Halfway There: A Graphic Memoir of Self-Discovery

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley. Content warning for depictions of racism, depression, suicidal ideation, and self-harm.)

Comic book artist Christine Mari was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an American father. When she was five, the family relocated to America. For much of her life, Mari has struggled with her self-identity: she's "too Asian" to be fully American, but "too white" to be fully Japanese. In Japanese parlance, she's a "half": and "how can someone ever feel whole if they've always been told they're only half of something?"

When she's nineteen, Mari decides to spend a year abroad in Japan to "find herself" - and also relearn the Japanese she lost when she moved to America. As she show more struggles with both the language and feelings of loneliness, isolation, and unbelonging, Mari's infatuation with Tokyo quickly fades. She develops depression and experiences suicidal ideation and self-harm. Luckily, she reaches out her her baba, who gets her the help she needs. Though she carries many of her questions and doubts back to America, Mari seems better equipped to deal with the uncertainties ahead.

HALFWAY THERE is a touching memoir about Mari's search for identity and belonging as a biracial, first generation immigrant. It's also a pretty keen look at one person's journey through depression - something I found especially relatable. The artwork is lovely (especially the use of colors) and Mari's observations are cutting - albeit in a gentle sort of way. I can't wait to see what she does next! show less

Hoping a geographic cure will help resolve her identity issues, a woman with a white American father and a Japanese mother who left Japan with her family at six years of age returns to Tokyo to relearn Japanese as she's turning twenty. But her angst, confusion, and isolation start snowballing into mental health issues, some of which are glossed over a bit too quickly.

When I finished the book I was surprised to learn I had read another book by the same author ten years ago, back when she was a teenager going by Christine Mari Inzer: Diary of a Tokyo Teen: A Japanese-American Girl Travels to the Land of Trendy Fashion, High-Tech Toilets and Maid Cafes. She has certainly come a long way in honing her talent since then. This new memoir is show more much better written and drawn.

I look forward to seeing what Christine Mari does next. show less

Compelling narrative voice, deals with trauma. Good use of comic medium to convey ineffable experiences.