Warm intimate a search for human connection.Beautiful drawn art panels.Will McPhail has written a moving open graphic novel.#netgalley #hmh

The illustrations were really nice and my favourite part of this graphic novel. There is humour, loneliness, and a journey of self discovery. The changing colours/tones of the images were a powerful way to display the emotions throughout the book, which was interesting and nice to see.

Lovely, heart warming/breaking. The illustrations are very descriptive, and evoke emotion, and leaves the reader with and emotional impact. Would recommend, and would read again.

I loved the artwork, it is absolutely beautiful. The story of Nick however, is self-indulgent and boring. Just when I thought he might finally be growing up, he disappears from the story. Not sure what to make of that. Admire the art, skip the story.

I liked the subject of the book, but I was uncomfortable with some of it. The main character's inner monologue was relatable and funny. I just wouldn't really recommend it because of the cultural disparity.

Great publication with crisp, sensuous sketches and coherent visual exposition. Memorable exposition on human connections and wayfaring amid the contemporary.

This graphic novel is the embodiment of the word 'sonder'; the realisation you come to that everyone around you has an inner life just as rich and vivid as your own. My favourite sections were easily when the characters admitted some deep truth and whoever they spoke to was thrown into a brightly coloured representation of inner life. I thought it was a very clever concept.

The story, I don't think is anything groundbreaking, but the likeable characters carried it well enough.

Fuck me. This book fucked me up.
...
This book actually left me speechless after finishing it. It's a much heavier book, subject wise, than I thought I was getting in to but it is so well done. This book will make you question why you do the small talk dance. It will make you question why your life always runs parallel to other people's lives, never intersecting. It will make you wonder what hidden worlds people have inside that you've missed all this time because you weren't asking the right questions. It will make you want to hug your loved ones.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC of this graphic novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Summary: "In" follows Nick as he navigates a life that severely lacks feeling, as he tries to make connections with others, find meaningful relationships, and come to terms with his mother's illness.

I have had this graphic novel on my TBR list since January, so I was beyond excited to get an advance review copy, and I was absolutely not let down. McPhail has a dry, witty sense of humor, and does an excellent job of shifting from that humor to the story's more serious tone in the second half.

What worked so well for me was the use of color; when Nick would make connections with others or when true moments of self-reflection would occur, the normally black-and-white color scheme would change to full-color, which was a great choice visually and as punctuation to those moments of import for Nick.
I think my favorite part of this novel was Nick's internal monologue; it was incredibly relatable (the process of connecting with another human being using only your words is the most simple yet complex thing in the world) and got me to chuckle out loud - a hard feat for a book to make me do.

Overall, this is a graphic novel that does tone right; it's funny when it needs to be, awkward as humanity so often is, and tragic without being in-your-face - just with enough heartache to feel very, very real.

4.5/5

4.5, rounded down.

I read very few graphic novels (one or two a year, at most), but this is a very strong debut and a very good use of the medium. I loved the droll humor (until things turn rather dark and tragic), and the color palette on the non-b&w panels is amazing. The autobiographical protagonist, Nick, is extremely relatable, and the situation of feeling isolated and disconnected will resonate with almost everyone after 15 months of pandemic quarantine.

Reading this on a Kindle, however, proved a mire problematic, as the panels and print were rather small and hard to read... a print copy would probably be preferable and solve that problem.

My sincere thanks to Netgalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. and the author for the ARC in exchange for this honest and enthusiastic review. I certainly look forward to whatever else McPhail publishes in the future.

A creative and very intimate graphic novel, In successfully utilizes the tools that graphic novel can offer to a reader. Through its combination of black and white pictures, with deeply colored and artistic images intermingled throughout.

In tell the story of Nick, an illustrator attempting to break out of his comfort zone to make connections with people. Throughout the story, much of the background reflects Nicks internal thoughts, such as overly-positive coffee shop names that become dreary with mood, or moments of connection with others that have vivid coloristic symbolism to them.

Full of insanely sincere conversations and hilarious details, I plowed through In in one easy setting. So much worked so well, but in Nick's search to make connections with the other characters I at times felt a disconnect as well. Aside from three characters, most others were extremely forgettable. Maybe this was an intentional choice, but then it made me wish this was a little longer to watch Nicks growth with other characters slightly more.

Thought this was a very interesting graphic novel. It was very relatable, touching on the topic of the human need for connection to others. Loved the switch between black/white and full color to further emphasize that point. Thought it was a nice short read wasn't a favorite for me but I can easily see others really liking it.

In: A Graphic Novel by Will McPhail is a good read which you can get through in one sitting. It explores the life of a 20-something illustrator, Nick. He goes through a performative life rather than having built deeper connections with the people around him and it all feels relatable at some level.

Nick is an observer and the illustrations beautifully depict his hesitation and thought process while trying to make meaningful human connections. McPhail does a brilliant job in depicting that side of Nick and some may even relate to it.

The experience of reading and watching Nick grow and learn through trying is inspiring. I wouldn't read it again, but I would recommend it to anyone who needs to get out of a slump.

Okay, this was brilliant.
This book felt so raw and genuine while also being universal in a modern way… There were just so many different aspects that I liked about this little graphic novel, I wish I could have read it in the physical form instead of the ebook version.

However, even though I loved the story, I wasn’t really a big fan of the art style. Not in general actually, but mostly with how people were drawn. Okay, okay, just gonna say it; the faces of the people creeped me out a lot. Even when they were just there, not reacting specifically, their eyes looked weird and it was unsettling. Once I got kinda used to it though, the rest was quite nice. I especially loved the way colours were used and what they signified. It wasn’t anything groundbreakingly original but damn was it done masterfully.

My favourite part was the epilogue: a little “memory” sequence before the actual story begins. After reading that I realised I was gonna like this book. It really did encapsulate a specific feeling that I (and a lot of other people) carry around in our lives all the time.
Another part that I loved was the running gag of the coffee shop names and descriptions :D
There were 2 specific pages where I had to just stop and process it all. I don’t want to say which pages because I wouldn’t want to spoil things for other readers.

But to sum up, this was a brilliantly done graphic novel and I would recommend it to all the life-sick millennials of our day.

4,5 eye opening stars
We start out meeting Nick when he is a child and he is at the water park with his friends. Then flash forward to present day when he is an adult. We read from nicks pow and we read his thoughts and what he is saying as well.

It’s a story about how we as people sometimes feel when we have to talk to strangers.
And when Nick opens up and tell people about how he feels, he finds out that he is not the only one who feels like that sometimes.
When he starts opening up and talk to other people about “how they are” he starts seeing the world in a whole new way.

TW: loss of a loved one, talk about cancer

The story of a young guy trying to figure out how to drop the banter and connect to other people for real. Starts slow but the appearance of painterly full-color panels suggests the emotion that gradually builds as the story gains momentum. Develops in a surprising way, the cumulative effect visually powerful and quite moving. A truly unique comic.

I'm struggling to think of the words to sum up my thoughts on this graphic novel. I want to say it was a fun read because I was basically grinning and laughing to myself throughout most of the book. But that might give the impression that this is a light-hearted, fluffy graphic novel, which it definitely isn't. The author so perfectly captures the untethered feeling of young adulthood, where you sometimes feel like you're going through the motions and everybody else has things together but you don't. The art plus the main character, Nick's, inner monologue really encapsulated the familiar melancholy that seeps in when you feel you're not quite living authentically, and Nick's dissection of his social interactions and sense of detachment when making meaningless small talk felt so relatable. I loved how the author uses the art to capture and reflect these really complex feelings, not only through the way that the various scenes are drawn and the little details but also through the addition of the little coloured interludes that break up the otherwise black and white illustrations whenever Nick makes a meaningful connection. This is definitely a book I'll be thinking about for a while and coming back to, and I'd really recommend it as a quick, fairly easy read that's funny yet covers themes that feel really relatable to the young adult experience.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Really a wonderful and introspective graphic novel about finding human connection. I think it's quite a timely story about reaching out and understanding people. The characters resonated me in a way that I can't quite put into words. I loved the way Will McPhail had drawn out the story and used the contrast of color and b&w drawings to illustrate his message. Wonderful story, and highly recommend. This is a graphic novel young adults and older should have on their shelves.

overall a nice book. though i think i am too far removed from this context to understand how realistic it is. because if this is what people are like in certain cities, then it is pretty concerning. would say will does better in quick jokes than he does in a longer piece, maybe because he's had more practice. have to admit that i didn't fully understand the colour sequences - but how much of i did was nice. i did find the main character annoying and unlikable tho - he lacked a certain depth.

a few notes:
the quality of the images was low on my copy, which brought me out of the experience.
the bowl can be explored more - the way it is addressed is slightly underwhelming. - also it is mentioned that it is called the bowl in his 'culture', which threw me off - what culture? and if it is called the bowl - it just is called that - this qualification did not make sense to me.
also there was a type in line 'just give us your money at this point' - you instead of your.

If you have ever said something unexpectedly awkward or struggle with the right thing to say to people on various occasions, then you might appreciate In, written by a leading New Yorker cartoonist, Will McPhail.

In by Will McPhail is a semi-autobiographical work that looks at the subject of human interaction in relation to emotions. This is a book that examines the social rituals of communication, how some people take to it like ducks take to water, and how some of us struggle to connect with people emotionally.

THINGS I LOVE
The honesty on the pages is refreshing and makes it easy for the reader to identify with the characters in the book. The art of also unique - the pencil work is sublime and compliments the subject of the book.

DISLIKES
The eyes on the characters look a bit creepy at times. That particular aesthetic limits the range of expression portrayed by the characters.


Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for review copy.