This is more than a book about just coming out, this book is what so many people (especially teens and new adults...and maybe beyond?) will enjoy. The illustrations and text are friendly and familiar, it feels like Ms. Crewes is speaking directly to the reader, even when she doesn't break the 4th wall (although she does that, too, once or twice!).

The Times I Knew I Was Gay is exactly about the title. The author had moments in her life where she entertained the possibility of being gay, but then thought maybe she wasn't and how would she know? so she continued to try to date boys, even when time and again she found no real attraction. She talked about boys with her friends and pretended to fit in, even when it wasn't authentic. This flies in the face of the single theme of so many people: "I always knew..." Maybe not everyone does know and this book give permission to learn, do what feels right, and find love and acceptance. I enjoyed the honesty and was glad to see that the author was surrounded by family and friends who love her!

My thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

CW: disordered eating, homophobia

I absolutely loved this book and did not want it to end. Ellie's journey to coming out is very relatable and I loved that her first coming out occurred while viewing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with her friends. I will definitely be buying a physical copy of this book when it is released.

I loved this graphic memoir of the author’s realization (which isn’t as linear as anyone says it is) that they were gay. There were so many moments I could relate to, having multiple coming outs for being queer, my experience not being validated if I wasn’t dating a cis woman, etc. I loved that it explored some of the darker aspects (being bullied) of growing up gay, but also had a really happy wholesome ending!! We love to see it!!

CW: bullying, use of slurs, homophobia

I love a good graphic novel, especially during a pandemic. This one was really easy to read and relatable, but it dragged on a bit and felt forced and wasn't all that engaging.

I love happy endings to queer books. This one felt so warm, like coming home, after years of ping-ponging between realization and denial. While the college setting, revisiting of childhood memories, and coming out narrative are reminiscent of Fun Home, this book ultimately feels more joyful and less scholarly.

This is Ellie's story of how she came to terms with her sexuality. It's like she always knew she was gay, but she kept fighting it. I enjoyed her doodles and her story. This just shows you that everyone comes to terms with their sexuality differently. No "coming out" story is the same, and it's something that you may have to do over and over again.

Here is an honest and relatable look at queerness and a personal story of coming out. This graphic memoir leads the reader through snippets of the author’s life as she uncovers, battles, and eventually learns to accept her queerness. The casual illustrations and occasional breaking of the fourth wall makes this an easy read, but no less important.

There is an audience for this, but I was expecting more depth. Good to have around for young adults looking for a basic story of "coming out".

I devoured this charming and sensitive graphic memoir in just a matter of hours. This books is part coming of age story, part coming out story, and 100% relatable as another millennial woman who didn’t come out until her early twenties. So many parts of this story felt true to my own experiences, especially the reality of coming out over and over again. Too often in queer books and movies, coming out is a singular event that Happens and then everyone Knows. Instead of taking that easy narrative route, Crewes beautifully illustrated the many ways that queer people have to come out, to others as well as to themselves. The story is told with humor and grace, and i absolutely adored the illustrations. I’d recommend this book to anyone who’s a fan of Alison Bechdel or Tillie Walden.

All I have to say is that this is simultaneously relatable and a little sad. The number of times she felt the need to go back into the closet was a little unfortunate, but it's definitely not uncommon. I'm glad she worked it out in the end and some of the scenarios were pretty dang funny regardless.

Recommended for anyone interested in a non-linear coming out story in graphic novel form.

This graphic novel memoir follows the long journey of self realization. The gayness of Eleanor's life is the focus. All of those moments of queerness that when you look back at years later, it was so obvious but everyone's journey is different. Some people definitively know their own personal truths early on, but most people have longer journeys that may involve some different stops along the way. This book shows just one example of that journey.

The artwork in this book is simple and shows the story excellently with great focus.

I saw myself in this book. Memoirs are such great empathy tools. The specifics were great, from Willow to the flirting techniques of a (unbeknownst to her) closeted lesbian.

I give this book a 5/5. This is a great graphic novel memoir. I think all queer people will find something of themselves in this book. And non-queer people will gain some great perspective and may relate to the queer experience more than they expect.

This was quick and easy to read in theory, but in reality I dragged through the first four chapters for two weeks. There's just something about it (is it the art? is the narration? I don't know) that failed to be engaging, even as a queer person who could relate to some of the experiences here described. It was all very linear and there's nothing wrong with that except that it didn't feel like anything new. Of course I'm not talking about the author's life itself, I just mean that I felt like the art didn't add much to the story and I would have felt exactly the same about it by just reading the text alone.

While it dragged first, I finished the rest of it in one sitting. I still don't know how to talk about a graphic memoir without seeming like I'm gossiping about the author's life but I think the most significant thing this book adds to the conversation is the fact that coming out is rarely a linear process, you can come out to yourself and even to others in a sudden moment of clarity and then just....continue lying to yourself for months or years.

If this is your first graphic memoir about someone's coming out story or if you're questioning or struggling with coming out I think this is a good place to start, it just wasn't for me.

TWs: eating disorder, panic attack

A solid coming-out memoir via graphic novel. The author uses a simple yet effective illustration style paired with personal yet not-overly-dramatic reflections of her formerly closeted life. Thank you to NetGalley, Scribner, and Eleanor Crewes for the ARC!

I received this book from Netgalley as an eARC in exchange for a review.

The Times I Knew I Was Gay is a graphic novel that follows Eleanor's coming out process.

I loved this book. I love that this story showed a less conventional coming out story. I realize that not all coming out stories are the same and I appreciate the narrative this book shows. Coming out is non-linear and we frequently don't see this.
I also really enjoyed the art style of this book. I will definitely be watching for more from this book.

This is a coming of age graphic novel about Eleanor Crewes early life and how she realized she was gay. I loved that this memoir showed that Eleanor, like many lgbtq+ people, have to come out many times over the course of their lives. I loved the humor and realness of the story along with art work.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Although each LGBT+ person's coming out story is idiosyncratic, there are also many similarities, and I think anyone who has been through it can relate to at least some of this. Being male and 40 years older than the author, much of this didn't quite resonate, but I could still appreciate the author's candor and courage in telling her own story. The drawings, although simplistic, are clever and 'cute', and the book reads quickly (I devoured it in a little over an hour).

It's the perfect book for a young person who may not quite be comfortable with or even recognize what their own feelings might mean. Perhaps it's an unfair comparison, but this doesn't quite have the depth of Alison Bechdel's canon, but there is certainly room for more than ONE lesbian graphic artist, and for what it is, it's quite charming.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I received a digital advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I think this book would be more enjoyable in print, as many of the pages are single illustrations or double page spreads. Even though I don't have the same life experiences as the author I still found her easy to relate to and understand. I would recommend this to fans of other graphic memoir, especially fans of Ellen Forney.

This graphic novel was absolutely lovely. I cannot speak on the rep but I would definitely recommend it to my students.

I received an ARC through NetGalley from Scribner. Graphic novel memoirs are my favorite and this one did not disappoint. This journey of self-discovery was an engaging read that drew you into the time period as the author ages and tells their story. The pencil illustrations were so engaging, loved them! There is a lot of heart on these pages and no personal story is easy to represent and tell.

Eleanor Crewes’s The Times I Knew I Was Gay explores her coming of age and realization that she is gay. I enjoyed Crewe’s simple illustration style and found that she had several techniques to make her points more vivid. However, the book covered many years of Eleanor’s life and I found that some plot lines were introduced without being finished or simply glossed over before moving on. I do think that the more coming out stories available to young people the better. So, although this is not a perfect story, it’s still worth reading and sharing.