My Solo Exchange Diary: The Sequel to My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness: 2

The art is brilliant and I love the story that she tells, it sounds like someone taking my life and slightly adjusting it. The only real differences are some more complex gender issues and a different age but it reads like my backstory. The end of this book (spoilers ahead) sounds almost precisely like a time I experienced in my life where I made the exact same mistakes that the author did which is why I have a strong suspicion that she does in fact love this person but she is overthinking the situation and is essentially not allowing herself to love them. I seriously want to reach through the book and slap her because I know she is going to wake up in a few years and realise what a horrible mistake it will be if she ends this relationship. To be fair part of the reason I am writing this review is in a hope the author will read it and listen to me when I say that I have been in the exact same situation and I wish with all my hear that I could go back to that time and not do exactly what you are doing.

I really enjoyed Nagata Kabi’s first graphic novel, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. So, I was so pleased when I found the sequel, My Solo Exhange Diary which covers the writing and drawing of her first book and is in diary form. Very clever. Over 16 chapters (including the bonus) Naga details her life experiences from leaving home, dealing with her parents, her parents reaction to her graphic novel and her coming out (though not sure if she ever did to her parents) and trying to integrate into her own world and look for female love and friends. It’s a warts and all account which delves a lot deeper then her first book, and remember this is autobiographical. She has strength and bravery to write it and even Naga is surprised when one female love interest is happy to be drawn in the book and referred to. I should have said at the start that Nagata Kabi, both wrote and drew the book. She has many talents. Some of the entries are very deep and thoughtful for example where she considers the balance between happiness and unhappiness. However, I do not want to give the impression that this is a hard read, far from it. Once you get used to reading Japanese manga comics in the reverse manner, to which we in the west read, then its is a breeze and to be honest after a few pages it becomes automatic. Naga deals with friendship and especially her love for her mother and how she needs to deal with that if she is to leave home. It’s a difficult position to be in in that her mother is unwell, her father is not supportive and the family has her father’s mother living there which causes extra stress. Naga has to decide if she has to abandon her mother to get the happiness she requires. Her attempts are pathetic at times and she lacks courage and this is well documented. I thought that the chapter dealing with self-esteem was excellent and I identified with that and also feel a friend has had similar issues at times. I love it when you can identify with the contents of a book. Feels like that they are in your head or talking about you. The book leaves more questions that answers so clearly a follow-up volume is to come. Just looked and its on pre-order for 14th January 2019. Guess who may be one off the first to order it!!

Not as good as the first one.

Non buono quanto il suo predecessore, ma comunque eccellete.

If you want a emotional punch in the gut, Nagata Kabi's work is for you. She rarely pulls punches or hesitates to catalogue her life in all its nitty gritty detail. It is honest, raw and far more real than most autobio comics get. If you've ever dealt with depression, struggled to prove your worth to your peers or parents, or feel whole this comic is very much something you should read. It doesn't have a 'narratively' satisfying ending (given its auto-bio comic, thats not surprising) but it makes you think about your own life. Seeing Nagata Kabi struggle makes you think about your own struggles and getting that ball rolling is usually more than enough to change aspects of your life. Her artwork has improved by leaps and bounds since her first book, you can see and feel the confidence in her linework without it losing that loose almost sketchy artwork that drew me in originally. She has a strong grasp on details without it ever dragging down her sense of movement or the mood she wants to convey. She experiments with depicting her emotional state more with images/visual short hand than plainly telling us this time, which works fantastically. I still find myself going back to the pages where her parents find out about her first book and linger on how she handled it. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone struggling to make a life for themselves and wanting to find solace with someone else who understands.

Eu tenho a idéia de que talvez não seja necessário ler o prequel para ler este manga. No entanto, como seu antecessor (que eu também recomendo), o que mais gostei neste autor é que ela lida com questões muito pessoais que nem todas as pessoas estão dispostas a discutir (depressão, ansiedade, relações interpessoais, identidade, sexualidade, entre outras). Uma das coisas que eu mais gosto é a honestidade do autor em contatar sua história, que mesmo que você não se sinta 100% identificado com ela, pode chegar ainda a sentir empatia pelas coisas que ela vive e desejar-lhe o melhor.

this is my favorite book.. i relate to it a lot!

Manga is such a great media, so when it's used as a support for auto-bography it's very immersing. I love the character and her courage - yes, courage to try to understand and express what she goes through. She's true to herself and others because as many such people, she can't escape who she is neither what she feels. I value this kind of people greatly so I feel blessed to be invited in the sharing of her personal experience.