nonfiction graphic memoir, translated from the original French. A multiple award-winning debut book about an art student's journey through diagnosis of a cancerous and inoperable brain tumor causing epileptic seizures at 22, through treatments with medications that didn't seem to help, and eventually being seizure-free five years after the (then brand new) Gamma ray radiation treatment. Set in France (Paris in 1998, Marseille for Gamma Knife treatment the previous years).

skillfully drawn black-and-white drawings provide a telling glimpse of the frustrations of being a patient that can remember so little for such a long stretch of her lifetime, living with an invisible disability during that time, and also a glimpse of what her mother went through as her primary caretaker during those years. ( )

Parenthesis is Elodie Durand's debut graphic novel. It is a memoir of five years of her life suffering from tumor induced epilepsy. The author changes her name, calling herself Judith, but it is her story and she wrote it ten years after it occurred. After finishing all her classes for a master's degree, Elodie only had her thesis to write. She began having momentary spells that continued to be spells of several minutes. Soon she was having multiple seizures daily that increased in length as well as period of recovery. She moved back in with her parents who eventually even had to dress her. Elodie had severe memory loss that lasted weeks. Her neurologist recommended her for gamma knife brain surgery which she underwent a few months later. However, she continued to get worse. There is a recovery but in my mind getting there was worse than the descent into darkness. Elodie had to deal with cerebral edema that comes with this type of surgery.

The author does a great job of describing what life was like when she was barely conscious. I felt as though as I was there with her, something that I have not felt when reading stories of those who are dealing with cancer or paralysis. Her drawings also show the darkness of her memories from when she was barely awake. It is interesting that there was an awareness of something going on but she couldn't put her finger on what is was. Elodie's story is moving, scary and gripping all at the same time. The choice of a title for the book is perfect: her normal life was interrupted by the opening of a parenthesis that she was not sure would ever close.

5 out of 5 stars. ( )

Epilepsy and brain tumor

Crazy art that tells the story perfectly
Helps to understand this disability ( )

A young woman experiences a brain tumor and epilepsy which first hospitalises her and then causes her to drift half-asleep through her early twenties without much memory. She documents this difficult, medicated, half-remembered time in her life with the help of her drawings and her parents' memories. ( )