In

Of all the graphic novels I read last year – and I read around fifty – this was easily my favorite.

It’s a beautiful and bittersweet portrait of modern life that describes, with heartbreaking accuracy, a young illustrator’s struggle with his mother’s illness and his own ennui. McPhail’s delicately lined graphite drawings are delightful, the humor is spot on, and the protagonist’s yearning for personal connection in a world of social media and online dating apps is deeply relatable.

This is a book that I will read again and again and which I urge you to read as well. It’s… show more.

It blew me away with its emotional richness.

I found myself sobbing at several points throughout the book as the protagonist/narrator struggled to find ways to connect with the people in his life, from acquaintances to beloved family members.

McPhail captured a challenge that is all too familiar—how to engage in real ways in a world that more often fosters alienation and division.

I loved the book so much that I immediately read it a second time after I finished it.