Wow. Just wow. I finished this book in one sitting and am still sitting here trying to review it. So many times I had to stop and just soak in what I was seeing on the page. This book deals with so much (eating disorders, depression, non consensual sex, suicide, bullying, the list goes on.) And to top it all off knowing that a real person, the author, has gone through it makes it all that much more real. I very much appreciated the art style. It was very simplistic, letting you see yourself (or someone you know) in the characters. You could be the friend, or the sister, or lover of someone that has gone through something similar. This book speaks to everyone. The emotional struggle is apparent through the whole book. When Katie goes through the toughest times the black mass of squiggles seems to take up the whole page, and during lesser times the squiggle is smaller almost non existent, but still present. I imagine if Katie were to draw her bookself today there still would be an ever present squiggle. I also really appreciated the large portion of the book that dealt with anorexia as an illness. Though at times it was used to show that Katie wasn't "sick" because she wasn't hospitalized, there was always the back and forth conversation in her head about how people on the outside didn't know she was struggling and how we as the readers get to see through the window into her head and see that it really isn't an illness that you can always see on the outside. Overall this book really illustrated what it looks like to live with a mental illness from the inside. I would recommend this book to everyone but especially to people who have someone in their lives dealing with mental illness as a way see what someone can be going through on the inside.

I read this in conjunction with the other graphic memoir, Ink in Water: An Illustrated Memoir about an eating disorder coming out later this year. Lighter Than My Shadow was ultimately a more harrowing read than Ink In Water.

Katie develops her eating disorder slowly, as part of other obsessive habits. When she collapses at school as part of her self-starvation she is brought home to recover from the help of a therapist, the supervision of her family, and sessions with a male "alternative therapist" who operates out of a teepee in the woods. He gives her family and her friends the creeps, but Katie feels better than ever after her sessions with him, and eventually alienates her friends and family to go into more advanced treatments with him, even as she still struggles with her eating disorder and self-esteem.

The best thing about this book is that it showed the evolution of an eating disorder. It's not as simple as anorexia/bulimia, as eating and binging are tied into other things as self worth, and control, and a myriad of other issues. Katie doesn't magically get over her anorexia, and she doesn't magically let go of her eating disorder. The clouds of her issues literally hover around her in almost every picture of the book. Many pictures show Katie fading into nothing, floating through space, or feeding the angry, hungry mouth of her stomach, which perfectly illustrates her feelings of helplessness and frustration.

This book was a lot sadder than Ink in Water, and the ending felt a lot more tentative. While Ink In Water ended with a powerful message of working to love yourself (a message complete with lots of exclamation points), Lighter Than My Shadow shows Katie still fighting with flashbacks, nightmares, and the dark, spiky cloud that still follows her sometimes. It is sad, but it is well worth it to read for the message of hope that Katie Green somehow managed to convey: that recovery and living a life of joy is worth the fight it takes to get there.

Highly recommended for anyone!

I really wanted to read the book because the title and the blurb were very catchy but the ebook couldn't be retrieved so I couldn't rate it!

Lighter Than My Shadow is a memoir about the author/illustrator's struggle with anorexia. The art adds an important dimension to the story. This was a hard book to read for the raw struggle of the author with both anorexia and sexual abuse (Trigger warnings for both are in play for this one). Beautifully rendered art and writing.

A no holds barred and often disturbing look at bulimia, anorexia and sexual assault from the point of view of a survivor.

Why can't you just EAT? Why can't you just STOP?

Katie Green's Lighter Than My Shadow takes us inside the mind of her younger self, at first anorexic, later a binge-eater. At first, it's tempting to blame Katie's parents for the signal they send to her about food, but soon it becomes evident that Katie's brain is hard-wired to respond by trying to grab control of any and all situations. Lighter Than My Shadow isn't just a graphic novel about eating disorders, it's an important look at how mental illness can sneak into a pre-adolescent head without notice, disturbing the child and baffling those who love her.

Katie Green's spare drawings are deceptively simple; her character's expressions can change with just a dash of ink. The way she illustrates emotions -- her confusion a tumbleweed of ink that follows her everywhere and takes over the page; delight, and being high, spots of glowing color; consciousness as dotted, fanning waves, are simple yet genius.

In fact, the simplicity of her drawings may incorrectly signal to readers that this is a graphic novel for the pre-teen set. It is not: Lighter Than My Shadow graphically deals with sexuality, rape and mental illness, along with some nudity, I would recommend for 14 and up.

Wow... this book really packs a punch.

An extremely poignant story about a teen battling an eating disorder and sexual abuse and the long-term effect on her life from both. It did an excellent job of explaining how having an eating disorder isn't just a phase that a person can grow out of - it takes years of work, setbacks, therapy and relapses and is probably something the person has to battle in some form or the other, for the rest of their life.

I liked the drawing-style and found it fascinating to see how Katie Green used the media to depict the specter of an eating disorder without having to use any words at all.

I did miss getting full closure on her battle with sexual abuse (mainly knowing whether or not she ever reported it), but appreciate that in real life we just don't always get that kind of closure, and that reporting it would probably have taken more strength that she had at the time.

A really brilliant graphic memoir that I highly recommend.

I went into this graphic novel knowing nothing about it; it was on the "read now" list on NetGalley, and I was in the mood for a quick graphic novel. (Joke's on me - this graphic novel is over 500 pages long!)

Essentially, Lighter Than My Shadow is a story about eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and sexual assault. It's a memoir in the form of a graphic novel, written to tell the story of Katie Green's own childhood and teen life. It's a very sad and haunting story, but unfortunately, it's just not a very enjoyable read, either. It has incredibly slow pacing for a GN, which is unusual in my experience, and the scenes are extremely repetitive.

If you're particularly fond of memoirs about mental illness, you may be interested in this title, but otherwise, I'd pass it up

Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green is a beautifully drawn and rendered story. It follows the author's debilitating struggle with anorexia and bulimia, but also deals with the consequences of the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of someone she trusted. I loved the imagery Katie Green used to signal the overpowering control these diseases had over her life -- a disordered and tangled mess of a cloud that followed and enveloped her. It was her constant suffocating companion.

Some of the imagery was a bit on the nose. The giant mouth to represent her bouts with binging or the obvious dialogue when talking to her therapist. But for a teen reading this book, I think that sort of thing is probably the best way to drive home a point.

All in all, I thought this was a very powerful story told in a very honest way.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2099088061?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
https://thebookobserver.blogspot.com/2017/08/review-6-lighter-than-my-shadow.html

Lighter Than My Shadow is Katie Green’s graphic novel/memoir that covers her relationship with food from childhood through early adulthood. This is a behemoth of a story, coming in at just over 500 pages. The art was simplistic, but well suited for the mood.

I’m not sure if I can say that I truly enjoyed this book. After all, a majority of it is Katie Green recounting difficult and unhappy events. All the same, her story resonated with me, and it is something that I have continued to think about since I read it. The ending especially was truly moving.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book to everyone. Lighter Than My Shadow, like many books/movies/tv shows that talk about eating disorders and trauma in detail have the potential to be triggering. Outside of that, however, I think that anyone would be able to take something away from Katie’s story, and I definitely recommend to pick this up if this is a topic that interests you.

A memoir of the brutal road that is recovery portrayed with graphic punctuation. This book carries the weight of its 500 pages and the juxtaposition against the grip of anorexia is impossible to be lost on the reader. This is a stunning example of the healing power of words for both the reader and the writer.

What an utter gut-wrencher. I related so much to this book...to the childhood/teen years most especially. I never developed an eating disorder myself...but I was accused of having one for years (metabolism is a bitch on either side of that coin). It was almost painful to read this...but it was good, a fascinating glimpse into the mind of someone who truly thought they were "normal", lived a happy life, but the beasts crept in.

Have never come across an eating disorder memoir/nonfiction work like this before, and it's certainly a refreshing method of conveying the trials and tribulations of the illness, as well as the moments of hope. I've read very little within the genre of graphic novels, but after hearing about this book a few times - as someone with an eating disorder myself - I was interested in seeing how the author was able to visually walk readers through her own story.
I think this is a unique work. And powerful, not only in its visual communication, but also because I'm sure there are some people that may respond better or be more open to reading a graphic novel about eating disorders rather than turning to the standard text-based memoir.
The only aspect of the actual story that I had issue with was the attitude surrounding 'fat'; as someone who's struggled with body image herself, I can relate to using the term to denote negative experiences and feelings, but through what I've learned within the body acceptance/fat activism movement, I've been working on challenging those internal and socially-ingrained biases. I think those of us writing about eating disorders need to be more aware of the messages we send when we demonize the concept of being fat, particularly in how it may affect those readers with eating disorders that do inhabit larger bodies.
That being said, I read this book in two days. I almost never read books that fast, and although the fact that this is a graphic novel largely contributed to that reading speed, the storytelling itself was captivating, raw, honest, and inspiring.
**Major trigger warning within the book for eating disorder behaviors/thoughts (of course) and sexual abuse**

Very grateful to have had the opportunity to read this for free through NetGalley. 5/5 stars

This book is wonderful. It is brutally honest. The story is told in such a gentle way, despite the harsh subject matter. It touched my heart, and has reminded me of how I need to be more forgiving of myself.

Katie Green documents her eating disorder beginning in early childhood through her college years in this amazing graphic novel. There are a lot of serious issues addressed in this novel but they are dealt with in a compassionate and gentle manner.
A+ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was immediately drawn in by the illustrations which provided me a window into the author's thoughts and feelings surrounding her eating disorder. I was able to relate and better understand her struggles due to the strength of her images. A very poignant graphic memoir of a woman's battle with an eating disorder as well as her triumphs.

One of the heartbreaking and beautiful looks at the effects of shame and need for a sense of control I have ever read. I literally could not stop reading.

Wow.

Just wow.

Katie Green has taken an incredibly hard and honest look at mental illness, eating disorders, and abuse and how those things can destroy a person and damage those around her. She has also used this book to show how all of those things -- those awful, debilitating things -- can be overcome in order to live a happy, full, and successful life.

I am unsure if this is autobiographical or not; I am inclined to think that it is. If it isn't, then Ms. Green should definitely be applauded for the incredible accuracy of her portrayal of a young woman growing up with an eating disorder she couldn't control or even fully understand. I feel that this book really strikes at the heart of a problem that is much more common than people realize.

She illustrates -- both with her words AND her illustrations -- just how logical the descent into madness can seem. What starts out as a desire to give up something for Lent and then to eat healthy twists and is mutated into something much more dangerous and, potentially, deadly.

She also shows how difficult finding treatment can be. From doctors who are simply unhelpful to those who are incompetent and do not see her problems as problems at all... all the way to the unconventional healer who was more monster than man. You always hear that "admitting you have a problem is the first step" and that it can only get better from there, but this book shows exactly how wrong that statement can be. There is a line in the book that really struck me. I wish I could remember it exactly, but I can't, and it is too hard to go back and find without a working "search" feature, but Katie expresses the thought that she has finally admitted she needed help, and she is simply devastated that that didn't solve her problems or magically "fix her." I think a lot of people who have struggled with a mental illness, an eating disorder, or an addiction have felt that way at one point.

You are at rock bottom, and so you finally admit, "I have a problem." You utter those magical words that are supposed to make things better, that are supposed to get people to stand up and say, "I'm here for you, and we will fix it together." ... But that doesn't happen. No Florence Nightingale swoops in and puts her arm around you and says, "I'm here with you, and we will beat this together." It is devastating, and it is reality.

This book truly highlights the harrowing journey from happy, pretty little girl to a young woman who is full of self-loathing, disgust, and psychoses.

Well done, Ms. Green. Truly, well done. Your book was a real eye-opener, and I think it should be read by the masses, particularly parents and counselors, even if it is just so that you can watch for the warning signs.

Bravo. Truly. Bravo.

Although a 500 page graphic novel may seem like a daunting read, Lighter Than My Shadow reads quickly with simple graphics and sparse words. However, these images and dialogue make up a powerful and heartbreaking memoir that ends with hope and triumph.

Green chronicles dealing with anorexia, anxiety and other issues throughout her life. Although these are heavy topics, she does well at portraying them with the simplicity of her writing and images.