This is the story of the author bravely telling the story of sexual harassment they have had to endure while they were a manga artist working for a famous artist. The story is told unflinchingly and it’s not possible to read it without feeling the tense and horrific experiences they have had to endure and the ways in which these experiences can last a lifetime and impact so much more than the moments in which they happened.
I am not picky about which genres I read but the amount of YA I’ve been reading has declined quite a lot in the last few years. I think it’s mostly that when you read a lot of them, they start blending into each other, and you are not engrossed or surprised easily after a while. But when I saw this book in emily’s review I wanted to read it. I am a fan of the groundhog day trope, and one of my favorite YA books of all time also had a similar plot so I wanted to see if I would like this one as much.
And I did.
This is a thoughtful story as the main character is trying to figure out why his day keeps repeating. He is dealing with the grief of his own mother’s death and as the day keeps repeating he opens up to see more, understand better, and drop into his own feelings more as well.
There are many trigger warnings in this story so please proceed with caution but, for me, it was a thoughtful read.
Like last year, I am still in a place where I don’t want to track, count, or measure things. I want to give myself grace, rest, space this year. So no specific projects and open to what might come.
Here are some themes I plan to focus on and we’ll see what form they take.
Exploring: This is about keeping track of questions I am trying to answer. It might be a monthly post on my learnings or it might not, we’ll see. I am keeping a notebook of things I love and things I don’t like, too. So I might also talk about some of those.
Art: I have done so so much art in 2023. I really hope to continue to do that. Watercolors, sketching, whatever else I might stumble upon.
Reflection: Only intermittent reflection in 2024. When I am in the mood for it.
Reading – I read a lot this year. I continued to read netgalley/edelweiss ARC books as well as audiobooks from the library and audible. I plan to continue this next year. I will continue tracking them on goodreads.
Here’s to a year of continuing to do what brings me joy and continuing to explore and find ways to create my own magic.
