This is one of those cases where, the concept and execution is great and there's nothing inherently wrong with it but it just plainly wasn't for me. So I give it a 2.5.

Gosh. The nostalgia of reading this is almost painful. The physically and emotionally absent parent and the volatile parent. The ever shifting friendship dynamic. The deep seated loneliness. The group of friends with weird fucked up home lives. The constant mundane note passing. This must be an almost universal teenage experience.

This was nice. The drawings and color scale were so pretty. I wish there was more of a cohesive plot to it to discuss the sad undertones as well as addressing that she may have had a learning disability.

Loved this one, the art, the emotional depth, everything. Though I would probably read anything that has ghosts in it, this one was well formatted and just lovely.

I loved everything about this. The muted color palate, absentee parents & introspective journaling style of storytelling lend themselves perfectly to the story. The use of notebook paper throughout for some of the drawings was genius as this is exactly what a teenager would have been using. I would have grabbed this from the shelf at the library just from the cover & title alone.
I'll definitely be recommending this to my friends who love graphic novels as much as I do.


Thanks to netgalley & Fantagraphics Books for an early review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Fantagraphics books for this free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Raised by Ghosts is a very sweet graphic novel about a young girl who struggles with loneliness and her neglectful parents. Though she struggles to connect with other people, she eventually finds friends who actually see her. This was a lovely coming of age story and the art was very cute as well.

This book brings a strong sense of 90s nostalgia, especially with its focus on the music of that era, making it a great read for those who grew up during that time. That said, it will resonate with readers of all ages who have ever struggled to fit in. I loved the illustrations, and the color palette beautifully heightened the emotions the story aimed to convey. Most of the narrative is told through diary entries and notes from the main character, which was a unique and engaging way to get inside her head. I like it!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

Notes may be neatly tucked in, but stories based on real life don't unfold so conveniently by the expected lines.

Briana's story is full of 90s nostalgia and that ambiguous feeling we have towards parents that love us in their own way, but still fail us. I can't count how many times I wanted to hug the child on the pages of this book. It must have been hard to grow up like that, yet at the same time think that it's nothing unusual.

The simple, sometimes even a little raw art style coupled with the quiet scenes and notes sprinkled throughout put me in a rather melancholy mood while reading. It reminded me of the friendships I miss and the memories we made together. And I could relate to being an outsider even within a group of similar weirdos. I think this book can do a lot for people, and especially teens, who feel alone.

I'd love to have known what happened to the parents, and Brianna's friends later on. But I think, that is just not the scope of this book.

This comic was kind of sad, but it was bittersweet, too. I was reminded of being in middle school and high school.

[English is not my first language, sorry for the mistakes]
Very beautiful graphic novel with a touching view of adolescence. The layout, integrating the little notes makes the story particularly real and absorbing. I guess the fact that it is autobiographical helps, and Briana Loewinsohn tells something that we can all relate to without making it egotistical nor superficial. Just so great!
I really hope it'll be translated and published in France one day so I can share it with the readers of the bookstore where I work!

I loved this book! I loved the illustrations and the overall feel and emotional impact. It was very relatable and reminded me a lot of my own experience in high school, especially with her friendships, the note writing and the local shows.

I’d originally thought this book would either be about ghosts or the metaphorical ghosts that haunt us after trauma but instead it mostly discussed the difficulty that comes with fighting parents and their eventual divorce. I don’t feel like the story took particular hold on me but may be better for someone else.

Raised by Ghosts is a beautifully crafted graphic novel that stands out for its unique narrative structure, blending handwritten notes with comic strips. This clever format creates a deeply personal and immersive reading experience, perfectly reflecting the author’s adolescence in the 1990s.
The muted, melancholic artwork pairs wonderfully with the story’s themes of nostalgia and self-discovery, capturing the complexity of family dynamics and teenage isolation with raw honesty. The interplay between the notes and comic strips keeps the storytelling fresh and engaging, drawing you into the author’s world in a way that feels both intimate and inventive.
This book is a heartfelt and unforgettable journey, perfect for readers who enjoy reflective, emotionally resonant stories.

The formatting of this graphic memoir is excellent. I loved the typical panel format paired with the notes. It felt deeply personal this way and it is almost as if I know the author now. The author’s story was moving and using her art to tell it was perfect. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I found that I saw a lot of myself in this graphic novel. It is a deeply personal and candid look at the author's feelings and coming of age, and how they grapple with identity and loneliness. The writing was good but the illustration was great.

Loved the art style was super cute and a bit of a 90s nostalgia read. I loved the format of written notes as the main text!

Raised By Ghosts is a beautiful, nostalgic graphic novel inspired by the author's life growing up in the 90s. The book follows Briana as she graduates from middle school and moves on to high school Her parents are divorced and she feels like she has to raise herself. She struggles in school and doesn't really see the point in doing the work. In middle school, Briana didn't have any friends, but in high school she finds some kindred spirits to pass notes with, make mix tapes for, and go to shows and parties together. Despite their similarities, Briana still doesn't really feel like she fits in and that loneliness of adolescence permeates the entire book.

This book is really nostalgic of the 90s, especially 90s music, so it will definitely appeal to people who grew up around that time. I think this book will also appeal to anyone of any age who has had trouble fitting in. I really enjoyed the illustrations and I feel like the color palette helped to heighten the emotions the book was trying to elicit. There isn't a whole lot of dialogue and most of the book was told through diary entries or the notes that Briana had passed, which was a really unique way to get inside the character's head. This graphic novel sort of reminded me of Freaks and Geeks or My So-Called Life, so I think it will appeal to people who enjoy stories about outcasts and coming of age stories.

Thank you Fantagraphics Books and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. This beautifully illustrated hauntingly melancholic book is about loneliness and self acceptance of a 1990s-2000 teen. It’s a semi-autobiographical story with great descriptions of a teen’s everyday life. I am glad to have read this book; however, my students would find it too sad.

This one hit different, I think it might for 90s/2000s kids. A time before rampant social media use. A time of passing notes. I feel like this book is relatable to some of how I grew up. Parents that were largely absent in adolescence, being somewhere between lower/middle class. Being in a small town and hanging out with friends... this book was sad but nostalgic. I don't know how else to describe it.

I don't order teen graphic novels for my library, just the ones for kids, but I would definitely put forward the idea of purchasing this for our collection to the person who does. I think it's really beautiful to look at and captures what it is like to be the kind of kid many of us were in the 80s and 90s - navigating things on our own with parents who were mostly absent. Briana is a pretty realistic character - clearly intelligent but a bit checked out at school, she spends her time with or writing notes to her friends and fellow misfits. I thought the structure of this book, pairing image panels with text that resembles handwritten notes, was effective.