When I saw the synopsis for this graphic novel, I thought I would be reading something boring an uninteresting. But my first impression isn't right because I finished reading this in just a few hours. Not to mention that this is also very helpful and inspiring especially those who are having eating disorder. Hopefully the release of this would motivate people to love whatever their shape or size they have.

A tough story told in a beautiful and touching way.

RECEIVED AN eARC FROM NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW. Publication date: October 1, 2017.

This memoir is a record of the authors struggles battling an eating disorder. She had a negative body image & didn't like what she was eating. She was losing herself & the things & people that mattered most to her left & right.  The illustrations are very heartbreaking , they portray her struggle with bulimia very well! The images are haunting & even traumatic for someone that has an ED. Like the light at the end of a long tunnel, Lacy is finally able to look at her body in a positive way. This memoir is depicts how many people aren't confident in the way that they look. To some, we view our body as a prison & this memoir portrays those feelings in a very raw way. We let society dictate our image of ourselves & influence how we think we "should" look. I truly enjoyed this book & related to it enormously. I think it delivers a positive message that to live your life well is the most important thing!

Into the Water is a graphic memoir of Lacy Davis' struggle through negative body image and an eating disorder in her early 20s.

Wow. This was so inspiring for Lacy to talk about her ED in the graphic format. It was real and relatable. You could see and feel her bravery when she takes us through her journey from thoughts of not being good enough to food restriction and anorexia, to exercising compulsively and then bulimia. The illustrations are done by Lacy's partner Jim Kettner and they are dark and intense, but expressive and show Lacy's pain and struggle in such a real way.

This was a quick, but powerful read. If you know someone going through an eating disorder or have yourself I recommend picking this up when it is released in Oct.

Pre-orders available for this book - Release Date 10/01/17

Facts: I am a fat bearded man. I have been fat for a long time. I carry myself with pride and have come to an understanding with myself that I am good how I am. I can be more healthy and strive towards that, but socially, I am aware of myself and not bothered... For the most part.

While the bearded part didn't come until much later, I was always the "Husky" kid (I hate that term). I remember the first time I stressed about my size. Seventh grade was particularly hard for all the kids my age, new classes in a new school had all kids pushing boundaries and testing the power structures. One particular young lady made a few comments about my t-shirt being pushed out by my belly which embarrassed me greatly. I spent the next year holding my body certain directions so that my belly never touched the front of my shirt visibly, or holding the hem of my shirt. I wasn't fat, just a little early teen chubby. The idea stuck though and my brain was rewired to be conscious of my size and shape. 

It is a snowball: One person caused a reaction by me which added to the growing body shame I carried for many years. I owned that shame, kept it under cover and chose not to ever mention it. I remember reading books where characters found unusual diets, tips, and tricks, or even mild disorders as ways to make themselves "better". I admit, I tried a great deal of them. I sometimes wonder how many books folks like myself turned into instruction manuals when the original premise was to inform/scare/warn against. 

Good thing for me to fail at I suppose. I sucked at sports and dietary self-harm.

It took a long time to get to the "fuck your opinion" stage of my life, but I am glad I made it here even though I have to talk myself into it sometimes. Now all I have to worry about is the people who cross the street when they see a big bearded dude walking down the sidewalk. I am a teddy beard goddamn it, but one cannot help other folk's triggers.

"Ink in Water: An Illustrated Memoir (or how I kicked anorexia's ass and embraced body positivity)"

Ink in Water: An Illustrated Memoir  (Davis - Kettner)
272 pages
New Harbinger Publications
ISBN-10: 1626258317
ISBN-13: 978-1626258310
Okay. That is a mouthful of a title, but mouthful, in this case, is a good thing as it is highly descriptive and shines a spotlight on the topic rather than obscuring it. Written by Lacy J Davis and Illustrated by Jim Kettner, this Graphic Novel memoir covers approximately a 10-year span of time as Lacy moves from confident and rebellious punk to Crossfit lover and guru. The majority of the book follows the dark years in between which are the entire point of this story. 

After some commentary from a boyfriend about body size and shape of someone he knows, Lacy interprets the comments as directed towards her, even tangentially. The result is a depressed obsession with dieting, health food, and exercise that could have killed her. She eats very little or very specific foods, then over exercises to burn even more calories. Cardio Catharsis is her favorite medicine. She ends up a walking skeleton and thought everything was fine.

After hearing health concerns from people she trusts and being put on temporary leave from work, Lacy joins Over Eaters Anonymous, and 12 steps through her troubles with others who have a myriad of eating disorders. She deludes herself about her progress, she allows life to deter her from forward motion, she backpedals then moves forward before backpedaling again.

Moving through life like a confused toddler is part of our graceless human condition.

Textually, this book is easily consumed, but the subject matter makes it a little unapproachable. Starting with the cover, the deep details in the subtitle, while serving one descriptive purpose, might also fight against itself with out the help of vocal fans. Advising this is a book about "kicking anorexia's ass" might deter a significant number of people from reading it. 

DON'T be that deterred person. Read this then be vocal. The story here is amazing and inspiring. It is presented in a manner which flows well and ensures it is not a chore. Lacy's story is a roller coaster of emotions, and even the parts which might be funny are hard to laugh at. I did cheer once or twice and every time I saw Powell's Books I got a bit happy.

The artwork in this book is phenomenal. Just the right amount of detail where needed, and lacking where it would only distract or be wasted. Some of the most impressive panels were areas where Lacy's brain is on fire, and the smoke and electrical wires are bursting forth into the universe. Interestingly,  Kettner plays a key role in the story. As a Graphic Artist, drawing web comics and media, he and Lacy hit it off and he spends a large amount of meta time in the comic along side her in a role of support, understanding, and unconditional love. 

This Graphic Novel is highly recommended, end of story. 

--
Disclosure:
This Graphic Novel was supplied for review purposes by the publisher or author. If the topic of this novel resonates with you, then who gives a rats ass who provided it.

Somehow this turned out to be the second graphic novel about eating disorders I read this week, thanks to Netgalley! Haha! 
Somehow this one didn't seem to go in as deep as the last one I read - it seemed a little more superficial as far as touching on the author's emotions and the psychology behind her disorder. I think I wanted more than "my boyfriend dumped me, so I became anorexic, but then I got a new boyfriend and did crossfit and I'm fine now."

Dark and gritty graphic memoir about the author's struggle with anorexia.  Davis' story begins in adulthood and it's refreshing to see a story that does not follow the perfectionist high school student narrative that the after school specials often portray.  Also present here is a look at Overeater's Anonymous as a program and the ways that an eating disorder is and is not like addiction.  Raw and unfiltered.  I read this in conjunction with Lighter Than My Shadow, which is also an anorexia graphic memoir and I feel that both are so distinct that I would recommend them both either in tandem or separately.

This was an incredibly empowering story! I haven't read much about eating disorders and I work at a mental health clinic. I just had talked to a girl who had just started to get over bulimia and had such extreme guilt whenever she ate anything. But it is so incredibly brave for anyone with eating disorders to start recovery and it's no small feat what this woman did! I am so proud of this woman and hope she lives a long and healthy life

I don't think I've read a book about eating disorders as real as this one. Usually it's somewhat glamorizing of them, or else it's woe- is- me about the whole thing. Either way, they're usually not relatable. This book is definitely the exception to the rule with a supremely likeable main character who doesn't candy coat how captivating and an honest pain in the ass having an eating disorders can be. I don't have a conscious eating disorder (OCD of thinking i will choke whenever I swallow or else eating supper slow to somehow prevent the unlikely event of choking which I've never done is a bitch), but the intrusive thoughts don't go away, and Lacy did and amazing job of telling the story with the realness it needed to teach the audience. Her story was a very captivating one, and I never felt unsympathetic towards her, but I also never felt pity on her either, which is one of my biggest pet peeves in what I call "sympathy porn" like what SOOO many YA books tend to do. I was rooting for her so the way through, and cheered at the end of it for earning a happy enough ending. My one complaint is more of a nitpick, but I wasn't really that huge of a fan of the art- the characters had a tendency to look kind of ugly to me, but the topic is kind of an ugly one too, so with that in mind, it was easy enough to get into. Overall, if this helps people who are recovering or suffering with an ED, then it's totally worth it in my book. Heck, it's a good book in general that I recommend to anyone who feels they aren't good enough! I hope to see now from this duo in the future!

I just finished Lacy J. Davis’s graphic novel, Ink in Water, and I am already anticipating her next book. My enjoyment was on the same level as when I read Lucy Knisley’s Relish, or Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. 

I flew through this one—it is rare that I pick up a graphic and am instantly hooked by the story as well as the artwork. Davis does an amazing job of recounting her experience with an eating disorder without sensationalizing it. I appreciate that while we did see the physical manifestations of the disorder, we are also privy to the internal struggle of how she got there and how she found a way through it. I can see this story resonating with people who are fighting an eating disorder; not only does it flow well, she is just a super relatable person.

At the beginning I wasn't sure about the black and white illustrations, but I can say now that they were absolutely necessary. Jim Kettner did a crazy great job with using shading to convey the mood in various scenes. For example, Lacy’s thoughts over a personal tragedy play out in mostly black illustrations, with her body being almost blurred out by grief. I’m not sure that this story would have been as effective if it had been done in color; the illustrations were appropriate for the grim subject matter.

Whether you have an eating disorder, know someone who has fought with one, or are just a human in this insane world, I recommend that you give this a try. It’s a dark story in some ways, but there is so much hope woven throughout. 5 stars from me!

Thanks to NetGalley, Lucy Davis, Jim Kettner, and New Harbinger Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an incredibly powerful , moving and above all painfully honest book about what it is like to struggle with an eating disorder. Every page is powerful and has purpose, but the book is also beautifully illustrated in a stark black and white style that is tonally perfect for the story being told. 
As for that story, its one that will resonate with many people. While this book deals primarily with the author's struggle with an eating disorder, from the early stages of tracking calories and exercise in an attempt to distract from other things going on in her life, through the darkest of days and into how she took charge and found a way to be the better, stronger self she wanted to be, this whole process echoes many other addictive behaviours, a topic that is also touched upon in the book. 
What makes this book truly exceptional and memorable in my eyes is the unflinching honesty which permeates every page. I can only imagine how hard it was for the author to write, exposing yourself at your lowest ebb could not have been easy, but it makes the book much more powerful. I found myself turning page after page, rooting for Lacy, cheering on her every progress, and rooting for her during the moments she struggled. Creating such emotion on a page is something that should be celebrated, and the empowering overall message of this book is one that deserves to be shouted from the rooftops. So many young people struggle with these issues, and I for one think this is the kind of book that schools and libraries should definitely have in their stacks.
This book is one I know I will be thinking about for some time to come, it well deserves every one of its five stars.

Interesting and searingly honest - a completely open and personal journey through life with an eating disorder, and the importance of relationships and self. Also the artwork and page layout used to tell the story worked really well together.

Davis has given her readers an opportunity to hear her story and learn that there is more than just one set way into recovery. It brilliantly questions what "God" and "recovery" can mean to those who have struggled to create a relationship with both. The artwork was gorgeous; using darker shading when her ED and negative thoughts come over. Minute characters held a special place in my art as well long after the book came to an end.

I received this in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. Thank you to the author, Lacy Davis, and the publisher, New Harbinger for this opportunity.
Ink in Water is a memoir of Lacy Davis’ upsetting struggle with negative body image and eating disorders. and how she rose above her own damaging behaviours and feelings of inadequacy to live a life of strength and empowerment.
Told in the form of a graphic novel, it covers her friendships and how they break down, the beginning of her recovery on an overeaters anonymous course and the relationships she forms.  Over the course of the book she suffers from both anorexia and bulimia and also partakes in extreme exercise.
It is heart-breaking in places and I found I was able to totally emphasise with Lacy.  I liked her and was cheering on her recovery.  The illustrations are amazing and I can’t rate this highly enough. I don’t generally read graphic novels but after having some family experience with eating disorders I wanted to know more about it and the feelings people have.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

This is a long comic, but an easy read. The art is black and white line drawings and gray scale art which has a sweet watercolor texture to it - perhaps because so many images show it raining! Initially I had mixed feelings about it, because it had a 'been there done that' feel to me - not that I've been there and done that, but like I'd read this story before - like it was reiterating. But it's a very personal story, and even if you have read 'it' before, you haven't read this one, and it's an important story which bears repetition, not least because it has such a positive outcome.

Lacy J Davis fell into a destructive eating spiral after a broken relationship, but this was not one where weight went up. Instead, it went precariously down. The story continues in this vein, exploring her life afterwards, in all its ups and downs, advances and set-backs, sparing no details, and hiding no sin. For that alone I commend it as a worthy read.

I'd like to have seen this better illustrated in the artwork, because while some of the art was really engaging, some of it was rather rudimentary, so it felt a bit patchy throughout, and I think this lessened the graphic impact of what happened here: the images for 'before' and 'after' and finally, 'later after' had too much in common to make a really arresting impression.

When you start out with an improbably skinny 'cartoon-like' character in a story about an eating disorder, it's a bit self-defeating. It's really hard to convey the extent of the problem in your illustrations when your character starts out already looking anorexic before the problem begins! I felt that a little more realism in the drawings would have contributed significantly to the impact of the story.

Additionally, I'd like to have known where the roots of that potential to fall were grown and why they went the way they did given the apparent tripwire for the break-up, but that was not shared with us, assuming it was even known. Yes, we know the proximate trigger of this problem, but if there's something falling, that kinetic energy came from somewhere, but this 'somewhere' went unexplored. Given that this was supposed to be a teaching tool inter alia, I felt that this was an omission which should itself have been omitted. It was one of several omissions, and I think the work would have been stronger had these holes been filled.

Another such hole was when a friend died. This person had been an important and ongoing part of the story, but the death was passed over rather quickly, and (unless I missed it) we never did learn what happened other than it resulted in a death. We did see the negative effect of it, but this part of the story was solely about the author. I felt it ought to have been also about the friend as well. This omission felt unkind given how important the person had been.

I felt that more attention should have been given to medical aspects of this disease, too. Doctors were in and out of the story, but they were always 'walk-on' parts. Nowhere was there any talk of how much the medical profession can help with problems like this. Nowhere was there talk of therapy or psychiatric attention, either to say it couldn't help or to say it could. It was almost as though none of this was ever considered, and I think this was a dangerous omission, cutting out healthcare consultations almost entirely, as though they have nothing to say or contribute.

Being a personal story is both a strength and a weakness for this comic, because we got the author's first-hand PoV, but we also got nothing else. For a book that aims at least in part to be a teaching tool, I think this handicapped it. Maybe it doesn't work for you, but who are you to say it would not work for someone else? I think a great teaching opportunity was missed by not being more expansive and offering possible alternatives to what this writer chose for herself, even when she made poor decisions.

I'm am most definitely not a fan of prologues or epilogues, and I avoid them like the plague. This comic had both, I'm sorry to report and as usual, neither was contributory. Had I skipped both I would have got the same from the comic so my advice is to cut them out and save a few trees. All the prologue did was rehash the 12 step program. I'm not sure there's anyone left on planet Earth who doesn't know what that's all about, so I saw no point to the prologue. Al the epilogue did was show us half-a-dozen pages of the author typing at the computer, or of the same rain we saw in the prologue, so this contributed literally nothing. Once again I rest my case for ripping prologues, prefaces, author's notes, introductions, epilogues, and after-words out by the roots, and save some tree roots.

That all said, overall I did enjoy the story because it was brutally honest, it did not offer an easy, magical solution, and it did not flinch from talking about difficult issues. I'm not convinced the four-letter expletives or the uncensored nudity contributed anything to this particular story, but again, it was honest, so I guess it came with the territory! The best thing about it and what recommends it most, is the positive outcome, which is always a good thing when trying to encourage others to take positive steps to overcome disorders like this. I recommend this as a worthy read.

Ink in Water is an incredibly unique memoir in the form of a graphic novel.  It boldly tells the story of a young woman named Lacy, with an eating disorder who completely loses her sense of self when confronted with all the problems life likes to hand out.  It is honest, realistic, devastating, and hopeful. Filled with love and loss; failures and success. Lacy could be your friend or mine. Even through her greatest fears she finds the courage and determination to discover who she is and how to beat her demons.

Ink in Water is an enormously stunning graphic novel full of pain, love, and recovery. Lacy J. Davis’ story comes to life with the help of illustrator Jim Kettner (and can I just say that I love his work?). Ink in Water is a truly unique and worthwhile read, even for those that have not suffered from an eating disorder (or any other form of addiction, for that matter). 
	Warnings first: This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but Ink in Water contains a lot of information, talking, and images of people struggling with eating disorders and drug addiction. Some people may be triggered by this, so I felt it was important to point out. The message is well intended, with the focus on recovery and healing.
	I was truly touched by the openness and honesty presented in Ink in Water. I appreciate that Davis was willing to talk about her story in such a way; though I’ll admit that knowing this was a true story did make it a bit tougher to read (understandably so, since nobody should have to go through that). If you’ve ever wanted to try and get a better understanding of what a person can go through during addiction and recovery, this may be a good place to start (though keep in mind that not everybody has the same experience, and thus remember to listen to other stories when presented to you).
	I think it’s really important for representations like Ink in Water to be read (or seen, depending on the media), as it helps generate a better understanding and empathy. I will always respect any artist or author that puts themselves on the line to reveal something as deeply personal as this. In Davis’ case, not only does she not shy from the blunt truths of her past, but she tells her tale in such a heartbreakingly beautiful manner. It’s impossible not to empathize with her.

I was really excited about this book, it sounded right up my alley, sadly, it was not meant to be. 

The art was just not my style. Not at all. With how the artist drew herself, and others. I jut didn't get how old she really was. She looked well over 50, but from what I could see she was about 20 (going by other reviews I read since I was curious about her real age). The same goes for everyone else in the book, they are probably all young, but they look like they are 50+. It just didn't help me connect with the character. 

The art also kept distracting me from the issues that this book wanted to show the reader. 

Because the problems, the story, nothing is wrong with that. I am really curious about Henry and Lacy, and their friends. I want to know more.

But yeah, art. :(

An extremely candid graphic novel, Lacy J. Davis exposes the demons that abound in the world of eating disorders. I am so grateful that she wrote it! Through black and white photos, Davis speaks with such raw emotion of living each day with an ED. So very relate- able!

Ink in Water is written in a style that made me feel as if I am a close confidante. Nothing is taboo between true friends. Lacy J. Davis shares her very personal battle with body image, eating disorders and excercise addiction, with brutal honesty. She pulls no punches when she reveals how incredibly hard she fought day in and day out to get to the place where she could share this memoir on how she "kicked anorexia's ass and embrased BODY POSITIVITY!"

She paints a beautiful, at times haunting, picture of a struggle that is so often completely misunderstood by outsiders. What a stricking metaphor she uses. A bad idea that spreads through her whole being like a few drops of ink spread through water until there is no clear water left.  

The artwork by Jim Kettner is incredible, filled with intensity and raw emotion. You cannot help but feel Lacy's pain, her dispair, her desperation. And her joy. The artwork brings Lacy's mood and feelings to life. In her darkest and most frought times, fading into only shades of black with mere echoes of ghosts of Lacy. Brilliantly done. Absolutely brings to mind that old adage: A picture is worth a thousand words. 

This is one girl's cautionary tale. Told honestly and from the heart. With a message that there is no shame in telling people about your eating disorder and your recovery. "Because shame keeps people sick ..."  There is no glossing over the fact that recovery is really hard and truthfully never ending. But there is hope. And waffles. And kicking ass. 

Highly recommended. Chances are that you or someone you know has an eating disorder. Everyone should be reading this book. 

Thank you to the publisher, writer, artist, and netgalley for an ARC. This is an honest review.