I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it!

A biography several years in the making, yet very much worth the wait.
Memento Mori; remember you will die, a humbling phrase in any instance, but more so in the life of our lead who we follow.

The story follows our lead who's been diagnosed with an aneurysm all of a sudden, and their life is thrown upside down in the course.

Memento Mori is such a book that reminds of the unpredictability of life, but also the value of quiet times and peaceful nights. A tale you don't want to miss out on.

I had to set this book aside for a period of time in the middle due to the difficulty of the subject matter for me personally (having recently survived a mini-stroke at 32) but it was absolutely worth it. A gorgeously intimate exploration 0f the pain and horror of a huge medical event. It felt like Tiitu Takalo was inside my head, and made me feel so much less alone. Even for people who have not experienced a massive medical event such as this, I would highly recommend reading this if you can. Additionally, the art is absolutely stunning.

Memento Mori by Tiito Takalo is a masterpiece of a graphic novel. It is so personal and reflective of what it is like to have a medical condition and emergency sprung on you and they articulate so well how it affected all aspects of their life. I found it interesting learning a bit about a Scandinavian country and their healthcare as well as Tiito's condition and experience. It reminds all healthcare workers how important it is to communicate well with your patient and that even small offhand comments can be devastating to a patient. The illustrations are very artistic and used to full effect. I'd recommend this to people and would read another graphic novel by Takalo.

Thankful to the author that they shared such a personal story but I just felt really disconnected from the story and writing.

Memento Mori by by Tiitu Takalo is a graphic novel detailing Takalo's experience with cerebral hemorrhage. This graphic novel falls firmly in the camp of a graphic medicine memoir - I have read many graphic medicine memoir's, and Takalo's is one of my favorites. Takalo uses bold colors and relatively simple color palettes and her images are clear and detailed while being easy to read. Takalo details her time as a patient and her journey of recovery - not only the physical recovery but the mental recovery, and tackles the feeling of having faced her own mortality as a person with a history of depression. Takalo is from Finland so the perceptive of a non-American healthcare system - the ways patient care changes when cost is no longer a factor, the way that patient's seek care is different when cost is not a factor - and Takalo calls out that low-cost for healthcare she received.

Anyone interested in graphic medicine, or who is perhaps struggling with similar circumstances as Takalo - surviving something, and facing a long road of recovery - might benefit from reading her story.

Thank you for this advanced copy
I definitely enjoyed this memoir. There is more to this graphic novel than the title itself. It is a ride through life and what we can face and how we can battle through it. It is touching and you will feel what the main character is going through. This book is just about over 200 pages and it should be a recommended read for all teenagers and higher of age, It does have so many lessons to take from it and remember. Especially medicine and what the human body can endure with and through.
I just reviewed Memento Mori by Tiitu Takalo. #MementoMori #NetGalley

This graphic novel was absolutely terrifying because of the fact that you never truly know what you're symptoms are being caused from. Tiitu did an amazing job showing the before, during and after of a cerebral aneurysm. I could feel the emotions that Tiitu went through being terrified of not knowing what was happening and what came next.

This book is for sure a good way for readers to understand more about what someone is going through when they are diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, considering the subject matter. The author really let us into their mind, and their process of recovering from a brain aneurism. I can’t imagine how difficult this all could have been to go through, but the author was still able to have a positive outlook on things. I’ve never read anything like this before, and especially not in a graphic novel format, and I think that the graphics were really important to really understanding the authors feelings and experiences.

I can't submit a review without typing something, so I'm going to say that I need to give this a reread when I'm in a better headspace.

3.5 stars!

This was a really moving story that gives you a glimpse into the author's life as she goes through the thought process of dealing with a medical issue and the life that she has following it. This is a great story to have for those who struggle with something similar. The artwork is stunning and the use of color is brilliant!

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for this graphic novel! I felt really terrible for Tiitu for having to go through a serious cerebral hemorrhage episode but I’m so glad she is alive to tell us the tale today. This graphic novel does show us what she went through bit by bit. However I didn’t feel the spark of this graphic novel being that great either like the story did drag on. I still read the whole thing so it’s not that bad of a read.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

I wasn't too sure how to feel about this graphic novel initially. The author's story was touching, so I wanted to love it. I just have to admit, I wasn't the biggest fan of the illustrations overall. The storyline was good, the graphic novel was ... just okay for me.

The art for this was superb, I love how the artists used the saturation and lack of colour in certain pages to get across different emotions. A beautiful book.

The story was very emotional too, a great look into mental and physical health, recovery, life changing medical events. Probably not the best read for me as someone with pretty severe health anxiety! But you can really see how important this was for the artist/author. A solid read!

ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

This was a really touching and expressive book about Tiitu’s experience navigating life after a cerebral hemorrhage and during their recovery period. Incredibly moving and relatable for anyone who has suffered mental illness as well, like myself.

Thank you, Tiitu Takalo and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Memento Mori is a beautiful memoir which tells the author's story of battling with cerebral hemorrhage and its recovery. I adored every moment and illustration this graphic novel provided. I loved the play with colours and how its moments were distinguished by their colours, but also to evoke a certain emotion the artist wants you to feel. The story is touching and heartbreaking and I am thankful for the opportunity to read it!

Trigger warnings: blood, surgery, depression, vomiting

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for sending and allowing me to read this book.
Wow! such a great read, I read this all in one night. The topics and the way they're discussed are just absolutely perfect.

Thank for you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I rated this as a 4 because objectively this book is great - I really appreciate that this goes into the author’s recovery, as well as the absolute struggle it was finding proper care. A lot of patients and physicians themselves would agree that the current system isn’t good, and that people aren’t getting the care they need, and this book highlighted one of those stories - though I’m immensely happy for the author that it worked out for her.

This book is a very melancholic tone, though. It’s a lot to get through and I wasn’t in the right mood to read it - which I didn’t include in my rating because this book is overall still great.

This is a very honest memoir about tough times. Takalo remembers her cerebral hemorrhage and everything that came after. She was faced with the brutal reality of being mortal, and such an experience changes a person forever. The way she draws her own facial expressions is impressive, you can almost feel her pain and angst.

This book also raises questions about health care. Even in a rich country with a good system, the author had to deal with unprepared health professionals who didn't really listen to her worries and fears. She struggles to find out what's really going on inside her mind and has to endure a lot until she finally gets the care she deserves. It's very obvious that mental health is still a sensitive subject that deserves a lot more attention all over the world. Overall, great comic book with beautiful art and a moving story. I'm glad I came across it here, as it isn't available in my country and I probably wouldn't know about it otherwise.

This is honestly one of the best graphic novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading. While the story is straightforward and quite simple, this graphic memoir centers a narrative I don't often read about, and it's not that easy to find in literature in general, unless you want to weed through paragraphs of difficult academic text or dense non-fiction.

This graphic memoir works because the writing is just as strong as the art style. The sentences flow off the pages and though it may be melancholic and flowery in places, it perfectly captures what the author is trying to say, and completes the accompanying panels wonderfully.

The art style itself is subdued in color - and I think it's perfect. The use of specific color palettes give the ability to perfectly translate emotion that was hard to deny for me.

Overall, it was a privilege to read Tiitu Takalo's story, which feels so personal and intimate all the way through. Not only is it an emotional read, it was highly informative to me as well and I really appreciated being able to read about what it's like to go through a life-changing moment, fighting it physically and mentally, and recover both physically and mentally as well even when other people in the professional field look away from your suffering.

Ugh, it really packed a punch.