not going to necessarily be one you would probably read for the enjoyment aspect either – though there are pieces of art in this that are phenomenal. Thorogood captures the embodiment of depression, and the different stages and types of depression. She even has versions of her depression from when she was a little girl and at different stages of her life, that all still hang around with her today. It’s very well done.

Overall, this is an excellently drawn and written graphic novel that explores the inner battles of one cartoonist’s battle with depression.

“I can’t change my brain chemistry, but I can change how I choose to interact with the world around me… Life is merely a collection of good and bad experiences loosely held together by the void in between- and that void is your space to mold, a space to harness and create in. Just be careful not to get stuck there.”