A graphic novel/memoir documenting a man's experience with heart surgery. The author is a graphic artist & had kept a journal of his journey from the pre surgery to the recovery phase. He accurately captures the fears, pains, people, time frame, thoughts, physical & mental aspects. Anyone having had surgery themselves, or accompanied someone going thru a heart surgery will find something to relate to, & sympathize/empathize with, here! His artwork is very telling too!
I received this ebook from Europe Comics via NetGalley, in return for reading it & offering my own fair & honest review.

thought this was deeply moving and brilliant. The author's memoir tells us about his open heart surgery. Born with a heart murmur, the author doesn't fully realise what he went through as a small baby. He was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a rare combination of four heart defects that in 1973 made him one of the youngest children ever to undergo open-heart surgery.

The author survives his childhood heart problems and has creative ways of explaining his scars. Life goes on. He has his wife, parents, in laws, brother and his children. Life is good until it isn't and the author realises he needs to have open heart surgery and so his journey begins.

We are told about this journey through the notes that both he and his wife kept. There are tests, hospital rooms, exercises, inactivity, and the boredom that comes with stays in hospital. Eventually after progress, setback, progress the author leaves hospital and it has been a journey!

The artwork is good, managing to convey the frustrations and the fears of the author and those around him. The cartoon drawings have a humorous aspect to them which helps tell the story in a light way even though the subject matter is traumatic and painful. This is a very meaningful graphic novel and told in such a powerful way. Well worth reading.

Copy provided by Europe Comics in exchange for an unbiased review.

Open-Hearted is a detailed account of one man’s struggle through his open-heart surgery and recovery. There is a lot of medical jargon to read through, but it adds to the reality that he was living. Thankfully my mother is a nurse so I grew up fascinated by health things and I have a good medical knowledge base that helped as I was reading.

Recommended for: graphic memoir readers

Content warning: animated surgical scenes & nudity

I received a digital ARC of this from NetGalley in exchange an honest review.

The art in this book is fantastic. Keramidas is an animator and it really shows how energetic and expressive the images are. The art composition, the colors and the language work really well together and make the emotions of his experiences really stick out. More than once I found myself laughing out loud or tense with worry about what would happen.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this eArc!

I am usually not one for realistic/memoir type books but while reading the description of this story it intrigued me!
I love graphic novels so that is one reason I picked this up. I enjoyed the look of the graphics/drawings. They were fun and fit the story well.
My favorite part of this book is that while it was about a serious subject the author was able to make it funny and not a hard read!
If you like non-fiction books and graphic novels this is definitely one you should pick up!

Also posted on goodreads!

Alright so I am just going to be honest. I did not like this comic at all. I was born with several extremely rare heart conditions and I thought a book that followed someone's journey though their open heart surgery would be something I could relate to. Sadly I was very wrong.
A few of the things he said rang true but very few. His description of the pain of having chest tunes removed is sadly the most accurate part of the book. I am aware everyone experiences things differently but this to me at least felt a bit over dramatic.
The way he almost makes the hospital sound like a prison really bothered me. There is no time taken to thank the doctors and nurses. All he does is complain and that is what really bothered me. Yes. being in a hospital isn't fun I get that and when you are in pain and recovering it is so much worse but at least acknowledged the people there who were helping you.
Overall this book just felt like a pitty party. Maybe I don't see the hospital as such a big deal because I have had over 25 open heart surgeries in my life time. Maybe I am just not someone who focuses that much on the negative when people are trying to save my life. I don't know exactly what it was but this really rubbed me the wrong way. I'm sorry if you read and enjoyed this but it was not for me. I will not be recommending this one.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early review copy.

A graphic novel memoir of someone who needed what sounds like major heart surgery in his forties – having already had a slice made into him as a toddler due to a combination of four problems in his early days. The visual language, style and light-hearted readability of this are top notch (also this reads much more quickly than the page count might have you thinking) but would anyone want to keep this for a re-read? Not likely, unless you know the creator, and/or a couple dozen people who might have the exact same circumstances.

This was a really interesting read; I don't think I've ever read any book on the process of diagnosis, operation, and recovery for heart issues. It was quite informative of the human aspect of such ordeals. I liked the art style and enjoyed the fact that Keramidas drew fantasy sequences instead of just trying to keep the visuals as tied to reality as possible.

The novel's storytelling was linear so the events didn't get confusing. The font for speech bubbles and text boxes was readable but some of the background text was hard to read or in a font that made words like office look like offioe. There are a couple sections where the author describes the medical procedures he underwent but basically just copies the report into this novel. After reading one or two speech bubbles I would just skip the rest of the report reading as I couldn't get anything out of it. It would have benefited with some attempt to explain what happened during the operations in layman's terms.

Overall it's a very interesting novel and if the concept interests you, I would definitely pick it up.

What an enjoyable read from start to finish. It was a pleasure reading about the journey of Nicolas and his battles with a heart condition. The graphics and colours were beautiful and helped in telling a wonderful story. I couldn't imagine going through something like this so I was glad to read a story like this and am glad he decided to take notes while it was happening in 2016. I like the way it ended, kind of saying to seize the day everyday. 5/5 stars

Keramidas is an amazing artist and I loved visual part of this book so much. The fact that he was a Disney Studious illustrator really shows and the art is pretty... cartoon-like. I loved it, truly, but some of these child-like drawings of adult people reeeeeeealy freaked me out!

This honest story about a heart surgery and recovering from it was touching, no denying it, but it didn't really speak to me all that much.

By far, one of the best graphic novels I've ever read!

in 1973, Nicolas Kéramidas became one of the first infants ever to have successfully undergone an open heart surgery. But about forty years later, he needs the same surgery again. This graphic novel describes his mental and physical journey through this second ordeal.

Kéramidas narrates a journey of pain with great dashes of humour. Considering the ordeal of surgery, recovery and rehabilitation, I'm really amazed at how the author was able to pen this down. It must have been a cathartic process to relive those memories. I found it impossible to keep this book aside midway. It sucks you in with its traumatic storyline. The hopeful end also sends a message to all of us not to take life for granted and to live it to the fullest whilst we can.

Kéramidas worked for Disney Studios as an animator and that shows in his illustrations. Every emotion comes out so powerfully in the panels without going over the top. The graphics are absolutely stunning in their imagery and add wonderfully to the narrative..

"Enjoy" would be an incorrect word to use for such a book, but I definitely relished living through Kéramidas' journey. I'd recommend this book to everyone.

Thank you NetGalley and Europe Comics for this ARC.

Keramidas uses his particular drawing style (which given his background as a Disney animator is not unlike something from a 1970s Mickey Mouse cartoon) to tell a story with lots of humor and also lots of pain. These elements actually balance rather well, producing something very entertaining and moving.