Fights

I feel very fortunate to have been approved for this graphic novel.

A well written and beautifully drawn memoir of life for a young black man. There is no sugar coating in this story.

I highly suggest reading, but when you do, make sure to absorb every inch.

A very raw and emotional coming of age story about a young African American boy. This book deals with abuse, trauma, moving, bullying, and violence. There is a lot of adult content in here but I could see it helping teens who may be encountering serious issues at home, in school, and on the street. I think it is also a good read for adults who do not always consider the challenges facing children and teens and how it manifests in their behavior.

Joel Christian Gill's graphic memoir, "Fights," is a beautifully illustrated depiction of the author's youth, which was characterized by poverty and violence. Gill's father died when Gill was just a boy, and his mother was often absent, which left him vulnerable to abuse from his caretakers as well as to temptations to cause trouble of his own. He learned to fight early to defend himself against schoolyard bullies, and thereafter fights seemed to find him, but as he gets older and the stakes get higher, he begins to question the role of violence in his life and to consider the kind of man he wishes to become.

As a memoir, "Fights" is a departure for the artist and writer. His "Strange Fruit" and "Tales of the Talented Tenth" series have illustrated little-known events from black history. But these books all bear the imprint of the author's style, and here, warm colors provide a sense of danger, anger, and heat, and though Gill often uses little black dots to depict a character's eyes, his careful rendering of faces ensures that scenes are nevertheless evocative and his characters' emotions and motivations are clear. The book contains its share of heartbreaking and disturbing scenes, but there is a beauty in them that helps readers see nearly all the characters here with empathy.

Readers in high school and up can appreciate this portrait of growing up to become a black man in America. While much of the content will resonate with some readers, individuals who do not share the author's experiences are likely to develop compassion and understanding as a result of their encounter with "Fights."

Fights viscerally chronicles one black youth's relationship to violence from ages five to around eighteen. With raw, compelling illustrations, Gill recounts resorting to fighting as a means of finding control and surviving being “adrift.” His family wavers between absent and abusive, his school friends and neighborhood foes are each carrying their own traumas, and his teachers lean towards assuming the worst from him. Throughout, Gill paints a clear picture contextualizing the pain he experienced and created. The unvarnished brutality of Gill's childhood makes the moments of joy and laughter – such as enjoying playing chess or rapping with his friends, Mike and G-Money – feel like life rafts in a sea of uncertainty and suffering. Similarly, Gill throws readers a raft with a message after the story's conclusion for both adult and young readers to keep compassion in mind. With this memoir, Joel shows us that empathy is a choice – a difficult choice to make at times - but ultimately he found it possible to redefine his story and become more than his environment and upbringing. Fights is an uncomfortable but insightful and rewarding graphic novel for teens and adults alike.

Love the novel graphics and how it told an amazing life story. I felt like I understood the life story and would recommend this book to all my friends.

Fights is an autobiographical graphic novel that tells the story of Joel Christian Gill. The wording of this story is easy to follow and engaging. The illustrations are gorgeous and realistic. As the title suggests the recurring theme of the graphic novel is fighting. Each phase of the author’s life has some type of fight involved. I was gifted this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.