Will McPhail

A poignant and witty graphic novel by a leading New Yorker cartoonist, following a millennial's journey from performing his life to truly connecting with people Nick, a young illustrator, can't shake the feeling that there is some hidden realm of human interaction beyond his reach. He haunts lookalike fussy, silly, coffee shops, listens to old Joni Mitchell albums too loudly, and stares at his navel in the hope that he will find it in there. But it isn't until he learns to speak from the heart that he begins to find authentic human connections and is let in--to the worlds of the people he meets. Nick's journey occurs alongside the beginnings of a relationship with Wren, a wry, spirited oncologist at a nearby hospital, whose work and life becomes painfully tangled with Nick's. Illustrated in both color and black-and-white in McPhail's instantly recognizable style, In elevates the graphic novel genre; it captures his trademark humor and compassion with a semi-autobiographical tale that is equal parts hilarious and heart-wrenching--uncannily appropriate for our isolated times.

A Graphic Novel

A beautifully crafted story, although the eyes look a bit creepy 👀 I love McPhails subtle humor. It’s definitely a book that remains present after reading it.

Hanscho

rumbledethumps

The art is fantastic.  Unfortunately the story is not.

Jeff James

I think I experienced a bit of synesthesia while reading In by Will McPhail.

The book is largely done in sketch-like black and white, the characters little more than outlines on a white background, except for moments when Nick, the main character, experiences real human connection. As soon as he makes that connection, the pages burst into fully painted, dynamic scenes, and I oftentimes felt like I could hear the sounds of crashing waves or the swell of some imaginary film score in my head. It made the whole thing quite extraordinary.

Nick is an illustrator, disaffected and disconnected from everyone in his life. He goes to a bar and performs sadness just to see what it might feel like. While he is there, he meets a woman and goes home with her, but feels nothing. Nick can’t seem to stop holding everyone he knows at arm’s length, not even his mother.

And then, one day, he decides that he needs to say something that matters instead of having another meaningless conversation. He takes a small step, and says something real to a plumber who comes to fix his toilet. In a moment, everything changes, and a whole vista of emotion and experience opens up in his mind. It’s like Dorothy stepping into Oz or a movie changing aspect ratios to widescreen. It’s thrilling and invigorating and over too soon.

Nick spends the rest of the book chasing that feeling, trying to open up and let the world in, sometimes with mixed results. When Nick starts uncovering this hidden well of feeling around him, not everything that comes inside is good or happy. The moments of color are an effective emotional gut-punch as the story continues down more fraught pathways.

One of my favorite parts of the book is a weird little story Nick tells about a slide at his favorite water park where he sees something unexplained and possibly supernatural. It gives the story just the right amount of spooky unreality, a touch of deathly sunlit horror.

I loved this book and would recommend it highly.

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book from NetGalley. This review was originally posted at Full of Words.

Fraser Simons

One of the best I’ve seen at visual storytelling a set of pretty complex set of emotions, as well as a dichotomy within the interiority of a character.

zilver 

“In” is about detachment. Nick walks through life, past millennial-y named coffee/tea/lifestyle shops feeling– or rather, not feeling at all. He has a sister who, when he asks her how she is, tells him not to bother. A mother who he calls to help with leaks. Seemingly meaningful relationships of any sort. I know – so far this has the incredible potential of being an extremely self-indulgent story about an emotionally constipated 20-something-year-old where boy who goes through life not understanding why no one likes him. But then... it’s not that. At all. 

One of “In”’s strong points is the fact that it doesn’t try to hang its main character’s issues on anything. Considering he’s supposed to be a millennial, the potential for making social media and phone-to-hand connection the Big Bad seems imminent. But it’s not. Nick longs for solitude. No, that’s not entirely true. He longs to be unobserved. To feel without necessarily having that feeling be seen and approved by others. He uses an example from his childhood, the experience of being in a water park and going through the tunnels alone. He feels great there, feels the desire to share that feeling with his friends. And as soon as they’re there, it’s not the same anymore. 

A ripple effect, then, and Nick is 20-something and doesn’t know how to share anymore, because what will that lead to? What’s that invisible barrier that stops him from talking to family, and to anyone, really? For us as readers the barrier is manifested literally, each frame bordered by a dark, solid line. That is, until Nick - fragmentarily - starts to open up, and the lines of not only the border, but also his own person start to blur, and we as readers start to actually learn more about him and his family. And he/we learn(s) that even if you try, it still might not be easy. In a conversation I think most children will have, whether internally or in real life, as they grow up and learn to start to see their parents, Nick says to his mother, “I’m trying to talk about you.” She says, “You weren’t asking about me.” He says he was, and she says, “I’m not just who I am to you, Nick.” And his world opens up. 

There are stories that work when they are made into graphic novels. Then there are stories that are made to be told as graphic novels. This is definitely the latter. The art style, the use of framing and colour, the layout are all meaningful and intentional at every turn of the page. The feeling of emptiness and then space that are created when Nick shifts between not-feeling and feeling become tangible. I love graphic novels that are this purposeful. 

And on top of that this book is just really funny. The coffee shop jokes got me every time. It teased millennial culture without being an asshole about the things that matter. I laughed out loud multiple times. A bit cheeky, a bit tongue-in-cheek. It really worked for me. 

I think the concept as a whole could’ve been driven further, deeper. I’d maybe have liked it to hollow me out a tad more than it did. But it was really good nonetheless. Not to go full circle here, but now that I think about it, maybe “In” isn’t about detachment. It’s about what happens when that detachment ends (because something does). 

I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ethel

A poignant story about detachment and connecting with people

Key words: graphic novel, connect, fiction, contemporary, compassion, humour, adult

This is the cover that attracted me first, so simplistic and yet already full of meaning. I am so glad I read it, I really liked it. This is an apparently semi-autobiographical novel and I think a lot of us can relate to this story and especially to the main character. He is just a millennial, a person who wants to stop performing his life instead of truly living it. Nick and Wren made me laugh a lot and their journey was really interesting. I liked the drawings a lot, there were a lot of emotions in there, especially in the coloured pages that contained no dialogue, there was a lot of things expressed there. The art was very well used and conveyed a lot of ideas without having to write them down explicitly. If you read this graphic novel, I recommend you to observe every drawing because there is often a hidden joke that you’ll miss if you go too fast. This is a story that was made to be told through art. I absolutely recommend this book, especially to millennials of course as they will have an easier time identifying with the main characters, but also to everyone else.

5/5

Thank you Netgalley for this eArc in exchange of my honest opinion.

Erin 

This was...oddly relatable. I mean, not all of it. This is clearly a personal story. But the feeling of wanting to connect to people, but not sure how to do it, overthinking it in your head, having words tumble out of your mouth that are NOT in the same order they were intended, and regretting everything about that interaction...I get it. This felt very real and very comfortable, in a way, particularly after this really weird year where it took six months to realise social distancing actually meant physical distancing, and that connection to people can be found through a multitude of ways - not just by meeting them in person. (This book is not about the pandemic, but the pandemic made it more relatable, in a way). I'm not familiar with Will McPhail's work at the New Yorker, but I did really like his style of art. I especially liked the way he used colour while exploring the main character's inner thoughts and feelings. I really enjoyed this, far more than I was really expecting to. Because the truth is, I didn't know what to expect. But I'm already looking forward to reading this again, and again, and continue to feel less alone in the world, oddly enough.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In A Graphic Novel

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