I enjoyed this one. The art was beautiful, and I really liked the story. Graphic memoirs are always a favorite because I think it's a very unique way of telling one's life story, and this one didn't disappoint.

Straightforward. Organic. Heartfelt.

A searing exploration of grief and a journey in moving forward captured in vibrant Illustrations.

Wow, just wow. I put this on my TBR after seeing my friend Destiny post about it and finally picked it up recently. This is the incredibly devastating, partially autobiographical account of a miscarriage and its aftermath. Even though I went into it knowing this would be an emotional read, I did not expect to sob through most of it -- but I did.

This story was beautiful -- both visually and in its message. My only real complaint was that it felt a little rushed and abruptly short. It was difficult to connect on a deeper level than "fuck, this was <i>sad</i>" because of that. Chabbert notes after the story's conclusion that she had intentionally not written very much about her attempts to conceive, lest they take over the story, but I found this to be a weakness. While the story was obviously quite emotionally impactful, helping readers to fully understand the context of this loss would have added a lot and allowed more connection to the characters.

I definitely recommend this, though. In fact, I texted a friend just after finishing to recommend it to her. If you can handle the sensitive content, this is a quick read that packs a lot of punch.

A lovely meditation on fertility struggles, love, grief, and finding the will to keep going after tremendous loss. The fluid, sketchy art style gives the story a dreamlike quality that suits its overall atmosphere of quiet introspection. While it is certainly sad, it never felt mired in misery and is ultimately hopeful without being overly trite (though I could also see others with similar fertility issues as the protagonist finding it too sweet and its conclusion a bit too simple). I also found it refreshing that the story centers on a lesbian couple without ever making a big deal out of it.

Achingly beautiful examination of pregnancy loss from the perspective of a lesbian couple - a perspective that is often omitted. The beautiful artwork carries the reader through the emotional experience that is struggling with and riding the waves of grief and sorrow as we learn to chart a new course for our lives after loss.

It is a great graphic novel with a touching story of love, hope, loss and rebirth. The illustrations are very well connected with the content of the graphic novel. I highly recommend it!!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I read the book immediately but I'm a bit late on this review. Waves is about hope and strength. The tragedy of miscarriage and the struggles that follow as the author journeys to answer the basic questions, why did it happen? how do I cope? where to go from here? The loss affects not only the woman, but her partner as well.

The memoir is good but the artwork is what makes it emotionally wonderful. It is beautiful in it's simplicity and could be a silent short animation. The changing colors and flowing lines mirror the despair and eventual hope that the woman (and the reader!) feels.

Incredible and moving, the story and the soft illustrations combine to make this an incredibly emotional read. I literally cried at my work desk reading it. Highly recommend for adult graphic novel collections.

I was unable to read this graphic novel before it was archived, therefore I will not be reviewing it even though I was excited for it.

"Waves" is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking. Read with a box of tissues at hand. This story powerfully explores the experience of losing a child and the recovery afterward. The art and text work together masterfully to tell this story. The way all color is lost when they lose their child is especially effective. Little by little, color reappears as the characters begin to heal. It is breathtaking and moving. This is an important contribution to queer literature, bringing more representation and solidarity to couples who have mourned the loss of a child.

An absolutely gorgeous and devastating book. I was blown away by both the art and the subject matter.

Wow, what a powerful book. It was so easy to feel for the protagonist and their wife as they dealt with infertility. Both painful and emotionally powerful at the same time.

A big thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review this story. All opinions are honest and my own.
I read this graphic novel a while ago so I can't remember all of the details.

The plot was a little difficult to follow, for me personally. There was one main plot but it was a little muddy. It deals with a lesbian couple dealing with a miscarriage. I felt like it was an important message but it could have been conveyed and expressed in a more engaging way.

It was a raw, emotional story that I, personally, didn't connect with.

The subject matter of this story is very intense and hard-hitting. It features a F/F romance, which I always love reading about. However, this book mostly misses the mark for me. I'm not sure if it was because the work was translated, or if I just wanted more realistic elements and less of the metaphors. I felt kept at a distance, and I wanted this to impact me more than it did.

A lovely graphic novel- I came into the genre after reading a book called Persepolis and have never looked back. Waves is brilliantly portrayed and I can't wait for more.

Astounding. Incredible artwork, Amazing storyline with excellent characters. Can't speak highly enough about this title.

Absolutely incredible short story/graphic novel. I live for books like this, inclusive books that touch on tragedy that all can relate too in some capacity. Books like this allow ppl going through these moments to feel less alone, less guilty about how they feel. The fact that it features a interracial lesbian couple just makes it all that more appealing. I can't wait to recommend this to my patrons. Especially moms who have recently suffered this loss. Chabbert did an incredible job, thank you for this contribution to the literary world, we needed it!

An absolutely stunning story with gorgeous artwork. Anyone who has gone through loss should read this.

This graphic novel is about a lesbian couple trying to have a child. Sadly, they suffer a miscarriage.

The novel deals with this terrible loss, and shows us that, with the helo of those we love, we can get through anything.

The art fits the story. It is simple yet colorful. I admire the illustrator because the sudden shifts in color evoke the characters emotions perfectly.

It was such a beautiful graphic novel, I full-heartedly recommend it.

French writer Ingrid Chabbert is a prolific children’s book author and in her first graphic novel, she tells the story of how that career started, or more precisely, the traumatic personal journey that led to her first book. It’s not about the struggle of a writer trying to make it or any kind of writing memoir. It’s about rebirth, recovery. It’s about grief. It’s about the multi-faceted experience of living life, where the awful and joyful intermingle and are perhaps impossible to separate.

Unnamed in the book, a couple has been attempting pregnancy and are clearly expecting the latest attempt to be a failure. A surprise pregnancy brings a cautious type of joy to the two women, but as the book progresses, we follow them through a series medical issues through the pregnancy, experiencing the emotional impact of their journey and the ways they cope with the stress of the troubled pregnancy process and the crushing sadness of the aftermath.

There’s a degree to which Waves seems critic-proof. The story is so personal, the impact so universal, and the presentation so open and raw that I can’t imagine being the person who reads it and has a quibble. Chabbert is opening up her heart and soul to the reader in Waves, not only representing her partner’s darkest personal moment, but also the memory of their son. Chabbert is able to present this memoir with poise and calm and never lets her words overtake the experience. She lets her reader react without her prompting. It’s a presentation that demands respect and sympathy.

Artist Carole Maurel manages to perform a miracle with her illustration work here, succeeding at two outcomes that seem exactly opposite. In one way, her work wraps the story around the reader, making it feel close and heavy. But in another, she also functions as an outside interpreter in such a way that rather than smothering you directly in Chabbert’s deep pain, she’s able to transform it into something that is bearable, even beautiful. A lot of the success of the book is to her credit, which is not to downplay Chabbert’s part in her own memoir, but instead to compliment Maurel’s ability to put it down on paper, to take something so deep within someone else and give it a presence for others to see and feel, while buffering it in such a way that we can also absorb and understand.

Ultimately Waves is a book about hope in the face of tragedy, and Maurel is also able to bring that to the forefront, making her presentation not one all-encompassing mood, but rather a journey through feelings and reactions. From the very straightforward normal life representations to the highly emotional scenes of pain and grief to the surrealist representations of Chabbert’s emotional state, Maurel composes a lush, alive, empathic vision of Chabbert’s experience.

This could have been an exercise solely in Chabbert finding closure for herself, and I’m sure that is part of it, but there’s much more going on here. Chabbert puts her own recovery out there to render the horrible, vicious way life works, where one moment you’re trapped in the depths, overwhelmed and pummeled, and then because of that experience, you look up and you see a road and it goes on for a while and you see clearly how you can walk its length. That is the essence of the life experience and Chabbert and Maurel have devoted a devastating work to illustrate what we all face in some manner.