I really enjoyed this — an exploration of memory and trauma. Felt quite like the very analytical, later work of Alison Bechdel. Recommended, particularly for those interested in the mechanics of graphic memoir. ( )

I thought the story would just be about finding the body in the woods, but I'm glad it wasn't (that would have been a very short book indeed.) Instead, it was a fascinating journey about how stories of events,especially events that caused trauma, change and grow over time as the people who experienced them change, grow, and learn more about themselves. The last section of the book also felt like a class on how to tell a traumatic story through the medium of comics/graphic novels, in a good way. It made me want to pick up a pen and start drawing.

The art is not the most beautiful, but it doesn't need to be. It tells the story and conveys what needs to be conveyed. I did like that the style seems to become cleaner and more set as the story it's portraying becomes clearer to Trembley.

Overall, I find it a fantastic book about the changing nature of life stories. ( )

graphic nonfiction/memoir - processing trauma/effects of trauma on the brain and memory

a Michigan woman goes on her daily early morning walk in the woods with her dogs and discovers what appears to be a dead body (possible suicide or possible murder victim) where she used to find a peaceful sanctuary; the trauma affects her in significant ways and she spends many many years trying to process both the event and how she reacted to it.

Absolutely fascinating, both for the true crime murder potential and for how it reveals so much of what the author felt and experienced. ( )

Literate exploration of trauma, disassociation and self-inquiry. Exemplar of stories best told via comics.
CN: dead bodies, suicide, unreliable memories ( )