The author/artist doesn't sugarcoat any aspect of his childhood with an extremely abusive, alcoholic, drug-dealing, tough as nails, mentally ill, survivor of a mother. It's a naked, sometimes disturbing look at what it took and in many places, still takes, to survive as a person of color in a place that doesn't want you.

Happiness Will Follow is a powerful story with some great graphics. The struggles and family relationships mainly with his mother.

Thank You to NetGalley for this eARC!!

Eisner Award-nominated artist Mike Hawthorne presents a true and tragic graphic novel memoir about family, abuse, survival and what it means to be Puerto Rican in America.

It is a powerful story with amazing graphic illustrations by the author about his life, struggles and family relationships especially with his mother,

I went into this book completely blind, so expectations were really low. I read this in one sitting and I absolutely loved it. I had no idea who Mike Hawthorne was prior to reading this, but it’s safe to say I will be reading his other books. I loved his artistic style. The way that some pages were monochrome, while others were colored, to help set the tone of the story. It was very well executed. Aside from loving the illustrations, the story itself was very engaging, and I loved how open he was about the struggles he faced growing up poor, and the amount of sacrifice was made to survive. The final pages were a perfect way to end the story. Hawthorne layed out that he understands that as readers it’s easy to depict Blanca (his mother) as a villain; with selling drugs to make ends meet, or the abuse towards her son. He simply asks the reader to reread the book from her side. From a mother cashing in her pride to provide for her son. It just was overall well rounded, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

Happiness Will Follow is Mike Hawthorne's memoir told in graphic novel format. Growing up in America as a Puerto Rican in the 80s and 90s, Hawthorne vividly describes his childhood of poverty, anger issues, juvenile misdemeanors, and abuse. This graphic novel doesn't sugarcoat anything in showing the abuse Hawthorne suffered from by the hands of his mother. I really liked how nuanced the characters were and the different perspective Hawthorne presented on the abusive mom in an attempt to show her point of view and to explain why he doesn't view her as the villain of his story despite their complicated relationship. Raw, gripping, and brutally honest. I wasn't that fond of the storyline though because the flashbacks seemed kinda chopping and discordant but I really enjoyed the different point of view this memoir offered.

*Thank you to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios publishers for providing a free ARC

This graphic memoir cuts deep.. from living in poverty to physical abuse. I think the author wrote this to try to make peace with his past, and I truly do hope happiness has followed.

I really wanted to like this more. The artwork is impactful and unpretty, which fits the serious and often tragic nature of the author's upbringing. His mother, a single Puerto Rican mother in the US, struggles to raise him. Though he was abused, Hawthorne still extends some sympathy towards his mother, who he attempts to understand better. I imagine that sharing his work in this way might be a way for him to process everything and to make sense of his narrative, and in that sense he succeeds. I think my issue was mainly with the format of how he told his story, which of course, is deeply personal.

Following in the footsteps of graphic memoirs like Fun Home by Alison Bechdel - which also tackles the complicated legacy of an imperfect parent - Mike Hawthorne's Happiness Will Follow is an effective, deftly illustrated unpacking of a mother's influence on her son. It tackles chaotic family dynamics and living in poverty, and I think will make a great addition to the shelves of those who enjoy graphic memoirs in conversation with hard questions and even harder answers.

I do not know if migrant families really talk about the challenges of being family as migrants, and the many different ways of being family that they experience. These involve both geographical and cultural distances, and the impact of this on the different generations. My family certainly didn't really speak much about these issues when I was a child.

The distance might be physical such as living in a place which is far from your country of origin, or people or tribe of origin. The distance might be less if you are truly connected to your community of origin in the place you live. The challenge of living in two cultures, or living in one but being disconnected from the other can be hightened by the country you live in and whether you are truly welcomed there.

This book has a subtle way of reminding the reader that migrant families experience various kinds of disconnections which can echo through generations. Eventually the disconnections can be healed by the passage of time and the creation of new families and communities. When people tell me they are American but their great grandmother was from Italy you know that at some point that grandmother and some of the generations after her may have experienced cultural and family disconnections and even some kind of dislocation.

In this book the author captures some of these disconnections through a story about his childhood and his relationship with his mother. I found it moving and painful, but it was very good to read. Michael had struggles with his mother as a child and as an adult. Their relationship was difficult and there was violence. The kind of violence that can erupt from within desperation. His mother struggled with poverty but worked hard to bring her son up but it was an incredibly painful upbringing.

With her death, Michael begins to see the cracks and the fault lines in her life and how they affected him. He is then able to see the fault lines and gaps in his own life. This is a beautiful memoir even though it is painful. It is beautiful because it captures the pain and difficulties of life but at the same time there is hope.

I loved this book because I could recognise some of those same fault lines my life. Questions about where I truly belong. Where is home for me? In the country of my birth or my country of origin? Is my home the same as my son's home? It is a question faced by migrant families all over the world and faced by the generations that come after them. Those cultural questions are familiar to me but thankfully the abuse is not. The abuse Micheal grew up with made those questions all the more complex and challenging and this book in a way is trying to respond to those complexities.

As a single mother of a son it was good to read this. My relationship with my son is peaceful and as a highly educated working woman I was able to give him a good upbringing but so many people struggle to do this whether single or not. This book made me realise that we can only do as much as we can for our children and that as parents we should be kind to ourselves. So this was altogether an amazing read for me in so many ways because it led to lots of reflection and letting go.

It is a powerful story which anyone can appreciate. We may not have questions about culture and country, we may not have questions about belonging, but many of us have questions about life and family and our upbringing.

The author also explores poverty and the way it can erode and stifle life. He doesnt use those words but he portrays it in the story he tells. The story really emphasises the struggle with poverty, isolation and hardship but the author softly reminds us not to judge.

The artwork is really good with very clear drawings which convey the emotions of the characters. The story also has a nice balance between prose and pictures. I dislike graphic novels with too much text and this book gets the balance just right. Although this is heart wrenching in places, the author gives us hope by showing us his own family and trying to reconcile his relationship with his mother. He really shows that he loved her despite the hardship. He also shows his own capacity for love and forgiveness in a really poignant way. I really appreciate the opportunity I have had to review this.

Copy provided by Boom! Studios and Archaia publications via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I've never read a graphic novel before but wanted to read this one because of the plot. This was heart breaking, raw, but real . It made me tear up in the end. It was extremely intense and the author was very open in speaking about his abuse, drugs, and poverty. His struggle with his mother broke my heart as well because you know she just wants the best for her son but she is struggling herself in trying to be happy. Overall, I enjoyed this and thought it was quite powerful.

This graphic novel had a powerful perspective. This is told with heartbreaking truths and uncertainty about the present and future. I think this is an interesting graphic novel that will bring a wave of thoughts to the reader.

Mike has a way of bringing you into the story through graphics and narration. I would definitely go back and read sections to figure out a different outlook because of the easiness of just writing his mom off as a "bad" person.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like this hit me too hard. I identify with so many of the situations that he was in, and that was hard to see. But necessary. The way he showed us how hard and difficult his situation was, was so raw, it moved me in so many ways.
Everything in this is exactly what this type of abuse looks like. The conflicted feeling of hating and loving your abuser, his anger, the feeling that you just can't take it anymore...
I would recommend to everyone, especially those who have kids and/or have been in this situation

Raw and emotional, Mike Hawthorne's graphic memoir is a vivid account of poverty, abuse, redemption and growing up in America as a Puerto Rican.

Keeping up with 2020 as my year of wild literary explorations, "Happiness Will Follow" was my first ever graphic memoir. I was pleasantly surprised how deeply personal it felt to read it, even though it didn't have pages upon pages of literary descriptions. I could feel Mike's fear, pain, desperation and hope through the pages, and that's how you know it's a good memoir. Most importantly, even though my life story is completely different from his in every way, I could honestly relate to his feelings as I read.

Mike Hawthorne totally nailed this genre for me - both with his pointed selection of memories but also the graphics. Hawthorne is a skilled and dynamic illustrator. However, something I found quite confusing was how he illustrated himself - he looked so different across pages that I wasn't really sure if it was him, and it's not just the portrayal of aging, but simply a dissimilar face, I also wished he had explored the theme of gender a bit more because when we're reunited with a character towards the end (you will know who I mean), it's a bit confusing. But perhaps the author meant it to be that way to display his own feelings.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So filled with honesty about his life, struggles and especially his mother, Mike Hawthorn has written/drawn an harrowing tale. Yet as the title acknowledges, growth and happiness can arise from the ashes. From a family history filled with lies through the horror of poverty and life on the streets. While I can't say that I enjoyed reading the book., I came away from it with a new appreciation of the rigors and the strength of character that it takes to make it through. Highly recommended!

Happiness Will Follow is a graphic novel memoir that illustrates Michael Hawthorne's relationship and life with his mother Blanca. This is essentially a book about a man full of grief and his unresolved thoughts about his mother. Michael and his mother's relationship reminded me of Juan and his mother's relationship in the movie Moonlight. In Moonlight, Paula tells Juan, "You're my only. I'm your only." This message resonates in Happiness Will Follow.

The art in the novel is VERY impressive. Each panel is full of detail and expresses the heaviness the characters feel in their faces, symbolism in the backgrounds. The artist's style reminds me of The Boondocks, which is also what initially attracted me to request this book.

The memoir jumps back and forth between scenes from the past to the present. I usually appreciate this story-telling style, but the sequence of events just doesn't flow naturally. The title of the book isn't fitting. It didn't seem like "happiness followed" for neither Michael and Blanca. By the time the novel ended, there are still a lot of unresolved feelings. What exactly was it with the cursed shoe? What exactly happened to Sophia? How does the author resolve his feelings that he's a curse? The ending does is not a solid resolution.

An excellent spikey memoir, beautifully illustrated, which had me instantly hooked.

You could call this book an autobiography of sorts, but it's much more a biography of the author's mother, and a reckoning with the complex relationship they had. His mother, Blanca, is Puerto Rican, and she does her best to make ends meet while living in New York. His father has disappeared long before the author is born, the only thing that lingers is a surname. There is a half-sister from a different father, who is fifteen years older than Mike. To say this little family is poor, would be an understatement. Every single day is a fight to live, while dealing with waves of racist abuse.

But Blanca is more complex than "just" a strongwilled woman trying to survive. She hits her son, soon resorting to closed fists. When it turns out Mike's sister is gay, Blanca throws her out. She gets involved with dealing drugs, while trying to keep Mike away from drugs and gangsters. She cuts off contact with most of her Puerto Rican family, effectively also cutting off Mike's familial contact.

A lot of these actions are terrible, and the author acknowledges this. But his careful portrayal of his mother makes the reader see how she was a lone parent trying not to drown in an utterly hopeless situation. And when you think you have the measure of the woman, new information is revealed that again flips everything. It's a full, rounded portrait of a human being, with a deep, loving side, and a cruel, angry side.

If I have one criticism, it is that Hawthorne feels the need at the end of the book to make this explicit, directly addressing the reader and asking him or her to not think of Blanca in good or bad terms. It's totally unnecessary, as far as I'm concerned. I wish Hawthorne had more confidence in his storytelling skills, and more confidence in his readers. It's all already there, on the page.

The book is heartwrenching, and incredibly engrossing (I started reading just to get a taster, and soon found I had read half the book in one go). I absolutely loved the art, beautifully detailed, with extra focus on facial expressions (the facial art reminded me of Tim Sale, in places).

I can't recommend this book enough.

3 stars

This memoir tells the story of Hawthorne's mother Blanca more than his own story. It is about her abuse towards her son and their struggle in poverty. It is a very human story as in Hawthorne tries to show the nuance in each person, why they made the choices they did (and whether it really was a choice). No good and bad. Just the complicated relationship between Hawthorne and his mother. But Hawthorne does not downplay the abuse either. He knows she should not have done it but it happened.

The graphic novel is beautifully illustrated. I really liked how colours helped express certain emotions, especially anger.

Trigger warning for abuse.

Thankyou Netgalley for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

This story was still something great and I'm emotional from reading it

A very strong life story told in the form of a graphic novel about life as a poor, struggling Puerto Rican in the US. This tells the story of lies, family ties (and lack of), abuse, helplessness, and anger. I truly felt like this graphic novel transported me into the depressive situation of the life story!