I read this after requesting an advanced copy on Netgalley.

I love memoirs in graphic novel form, especially when the author is also the illustrator. This was an excellent read about a young person trying to find their place in the US American world as a transracial adoptee. Myer illustrates the ways in which they were bullied for being Asian-American and Queer while growing up in a small town and how they learned to embrace their uniqueness and talents. It also is about how young people internalize their fear, anger, and shame over things in their life outside their control. For Myer, this was knowing she was born in Korea but never knowing from whom she came from or why she was given up for adoption. As someone who has no lived experience as an adoptee, this really helped me to understand the kind of thoughts and feelings one has due to not knowing their origin story. The art in the book is also really well done. I highly recommend people of all ages check this memoir out.

I’ve read a lot about hybrid identities and borders at uni recently. Therefore, I felt especially drawn to this graphic novel. Not only spoke the premise of a transracial adoption story to me. I was inclined to find out about the monster affecting the main character. I was surprised to find this book to not only discuss questions of race and ethnicity and their perception in our society. It includes way more identity-shaping layers.

Sarah as an autobiographic main character immediately grew close to the reader. That is, no matter if one identifies with a certain ethnicity, sexual orientation or fandom. The artist behind this story did not solely present them sympathetic. Nonetheless, one can clearly understand their growing anger and their eventual outbursts. I vividly felt their love for certain ideas and cultural artifacts although I have never known any too big interest in animes or comics. But I definitely fell for this artist’s way of making us familiar with Sarah’s reality and fantasy.


We accompany Sarah for many year, all throughout their childhood and adolescence.

Therefore, we could see them develop in a lot of ways as they find their love and passion for people, ideas, and practices. I enjoyed this coming-of-age story a lot, every up and down of it. It felt somewhat repetitive to have Sarah feel welcomed and abandoned by their peers several times. Nevertheless, this cyclical process illustrated the confusion they must have felt as a child. Hope and despair alternately shaped their early experiences and made this story an emotional ride for us. Its final resolution is as much of an internal nature as it is realistic and inspiring. I certainly felt my eyes tearing up for this brave outlook.


In conclusion

A colorful and contrastingly illustrated story about finding one’s own identity. Of finding yourself when people try to categorize you by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and the things you love and enjoy. Sarah Myer’s autobiographical graphic novel covers a variety of issues that surely allows everyone to identify with their torn, challenged younger self one way or another. I certainly cried and loved with Sarah – on their and my own behalf.

Incredibly powerful graphic memoir with stunning artwork. While Sarah’s experience heavily deals with her race and the racism she experienced, anyone who has felt like they don’t fit in can benefit from her story.

I loved this memoir, though parts of it were heartbreaking to read. No one should be treated the way the author was. The descriptions of early childhood and particularly the difficulty of telling the difference between anxiety and having a wild imagination made so much sense to me. I think back in the 80s and 90s in particular, we didn’t talk about fear and worry in terms of mental health. It was viewed more as personal quirkiness maybe? I definitely grew up thinking that a lot of my own struggles with anxiety were simply my overactive imagination. So reading about Sarah’s experience with that was both sad and very validating.

I think what’s truly brilliant about this book is the way that Myer uses concrete visual storytelling to tell the story of a really abstract idea. Because ultimately what the book is about is the journey Sarah takes to learn self-love and peace. I love that art is such a huge part of that story– the fact that the artist is telling their own story through art adds a whole extra layer to the message, too. Because not only has Sarah learned self-love through art, they’ve also found a way to use art to share their story and welcome others into an exploration of self-love, too.

I also love the relationships in the book and the way that each character in Sarah’s family isn’t perfect, but it’s clear that there’s love between them.

This is a great book for anyone struggling with anger, anxiety, or bullying.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

This was an incredibly illustrated and well told story. Following Sarah on her journey was moving and thought provoking. This title will definitely spark lots of conversations regarding identity and belonging.

This was a difficult book to read because there was so much pain in it. But the art was vivid, evocative, and colorful, and the story was a very important one. I knew very little about what it would be like to be adopted, let alone adopted outside of one's country of origin. I am glad that this book exists, as a story, and also as a lens into a completely different life from one I will ever know. Unflinching and deeply self-reflective. I'm glad that the author is here to tell about it.

It's going to take me a while to fully process this, but this was fantastic. Writing reviews for biographies is a difficult thing no matter what, and with something that has this much power behind it I don't think I can effectively be that person, but I would heavily recommend this one to anyone who wants a story with heart. The writing and art here are phenomenal, down to the way that colour and lineart is used to portray moments of change. This is beautiful, and I can't speak more highly about it.

This is the memoir of a Korean-American girl born in South Korea and adopted at birth by a white couple, who struggled greatly as a child due to racist bullying, identity crisis, and mental health issues in a rural community. Aside from that, she did not fit accepted gender stereotypes. Although Sarah seeks solace in the magical worlds of drawing, anime, and manga, others use them to exclude and bully her.

I wasn't particularly taken with the artist's drawings. My favorite part of the book was the author's personal story and how she conveyed it. What the artist went through was harrowing, but she articulately analyzed everything. I believe this book will benefit a large number of people. When I was younger, I had somewhat similar issues, though not as severe as Sarah's. I was also obsessed with Sailor Moon. I would have appreciated reading similar stories and possibly having the courage to ask for help.

I was pleased to see at the end of the book that the author provided information about online communities where people experiencing similar difficulties could seek assistance. It's a very thoughtful gesture.

Many thanks to NetGalley and First Second Books, First Second for providing ARC of this graphic novel for reviewers.

This book is worth more than 5 stars.
Is noted that was something experienced and felt. More than noticing, you feel it.
The book shows the life of the character since she was a little girl, and everything she goes through until she becomes an adult. We see her dealing with emotions and feelings and all kinds of situations.
The pain, envy, not belonging, fear, are emotions that end up turning into the character's actions so that she can handle everything, and shows how certain emotions grow inside us to our limit. I think the way the character, over the years, deals with the things that happen to her at the moment is very realistic.
And then we have the author's voice throughout the book with a grown-up perspective talking about things she's been through, and I found that aspect stunning. Show the reflection she went through. It leave me speechless.
I had to take a break from the book at times, because we all suffer and make others suffer. And the whole book was real. And it brought back memories of my past.
Making fun of our clothes and interests, being different, preferring to be mistreated to being alone. Or mistreating others to belong to something.
All this was felt by me throughout the book. It's hard to confront what we've suffered and what we've done to others. But more than that, it was wonderful and it touched me and made me see certain things.
Through the illustrations, the construction of the comic panels very well thought out, the colors that transform what you see and the way the story is told, I think this book is a book that must be read, because it will- make us feel and relive a little, if not a lot, of our life.
I think it is a very important book. Surprisingly wonderful.

A huge thanks for the ARC of the book to
the author @smyercomics
the publisher @01firstsecond
and to @netgalley
Thank you so much.

“It is extremely dehumanizing to hear other people tell you what they believe you are, repeatedly.” And, if you begin to hear it enough, you may come to believe it is true. The illusory truth effect. Wow. Wow. Wow. This stunning, captivating, YA graphic memoir is by South Korean adoptee, Sarah Myer, illustrating her childhood in rural Maryland. Despite the racism, homophobia, forever feeling the other, and attempts to squash her spirit, Sarah learns how to be unapologetically herself as an avid anime & cosplay fan, being queer, and an adoptee. While reading, I resonated deeply with Sarah’s experiences and sat in the heavy moments while cheering her on in the brighter ones. This one comes out on Tuesday and is a must read!

A quick, hard-hitting memoir of what it was like for Sarah growing up in a predominately white town as a queer, adopted, Korean-American child in the 90s-00s. They go very heavily into the racism they experienced, the mockery of being an adoptee, and the struggle it was finding a place of acceptance in their school. Being seen as different as a child is never easy. I in particular related to the awkward experience that was still loving "childish things" as my classmates and friends grew older: I too was obsessed with sonic and other cartoons and anime while my friends moved on to BET, MTV, Degrassi, etc.

Parts of this memoir are brutal. Sarah very much suffered under the language and mindset of the times: lots of racist and homophobic slurs and severe bullying. They also internalized a lot of the hatred they received, while also struggling with the fact that they were adopted in the first place and how it impacted them deep down. Much of this manifested in violent explosions, anxiety, and depression, because so few people understood them, or were willing to understand, and they didn't have the language or means to properly express their built up hurt and rage. Children can be nasty, but the failure of adults is also very sinister. Sarah doesn't hide how difficult it was for them, so be mindful if these are things that can trigger you.

I'm glad that Sarah was able to push through while never letting go of their passion. There is a lot of hurt in this, but also a hard won strength and ability to overcome. Thanks First Second Books for my early copy!

Thank you to First Second Books for sharing this book with me. I was drawn to this story because of the cover combined with the description-a transracial adoption story with a character who struggles to fit in and with identity? Sold. And this book did not disappoint. I felt so many feelings in this story and it is such an important one that everyone should read. Highly recommend.

I really did enjoy this comic, one can only imagine how hard it was to grow up in rural America, being originally from Korea, but adopted by an American couple, sometimes fitting in even if you look like all the other kids is hard, imagine being so rare to find other kids with similar backgrounds, this is a story that really made me sad and empathise with Sarah, I was also born in the 80’s and I also discovered sailormoon around the same time Sarah did, and it also did change my life, yeah in school I also connected with others because of the things that we all enjoyed in common.

I did enjoy the drawings, and did understand the dark inner self that came out in some situations, I think we all have a side like that one, and I must say, we can feel the love that Sarah has for her adoptive parents and also the love they have for her, I really recommend for everyone to grab this book and read it, anime, back in the 90’s was way different, I think people saw it in a different way as well if you read this book, you’ll understand how we used to love anime and relate to it.

Thank you NetGalley and First Second Books for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

Although I am Native American I can say I felt a singular connection with the experiences of the author as translated through this beautiful book about a adopted child with wonderfully supportive parents who raise her in a small minded backwards town where she is consistently subjected to racial slurs and bullying, even from well meaning adults who seem to misunderstand their offensive offhandedly remarks, her passionate love for mythological creatures, vibrant characters, and brilliant artwork is first spurred into life by an early age viewing of The Little Mermaid that triggers her to grow and cultivate her imagination and artwork as a way to cope with the cruelty of the world and other children in her school. I myself have used cartoon art as a similar coping mechanism for dealing with abuse in life and found it heartbreaking but also intriguing to find a similar soul who labeled themselves as an alien, an outsider and survived childhood mostly by escaping into a world of art. While the story is sad, often tear worthy and sometimes painful to witness, it is also vastly, significantly hopeful. I was relieved Sarah was able to find kindred spirits and see herself not as monstrous, but as the kind, talented, wonderful person she is. It gave me so much happiness to read her story and share her triumph when her artistic talents were finally recognized . This book is a tender gift of hope and inspiration to all those who walk a less common and misunderstood trail in life to find their way home to who they are and accept themselves. I especially loved the quiet talks with her father when he would reinforce her confidence that not only was she worthy of love and respect, that her bullies were lousy people not worypthy of her frustration.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
When I say that this is now one of my favorite graphic novels—and possibly one of my top books of 2023–I’d still be understating how much I loved it.

“Monstrous” is a graphic memoir that details Sarah Myer’s childhood up through high school. As the adopted Korean child of white parents, Sarah is frequently “othered” by the people outside of their family, both through microaggressions and blatant racism; multiple uses of racial slurs occur throughout the text. What they do have is a love—and noticeable talent—for art, which is first realized when they watched “The Little Mermaid” at a movie theater (a timely pop culture reference, with Halle Bailey’s recent portrayal being another example of the importance of representation).

There are many threads to Sarah’s story, but they intertwine as the narrative progresses; one of the themes from “Monstrous” is how moments from our childhood can become the foundation for how we see ourselves and the world, for better or worse. For Sarah, this allows their anxiety and loneliness to build into the monstrous other half who begins popping up later in the book. This monster becomes a vehicle for them to explore how their hostile environment, lack of community, and identity are affected by these early experiences.

While Sarah never shies away from depicting the way they’re treated by the predominantly white/straight/cisgender people around them, they also reflect on their own behavior as well. At multiple points, Sarah observes how their own behavior could be harmful to others (like when they try to demand all their parents’ attention away from their sister, or declare “I’m the best!” to their classmates). But this is always done through kind eyes; these moments are accompanied by an understanding of what was hurting their younger self, even if there’s a sense of regret toward the specific action.

If “Monstrous” isn’t already on your TBR list—this is your sign to add it, because it will be out on June 27! Huge thanks to @netgalley & @01firstsecond for this ARC in exchange for an honest review; I plan on picking up my own physical copy in a few weeks ✨

Growing up in a rural community wasn't easy for Sarah. Born in South Korea and adopted by white parents, she's never really felt like she fit in. She wasn't quiet like her sister, and she was desperate to get her classmates to like her. Thus, she turns to art, the only thing that seems to make her fellow peers like her.

Art and cartoons and anime are a theme as Sarah grows up, always going back to those things to find her safe place. As she moves to high school, the bullies get bolder and bolder, the darkness threatens to take over. But it's art and anime that also help her find her people in high school. And show her that maybe, she's not so much of an outcast after all.

Thanks to First Second and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Monstrous by Sarah Myer to review! Graphic Novel memoirs seem to be the trend this summer, becuase I think this is the third or fourth I've read in the last few weeks. And I think they're great! Myer's book might be about adoption, but there are so many elements in this book that teens will also be able to relate to.

One of my favorite things about this book is seeing how Myer's relationship with their dad stayed strong throughout. In fact, their dad even gets into anime, going to conventions with them and everything. It's so sweet! Especially when Sarah is ostracized for her love of cartoons and anime in the book. Little did they know anime would become so popular now in 2023!

The art in this book is also outstanding. Using the monster theme, Myer shows how those negative emotions crept up on them throughout their childhood. Due to the fact that so many people were just so awful to them. There is a lot of homophobia and racism in this book, so just be warned if that's something that's triggering to you.

All in all, this is a powerful book about finding your safe place and finally getting the chance to just be yourself.

<i>Special thanks to FierceReads and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.</i>

I don’t rate memoirs. To me, there is something deeply uncomfortable about assigning a numerical value to a book that someone wrote about themself, their life, their experiences. Who am I to judge what they went through or how they chose to portray it? Sure I could get nitpicky on sentence structure and writing craft or in this case illustration, but a book is more than that, so I simply give memoirs no rating at all.
I think this was an impactful, important book. I think it’s going to mean so much to so many people, and I am so glad that it exists. I’m glad I read it, though it made me feel ill to read about some of the things that the author experienced.
I was a little uncomfortable with how many slurs were used, repeatedly. I understand that this is a memoir, set in the 90s, and these things were really said to the author, but I’m not sure how I feel about them repeating them directly, even if it was condemned in text. Many of these slurs were not this author’s to reclaim. The use of slurs is complicated, and I understand the point that they were trying to make, and I’m not even sure it was wrong of them to use these slurs in their memoir. I’m kind of confused on what the “right thing” is when it comes to that sort of thing, if there is one at all, but I did think it important to just, point out, especially since slurs can be very triggering to read, and basically every slur you can think of (except the N word) is used in this book, including ones I’ve never even heard of before.
That said, I do recommend this book. I think everyone should read it, if they are in a place to do so.

I picked this book because it combined two of my favorite genres – graphic novels and memoirs – and I made the perfect choice.
This isn’t a novel or a book it’s a genuine and heartfelt outpour of what goes through a mind of a person who is made different by other people because of how they look or due to the choices they make. It is the growing-up saga of Sarah, who was born to Korean parents, but was adopted by American parents and grew up in a small American town full of prejudices and biases.
The story is heart-wrenching. Her feelings and expressions are so real. Her anger, frustration and the slow building of a negative mindset in her is illustrated brilliantly. The graphics are detailed, intimate and feel so real. I’ve read at least a few dozen graphic novels in my reading life but never have I encountered such detailed, and perfect facial expressions through the eyes, the face, and the overall body language.
This book is an upcoming release, and I have no clue how it will do once it is in print form. But in any case, I will recommend this book to anyone and everyone looking to understand the perspective of a person who is different or even to readers who want to know what a brilliant graphics novel looks like.
This novel is bound to be the next in line with Maus and Persepolis. Fingers crossed.

I received this text as an eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, but I will definitely be buying it when it releases! I found this book poignant, gut-wrenching, and so so real. The topics of mental health and racial discrimination ad bullying coupled with curse words and slurs lead me to recommend it to upper middle schoolers and above. I also think it would be really good to read as a "window and mirror" text for students and educators.

This is a powerful story and I have no doubt that this story will be important to those who identify with the author. The bulk of the story is a bit of a downer. Yes it has a hopeful ending. But you gotta slog through the bad to get to the good. For folks who don't like dealing with icky feelings, or who don't identify with the author... I'm not sure they'll keep reading to get to the Big Picture Ending.

The art was a bit all over for me. The main style wasn't my thing. But then other styles were used... wow. You really got a sense of the range of skills of author/illustrator.

Overall a solid book that will mean something to those who need it.