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A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings
A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings | Will Betke-Brunswick
8 posts | 5 read | 2 to read
During Will Betke-Brunswicks sophomore year of college, their beloved mother, Elizabeth, is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. They only have ten more months together, which Will documents in evocative two-color illustrations. But as we follow Will and their mom through chemo and hospital visits, their time together is buoyed by laughter, jigsaw puzzles, modern art, and vegan BLTs. In a delightful twist, Will portrays their family as penguins, and their friends are cast as a menagerie of birds. In between therapy and bedside chats, they navigate uniquely human challenges, as Will prepares for math exams, comes out as genderqueer, and negotiates familial tension. A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings is an act of loving others and loving oneself, offering a story of coming-of-age, illness, death, and life that announces the arrival of a talented storyteller in Will Betke-Brunswick. At its heart, Wills story is a celebration of a mother-child relationship filled with unconditional devotion, humor, care, and openness.
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trueisa4letterword
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Oh customer service...

#graphicmemoir

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Lindy
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Pickpick

In their graphic memoir, American cartoonist Will Betke-Brunswick documents, in slice-of-life moments, a 10 month period during which they came out as genderqueer and at the same time their beloved mother was dying of cancer. Their choice to portray everyone as cute anthropomorphic birds helps to lift the overall tone from sadness to warmth and humour. Maia Kobabe calls it “deeply human” and I concur. #LGBTQ #TransGirlApril

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Lindy
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There are many ways to be genderqueer. I like how this memoir shows the author‘s father struggling to come to terms with his nonbinary offspring‘s gender identity.

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Lindy
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I‘m always curious (nosy?) about what‘s in other people‘s fridges. Plus, this panel sent me to the internet to find out what‘s a macoun. (It‘s a variety of apple.)

Prairiegirl_reading My fridge always has a ton of condiments, pickles and expiring/rotting produce. I‘m terrible at not using up the produce. 🤦🏻‍♀️ 11mo
Lindy @Prairiegirl_reading It can be difficult to remember what‘s hidden away in the drawers at the bottom. Maybe a regular weekly reminder to yourself to clear everything out into a stir fry or chopped filling for wraps? 11mo
36 likes2 comments
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Lindy
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Alice Munro reference spotted in the wild.

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Sarahreadstoomuch
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Pickpick

Recently there was a hashtag/readathon highlighting trans/non binary books & authors and this caught my eye. (Sorry, I forget the hashtag). This is an excellent graphic memoir where the author is dealing with being at college, coming out as genderqueer, and being with their family as mom does her best to fight cancer. Sentimental and emotional, but not overly so somehow. #bookspinbingo #bookspin book

Sarahreadstoomuch @ravenlee yes! Seems obvious now 🤦‍♀️ 11mo
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 11mo
ravenlee Sometimes the hashtag titles completely escape me, too - I‘ll look up what I think it is but it turns out I‘ve got one phrase or word wrong and can‘t find the darn thing. 11mo
27 likes4 comments
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ReadingRachael
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This is a beautiful, moving graphic memoir sharing the journey of the author‘s family through the 10 months following their mother‘s terminal cancer diagnosis. Full of funny, touching moments and memories. It made me laugh, and it made me cry - in that needed pent up grief releasing sort of way. All humans in the book are drawn as birds - the author‘s family as penguins, which I think (perhaps strangely) made them feel even more relatable. ❤️

ReadingRachael Oops!! I forgot to add that this was my #bookspin for February!!! @TheAromaofBooks 13mo
TheAromaofBooks Great review!!! 13mo
15 likes2 comments
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psalva
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This was an affecting graphic memoir. It deals with the author‘s mom‘s dying from an aggressive form of cancer and the family coping with the situation. The author manages to depict their own coming out as genderqueer and not muddle the two subjects. The story is told chronologically, with short flashbacks in between. It highlights the humor and love shared among the family members, and their deep sadness at the situation. Subtle and remarkable!⬇️

psalva A note on the art- all of the people in the book are depicted as penguins and other varieties of birds. For me, I felt like this held a lot of symbolism, was cute, and also balanced the tone of the book. #lammys2023 #lambdaawards (edited) 1y
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