A very well-done graphic novel. I will admit to knowing very little about George Takei's other than what I learned from "They Called us Enemy". This was super informative, and the illustrations were extremely well done. Throughout to book Takei's optimism and beliefs for a better more equal world ring throughout.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

wow, what a memoir and what a life lived.

this graphic memoir is intense and absolutely packed with info. I did really enjoy it but I had to spread out my reading over weeks. it's a lot. BUT, it's totally worth the read just be prepared for how much text there is.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This book tells about his life and goes a bit deeper than I thought. It tells about the darker parts that happened in America that George witnessed along with the memories times in his life.

George Takei writes books that need to be written. First with They Called Us Enemy, shining light on Japanese internment camps and now with It Rhymes with Takei with the importance of legalization of gay marriage.

This memoir got way deeper than I expected - and that's what I really enjoyed.
It's a powerful story, including dark moments like losing close ones to AIDS but it still evokes a sense of hope in the end.

Though I read it because I'm a huge Star Trek nerd, I'd also recommend it to people not interested in the franchise.

It's very well written and features great artwork.

In George Takei's second graphic memoir, he looks back on a long and illustrious career that was shadowed internally by a terror of being outed as gay. It's a quite thorough look at his life as a whole, from the fifties to the 2000s, covering his start as an actor, his involvement in politics, his activism for the Japanese-American population, and eventually, his gay activism. It's an often emotional story and a good story.
I liked the art and the story. I had no idea that George Takei was so varied in his career and activities. I also learned I have been saying Takei wrong the whole time.

This is a wonderfully written graphic memoir. I learned so much about George Takei. There is more mature content so not for my 8th graders, but overall, I enjoyed the book.

As a fan of Star Trek I know something about George Takei but not in a very deep way. This autobiography in a manga format let me learn so much more about his life as an actor and as an activist. I'm not a USA citizen so I also learned more about the recent history of this Country
I highly recommend this book!

Thanks to the author and publisher for making it available on NetGalley

Oh my, this was a fabulous book! I couldn't put it down.

This book shares George's journey to becoming an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. He shares his journey to acting, coming out of the closet, and advocacy. He doesn't shy away from the often-heartbreaking bigotry, including from someone he loves.

This is a book to re-read and savor. He is a wonderful writer and incredible human being. He has made a powerful, positive impact on the world, and is basically my favorite guncle (gay uncle) who's not actually related to me. I admire him even more after reading this book. I feel seen as someone who struggled coming out of the closet.

If this book doesn't win awards, I'll be shocked.

Read it. Read it again. Share it with everyone you know.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC!

I was genuinely surprised by how much I loved It Rhymes with Takei, George Takei’s deeply personal and powerful autobiographical graphic novel. Despite having never watched Star Trek or followed George’s acting or political career, I found this memoir both incredibly moving and profoundly inspiring.

This was my first real introduction to George Takei, and through this book, I gained so much insight into his life, from childhood to public figure. The memoir focuses on his journey as a closeted gay man, eventually coming out at the age of 68, and the impact that decision had not only on his personal life, but also on his advocacy and visibility as one of the most well known queer public figures in the world.

The storytelling was captivating, blending historical context with intimate reflections in a way that was both educational and emotionally resonant. I especially appreciated the vulnerability and strength shown throughout, from early experiences in the 1950s, to the grief of losing friends to AIDS, to the joy of finding lasting love with his husband Brad.

The illustrations paired beautifully with the narrative and helped bring each era and emotion to life. Whether you’re a longtime fan of George, a Star Trek enthusiast, or simply someone looking to read an honest and empowering story about identity, love, and queer history, I highly recommend picking this one up.

Thank you to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

George Takei is back with another fabulous graphic novel with his award-winning team. Takei shares stories of his life, and his decision to come out as gay at the age of sixty-eight. Told with Queer history and Takei's very personal coming out story with his long-time partner Brad, this is a beautiful and accessible story about speaking your truth and how we show up as our whole self in the world. How lucky we are to have such a bright light as Takei in this world!

This is another excellent autobiographical graphic novel by George Takei. This one focuses on how he dealt with being a closeted gay man to preserve his career and ambitions, before eventually coming out when he was 68. Takei speaks openly and honestly about his experiences, and the illustrations do a lot to add to the emotional impact of his story. In particular, the section on AIDS is really haunting and stands out.

This book is also a narrative about equal rights for the lgbtq community and the fight against homophobia in the U.S. It gives a personal side to the battle, and shows how real people are affected by institutionalized hate.

This book gave me chills and drove tears to my eyes for so many reasons. The life of George Takei and what he did with it is inspiring and makes me believe that we should fight and hope (!) through hardships and I'm still really bittersweet about this book, and the time it is actually released in with the oppositing message it gives. I am definitely gonna get myself a copy for my shelf and if it gets a german transaltion (from germany) I hope I can donate one or two copies to libraries. This message is so important and this book made me feel way to many sad, happy and hopeful feelings at once.

They Called US Enemy is one of my all time favorite graphic novels which told the incredibly moving and important story of George Takei and his family living in an interment camp. Because I loved that one so much, I knew going into It Rhymes With Takei would also be a moving journey I was looking forward to experiencing through the graphic medium. I'm thrilled he decided to go further into comics once again to tell his engaging story of living with a part so personal to himself and sharing it with the world really for the first time for a lot of the experiences. I will be happily telling everyone to read this!

This is George Takei's graphic memoir. Sharing his experiences becoming an actor, being an activist and finally coming out as gay.

George Takei is someone whose story I knew little about. I knew him as an internet personality who spoke up when Trump (or other politicians) would do things to oppress people, from his posts I also knew that he had lived in an internement camp. It was really interesting to read his story and the pictures brought it to life even more.

Thank you to NetGalley and IDW publishing for the opportunity to read an arc of this wonderful graphic novel!

George Takei is back with another hard-hitting autobiographical work about being different — this time through a Queer lens. Takei’s story has always been one that impacted me. George was always gay (as these things often go, obviously), but was not always out. In fact, he was almost never out.
It Rhymes with Takei deals with the several decades of George Takei’s life where he could not be openly gay and the myriad of challenges and emotions he faced during those times, such as realizing that he didn’t know anyone else that felt this way, being propositioned by a man in the library at college, and suffering in silence while watching fellow activists able to speak on a topic he found too personal and extremely off-limits. It’s inspiring to hear Takei talk about queerness and I feel lucky to have this book as a physical form of his resistance in finally speaking out.
There are not enough words to express the joy I felt at the announcement of this book or the sincerity I felt while reading it. I’ll just leave you with the best advice I can: read George Takei. Listen to him.
Happy Pride, y’all! We’re here, we’re Queer, all year.

I have read Takei's first graphic memoir. It was good. This is just as good. Reading about the struggles Takei went through living closeted for so many years, while advocating for other groups, showed the difficulty of being a gay man in 20th-century America. And 21st-century America, too. It was heartfelt, sometimes gut-wrenching. Honest and not self-sparing. I deeply enjoyed this book.

No need to read his first graphic if you haven't yet in preparation for this one (though you really should!). I can't imagine the bravery to publish your story to the public. It was such a beautiful read and perfectly published during Pride Month!

It Rhymes With Takei by George Takei
challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced
4.0 Stars

A moving memoir from George Takei chronicling his experience growing up as a closeted Japanese-American gay man in America in the 1950s through to modern day. He sheds much needed light on what it meant to navigate family, career and politics as someone who wasn't allowed to fully embrace who they really were publicly in a time where society was vocally and physically violent to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. I appreciated him not shying away from the consequences that the intersectionality of his race and his orientation had on him.
The art style was wonderful and did a perfect job of capturing Takei's iconic facial expressions and mannerisms without making him a caricature of himself. It was also easy to identify other famous faces even before they were specifically named.

I do feel that the story itself suffered in the last 50-75 page as we moved further away from George's story in particular and more generally into the American political climate of the past couple of decades. This is obviously super important context and history to gay rights and equality, but divorced of Takei's experience the whole section felt very text heavy and contained a lot of info dumping rather than story telling like we had in the rest of the graphic novel.

I think this would be a great graphic novel for any library to keep on hand for early teen readers and older. If read with a parent to help give context around some of the authors self professed riskier activities (re: the bath house and the language used in that scene) I feel it could also be appropriate for some pre-teen audiences.

I recently read George Takei's first graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy, so this book came at the perfect time. Thankfully there's not too much repetition between the memoirs since It Rhymes With Takei actually fills in a lot of the gaps in Takei's life story from the first one. I grew up watching Star Trek but didn't learn anything about the actors' lives outside of it, so I didn't even know Takei was gay until his husband showed up near the end of TCUE. I was in high school when gay marriage was legalized, I've been out to my friends since college, and I mostly exist in alternative and progressive spaces. I've been talking recently with friends and family about the rights that I was born with or gained early in life that I take for granted because I've never known what it's like not to have them. I've also referenced both novels in countless political or historical discussions this year. It Rhymes With Takei is 100% worth a read even if you don't know or care about George Takei as it is a great walkthrough of the queer liberation movement in America so far and what it means to fight for your rights.

Happy Pride Month!