Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC copy of 'In'.

I often see Will McPhail's cartoons in the New Yorker and it was interesting to see his work in long-form. I thought he did a great job of capturing super specific facial expressions in his characters throughout the book. A short relaxing read about feeling jaded from city life and not being able to have meaningful conversations with strangers and family alike. But besides the funny café names, it was also kind of dull. The b/w to color transitions for the ‘in’ moments felt a little too grand for how basic the realizations were. I think it was an ordinary story that a lot of people could relate to, but in the end there wasn't much that was memorable.

A young man looking for meaning in life beyond the superficial. He wants to know how to be a part of the In always feeling like he is part of the Out. How that is possible I do not know because, if you are Out, most other people that are part of the Out do not announce they are part of the Out, so you tend to be a part of the Out on your own. Did you understand that? Okay, good.

He begins this adventure by having an impromptu conversation with a plumber. A deeply flinching conversation with said plumber. Surprise, Surprise. The plumber responds. Conversation had. On to the next. And so it goes.

He continues to attempt these conversations. Some people respond honestly without reaction and others refuse and shut him down immediately. Along the way, he meets a woman at bar and begin an off hand relationship with very little intimacy (my definition of intimacy and yours may be different).

She opens his eyes to the truth of this journey he started. He had revolved his inquisitiveness around himself and how he fits. Nothing about how those around him fit. Unfortunately, through a devastating loss, he sees exactly how much he is missing and that it is not necessarily about the In and Out, but about the all.

The artwork is beautiful. The transition from black and white to color when he, or any other character in this work, come to an 'AHA" moment is perfect. I was able to fathom the depth of understanding or struggle the characters were dealing with at that moment. I enjoyed the plot of the story. I actually feel like the main character and had woken up to find what I was looking for was not what I thought it should be. I really liked this.
Very much.

Thanks to NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Will McPhail for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Hard to write down my thoughts on this one. I liked some of it, but some of it also wasn't my cup of tea. Or maybe I didn't read it at the right time? I enjoyed the illustrations though, very eye-pleasing.

Many thanks to NetGalley for sending me this graphic novel to review.

The title “IN” is revealing. The very cover/first page of the book is a picture of Nick, probably inside a room, looking “out” of a window. And this is significant because this image is often repeated: there are some illustrations of an isolated Nick, brushing his teeth, against the urban landscape of an elevated motorway which we can see through the window.
Nick is a lonely young man living in a busy metropolis. He spends his time alone in his room listening to Joni Mitchell, visiting a series of bars and coffee shops and sketching people “out of doors.” His being an artist enforces his sense of alienation as he is forever looking at people from the “outside” and capturing their external image, not personally engaged with them on a personal level. He sits alone on the bench of a subway station or isolated in a subway train looking at a couple hugging.

Will McPhail effectively communicates his inability to communicate through word and image. At the very beginning of the novel, Nick is happiest to be alone on the waterslide in a water park. The moment other kids join him he loses his sense of enjoyment. We see Nick’s loneliness in his desperate attempt to make conversation with a plumber who has come to repair a leak in his washroom. He offers him coffee and does his utmost to prolong the encounter. Even with his neighbor to whom he has to give a parcel, we see his thoughts—longing to make conversation with her—and the resultant inability to articulate his needs. He meets his mother occasionally but for the major part of the novel, he has little communication with her as they paint walls independently. When he makes a surprise call to his sister, she is flabbergasted as, in all these years, he has never called her up for a chat.
He has not seen his nephew for a long time. Yet, when he makes an effort to take care of him, they bond very well. His isolation is redeemed by his meeting with Wren, an oncologist. The initial sexual escapade is brilliantly conveyed not in words but through a series of discarded garments. In fact, McPhail’s artistic skills are to be admired. Often there is very little text, but a series of images which are more effective than any words. McPhail also cleverly uses black and white images and colored ones to make the novel a delight to read.

I enjoyed this graphic novel mainly because the art was so eye pleasing, but also the plot was interesting.

This graphic novel follows Will as he tries to get himself to have more meaningful interactions with people. Readers get to see his inner monologues and also, the various relationships in his life. Unfortunately, this graphic novel was missing something. It skimmed the surface of issues that could have been explored on a deeper level. I could feel the author having much to say but holding back. I really wanted to like this novel but it was missing a certain depth that made me feel distant to the main character and the story overall.

I was given this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Will McPhail’s IN is a poignant portrayal of nostalgia and belongingness in the lives of modern souls lost in urban landscapes. As we follow Nick’s search for a sense of identity through thorough explorations of soul-sucking alt coffee shops and fake personas he imagines for himself in deliberately sad bars, it is easy to grow fond of the way he practices his own existence; wanting to be perceived as a sad man, as a sorrowful existential artist or as one of the regulars and having a natural curiosity as to how others regard him.

Art styles and witty writing are combined skilfully to bring out the intuitive humour and emotional narration in the storytelling of IN, whose ultimate motive is the need for communication and raw connection with humans through the understanding of oneself and the ability to open up and find others who are willing to do the same in return.

Highly recommended!

Not what I was expecting, but there was a lot to love in this graphic novel. The story is fun and the art is clean and simple.

A beautiful touching graphic novel about the power of human connection. The central character, is an illustrator, seemingly going through the motions of life, but not the emotions. His view from the edge of life looking in, is a swirl of hipster cliches - coffee shops, vinyl records, beards... As he plods from day to day, he feels something is missing and starts to make changes to his interactions with others and subsequently starts to experience life in different ways.
Beautifully paced, with clever uses of monochromatic vs colour images, this is a tale from the heart - and reading it from the isolation of quarantine was an emotionally amplified experience.

This graphic novel is awkward, witty, relatable, and pokes fun at the daily things that we have come to become accustomed to but are quite strange when you really start to analyze it.

Nick is a normal guy who is looking to make connections with other people, but his attempts backfire constantly. It's fascinating to see the portrayal of his thoughts vs spoken words and the self-editing we do in order to seem normal and non-confrontational.

"Just making the noises that will navigate us both out of the conversation unscathed."

His use of color to depict when people were being vulnerable and honest was beautifully done. The story delves into very difficult topics that many people find hard to talk about. Very personal and poignant.

7.75 out of 10 stars
Relatable light read. I wish it had more impact though..

Keywords: comic/ graphic novel, contemporary, social interactions, family

REVIEW
In is a book about what its mean to be humans and connections. It's about family, life, and communications. The story follows Nick, an illustrator who struggled finding meaningful social interactions. He felt that there was something he could not grasp about connecting with other human beings. We see his trials and errors as he striving to put meaning to it all.

It's a graphic novel with simplistic artstyle and occasional detailed sceneries. The flow is moderately ok, although there was very little dialogue and more emphasis on characters' expressions. The tones is a bit bleak and it fits with the comic's aesthetic. There are some jokes but perhaps it's not for me because I didn't really grasp it. The story is quite nice and relatable. I am sure a lot of people can find themself in Nick, especially in this era of technological advance that push us more and more into disconnected individuals. Alas I think the book still lacking some impact. Still a nice quick read though.

CONCLUSION
Recommended to those who want a quick read about connections and social interactions.

This was...oddly relatable. I mean, not all of it. This is clearly a personal story. But the feeling of wanting to connect to people, but not sure how to do it, overthinking it in your head, having words tumble out of your mouth that are NOT in the same order they were intended, and regretting everything about that interaction...I get it. This felt very real and very comfortable, in a way, particularly after this really weird year where it took six months to realise social distancing actually meant physical distancing, and that connection to people can be found through a multitude of ways - not just by meeting them in person. (This book is not about the pandemic, but the pandemic made it more relatable, in a way). I'm not familiar with Will McPhail's work at the New Yorker, but I did really like his style of art. I especially liked the way he used colour while exploring the main character's inner thoughts and feelings. I really enjoyed this, far more than I was really expecting to. Because the truth is, I didn't know what to expect. But I'm already looking forward to reading this again, and again, and continue to feel less alone in the world, oddly enough.

An interesting graphic novel about self-knowledge, our emotions and the way of being that only we can understand.

I recently read "In" by Will McPhail, a graphic novel about a 20-something going through day-to-day life experiences and his relationships with various people. The illustrations are what kept me reading, the story was just meh for me. If you enjoy graphic novels though, be sure to read this one.

I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for sharing Advanced Reader Copies with educators.

There are things that I loved about In: A Graphic Novel.

I think the illustration/design is stunning. I love the contrast of the simple cartoon panels with the elaborate dream-state color pages.
I think the wry commentary on coffee shops is spot-on.
I enjoy the warmth of this new woman in the narrator's life who jolts him into feeling something.

I think the story is unsettling. A detached, lost, ill-equipped guy fumbles through trying to genuinely connect and grow, but just seems completely out of shape for the task at hand. Then life smacks him with moments of reckoning and growth that are so... heartbreaking.

This one will stay with me. I don't know if stays with me for the reasons the author intended. Does it matter?
Beautiful and haunting for me.

I have really been vibing with graphic novel memoirs lately. It's such a great medium for telling an individual's experience. Mostly these are semi-autobiographical and the little details that you just know have to be true really make the stories feel so real.

I really like Will McPhail's art style. He uses it so well to add color in only select areas. The storytelling in this book is done so well. The internal dialogue compared to what the protagonist actually says gave me many chuckles. The way he depicts conversations is excellent.

Nick is a Millennial going through the motions. This is a story about wanting to connect to others and figuring out how to do that. I think it's super relatable.

I give this book a 5/5. Wonderful storytelling. The methods used are simple, but so effective. I will be recommending this book to fellow Millennials. Empathy and vulnerability is at the heart of this book.

The cover on this was fun and drew me in, but that ended up being the only thing I liked. In fact after a few pages I started skipping pages to find something to enjoy and I didn't like the artwork or any of the stories. The characters were boring or mean and did not hold my interest.

I loved this graphic novel. I couldn't put it down and I read it in one sitting.

'In' is about Nick, a 20-something guy who wants to connect to people, who wants to feel something, who wants to relate. In the novel Nick's relationships with his mother, his sister, his nephew and with his friend Wren are portrayed beautifully. The illustrations and dialogues made the characters come to life.

'In' is a wonderful story about connecting, detachment, loss and growth.

This is one of those books that make you pause and think.........whoa. The author/illustrator uses color to represent the inner, deeper lives that we can only reach when true human connection occurs. It certainly left me thinking about the connections I have in my life and if they could be richer. Note: sex scenes make this unsuitable for high school library.

"In" is a comic that follows a main character who is completely detached from life and his surroundings. The comic shows the MC's desire to connect to people or to feel genuine emotion by acting the way he thinks he ought to act. We see a young man walking through life, trying -and failing- to be all the things he thinks he should be, and that only makes his disconnect from others greater. This fosters a general sense of melancholy throughout the comic, however, the book maintains a witty tone and a humorous portrayal despite the sad subject.

I found this comic really clever in how it delivered and paced the story. I have the highest appreciation for the author's ability to portray both strong emotions and plot through art and colors without any dialogue. I can't speak too much on the storyline without spoiling it, but I'll say that one panel hit me really hard, and I wasn't at all expecting that from this book. The visual storytelling in it is stunning, and I know that this might sound redundant in a review of a graphic novel, but not all graphic novels have the ability to communicate this much of the storyline through a few panels.

Overall a really creative and clever story that packs quite the emotional punch towards the end. Really enjoyed reading this!