This book has a dark tone to it. It is very sad and depressing. I can see the narrator as having severe depression. The main character hates everything about coming out, her body, and just everything in between about themselves. The graphics show the struggle as well as a lot of them are colorful even though they are struggling internally with dark stuff. The subject matter is intense. The main character is bi-sexual who knows their family will not accept this fact. Additionally, the graphics are basic. There is nothing special about them. And at times the graphic placement is confusing. I was not sure where to read next on the page. This may have been done because of the confusion in the main character's head though. It did send me for a loop. The ending did NOT resolve my dread and depression feeling. I wish I could have seen some hope for the main character.

This graphic novel was very uneven. Some pages were so soft, so well drawn, with a very inspiring message ; and many other pages were very low quality, both in terms of graphics and writing. The structure was also very off and hard to follow. I understand that the author wanted to be authentic and to include her full journal, but I feel like if only half of the best extracts would have been chosen, it would have made the overall experience of reading this book way more pleasant, bumping the rating from 2 stars to 3.5 stars.

I enjoyed the emotional memoir quite a lot!

I would like to thank the publisher for giving me a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lovely concepts and there were a few pages that were spot on for me (would be useful for teaching tools, too).

The entire compilation as a whole didn’t work for me though. It felt messy for lack of a better word?

Queer, Chinese immigrant woman sorting out life and its ups and downs. From the description I thought it would be a perfect match for me, but it just didn’t quite work for me (art or writing) But! Graphic novels are especially personally, I think, and like I said there were a couple pages that I would’ve totally flagged or sent to friends or used with students.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It’s too much too take in at one go. Yao Xiao’s ‘Everything is Beautiful, and I’m Not afraid’ needs to be contemplated on page by page. It’s illustrations studied for it’s beauty and meaning and yet you can’t stop but turn the page to delve deeper. Her innermost thoughts laid bare, Xiao’s book is like navigating through stormy seas with an expert hand guiding you, leading you, prodding you to calmer waters, to safety. Pick and choose what you like, this book is a keeper to turn to, to turn over, to stare at, to help you move forward when you reach a dead end.

So moved by this book. I'd seen some of Yao Xiao's work on Autostraddle over the years, and eagerly snapped this up. I was not disappointed.

An absolutely poetic graphic novel, beautifully done. And oh-my-god the feelings... all of the feelings. Dark and lonely; hopeful and at peace. This work clearly illustrates a restless searching for belonging - with society, with family and with oneself.

Favorites:
“I’m not afraid”
[…] But I’m still here.
Everything is fucking beautiful.
And I am not afraid.

“Don’t censor feelings”
It’s important to be mad
It’s important to be sad
It’s important to be angry and lost
And to carry on dreaming of what you love

"I don't have a box"
I don't want to choose a box.
I'm just... Hanging out. That's okay, yes?

** I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I enjoyed reading this book but I don't think it was for me. It was kind of rambling at times and I didn't always understand what was going on. It wasn't bad, just not the best! The art style wasn't my favorite either but it might be someones!!

I keep seeing people say that there's something chaotic about the way that the book is set up, but that worked for me. I took away that it was meant to be jumbled, that it was meant to sound like a diary or someone trying to work through how they feel about life. There is no order to the way that we live even if we'd like to think so. There are no neat boxes to tuck ourselves away with or structure that will allow only the important story beats to shine through. The journey is just as much part of the experience.

Read them like self-contained stories like they're meant to be and all of a sudden everything makes more sense. Yao Xiao does an admirable job of trying to explain not just what the queer immigrant experience is like, but what -their- queer immigrant experience is like in particular. The beauty and pain of the experience, the chaotic mess of feelings, is at the core something that we can all empathize with even if our experiences differ on the whole.

I highly recommend reading this collection. It has some beautiful moments, some dark ones, and ones that made me smile just because it could.

The book wasn't written in a flow, the author basically expressed her thoughts with illustrations about racial discrimination, coming out as bisexual, self love, trying to fit in a foreign country, immigration problems, loneliness, unsupportive friendships and other abstract thoughts and feelings. But these were not organized well in parts and sections but randomly put together with no proper structure. As a whole it just felt like a ranting comic instead of a well presented journey of a girl who is struggling to find an identity for herself.

Thought this was a lovely graphic volume that deals with queer, immigrant, and mental health issues. The illustrations were unique and I very much liked the author's varied and vibrant color palette.

Part illustrated diary, part advice in the form of comics (somewhat in the vein of Yuma Sakugawa’s Illustrated meditations).

This book isn't for everyone and I think that's why there are a lot of differing reviews. I really enjoyed it and I'll try to explain why.

The art style isn't exactly consistent (I feel like that's on purpose) and it's a little on the cartoon-y side but I actually really like it. There isn't a set formula like a four panel comic in this book, all the panels change from page to page making it feel more active and dynamic. The simplistic style also lends itself to focus less on the pictures and more on what is said and going on. That said, here are some truly lovely panels and full page spreads also included in here. Also there is more to art than making it conventionally attractive, it can be said that true art is a conveyance of feelings but art in itself is subjective .

This book does read more like confiding in your diary type of book, but it is definitely an art piece itself. Yao Xiao is telling a story that doesn't spell it out for the reader, in a traditional sense, and you're meant to read between the lines to fill in more of the story. There is a fair amount of referencing to being queer and an immigrant-which if you aren't those things you can't relate to but you can learn from. There is also other things that could be relatable, such as searching for your place in the world, accepting yourself, learning to speak positively, self-care, and just a ton of other things this book touches on.

Yao Xiao takes you on a journey to learn about her but also to learn about herself. She traverses many seemingly insignificant memories that obviously left a lasting impression on her, learning to accept herself-even if others won't, and learning that it doesn't make her any less if people don't accept her. This is such a lovely and open book that it almost feels like being confided in by a close friend.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!
I’m a bit sad because this comic didn’t turn out like I was expected it to. The narrative voice was a bit hard to follow and I didn’t understand the messages behind some of the layouts. I think this book will find its audience but it didn’t work with me.

Everything Is Beautiful and I’m Not Afraid by Yao Xiao is a pleasant graphic novel. I found the layout hard to follow but the overall story was a good concept.

I really, truly appreciate the idea behind this collection: a bisexual Chinese author talking about how hard it was to come out to her mother, stipulations that come with being from an immigrant family, the struggles of a conservative mother, and more. All of that said, unfortunately, the execution didn't work for me. I didn't enjoy the art style, some of the layouts of the comics were a bit hard to follow, and the narrative voice as a whole didn't mesh with me. I really wanted to like this more than I did, sadly.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This comic collection is definitely for a certain audience. The author identifies as a queer Asian immigrant and it's quite an existential series of cartoons about issues like coming out to disapproving parents, stresses involved in being an immigrant from being afraid to speak out on social media to the legal costs, relationship troubles, depression and much more (favorite spread: the fear bingo, with squares like "racist comments when I'm not prepared" and cancer).

The artwork is often gorgeous and is in full color. It's a pretty sad book, though, and often like reading through a really artistic person's diary and doodles while they're going through an existential crisis. This is not a happy book but it is one that many young people will probably relate to. I know my oldest (21) would probably really enjoy it. I would preview it before purchasing, as it really does seem to have a niche audience. For those who relate though, or who want to understand the complex struggles of folks in Xiao's communities, it is an honest and heartfelt read with some nice art.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

While I did like some of these comics, I found that most of them didn't really work for me. I wasn't the biggest fan of the art style, although I did find some really beautiful pages, and I found the writing to be unnecessarily complex for such short comics, and overly simplistic at other times. Due to the lay-out of the pages, it was sometimes difficult to follow the correct sequence. Maybe I just read this at the wrong time, but I didn't really end up enjoying this. It's not at all a bad comic collection, it just wasn't for me.

Rep: Chinese bisexual MC

CWs: homophobia, racism

I received an Arc from NetGalley to write an honest review.

Yao Xiao made this graphic novel that tells the story of an Asian girl living in New York.
Although that may not be an experience that fits in with the live story of every boy or girl, this graphic novel will appeal to many young people.

It's a story about being bisexual, about being different, about coping with expectations others can have and you can have about yourself. It gives us a peek in the mind of young people, and all the thoughts and worries they struggle with. But it also tells a story about hope, about finding a way out!

This makes this a book that should be read by young people all over the world, that need to know they are not the only one having doubts, worries and insecurites to battle with.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this graphic novel!

Rating: 4 stars
Rep: bisexual & Chinese MC, mental illness (depression) rep.
Trigger warnings: homophobia, racism, sexism, body shaming.

A graphic memoir all about belonging, forgiveness, connection and identity, with absolutely stunning artwork and a very poetic, captivating writing style.

I adored this! The writing was so emotional and I could feel the MCs struggles to find a place they belong. The artwork was gorgeous and I loved the little "self-care" pages too!

Overall, I highly recommend checking this out if you like graphic memoirs all about identity.