Halfway There is a fantastic coming of age graphic novel. This graphic novel handles timely and sensitive topics such as identity and mental health in a relatable way. Great illustrations and well written. Recommended for all YA graphic novel collections.

Christine has always felt half - half American, half Japanese. And the world around her never lets her forget it either. In America, she feels 'other.' She wonders, if she had stayed in Japan, where she was born, would she feel more whole? So, when it comes time to go to college, she decides to spend a year in Japan. Will Japan hold all the answers to her questions about herself? Or is finding yourself more complicated than that?
A great book about growing up, culture, and finding yourself.

This book is an interesting look at how being half of one culture half of another effects people. For all her life Christine has never fit into American or Japanese culture, she's always half this or half that. Being biracial has left her feeling like she doesn't belong in either place.

She takes a trip to Tokyo in hopes of finding herself and a place she can fit in. But Tokyo isn't the answer she thought it would be. Instead she finds herself feeling out of place with her lack of Japanese language understanding and the fact that she's still considered half by the people she meets in Japan.

This leads to a deep depression in which she has to find her way, and what it really means to call a place home. I enjoyed this book, and you can tell the feeling that was put into every page.

The authors story is interesting and engaging and brings up several interesting points such as the way biracial people fit in society. She also brings up what it means to call a place home, and the importance of support from your family. This book reminds me of Himawari House by Harmony Becker. It also addresses fitting in in different cultures.

I'd recommend this book for teens who are having trouble finding their place in the world. For the art and the content, four stars.

Halfway There was an excellent graphic novel. I loved the characters, the illustrations were well done, and the text was easy to read.

I thought this title was a great example of someone living with depression. The author portrayed their experience of not fitting in anywhere--either too Japanese or too white. I think it really makes the reader empathize.

I will be recommending this book to my patrons if the library purchases it.

Wow, Halfway There hit me right in the feels. Christine Mari’s story of navigating her biracial identity and trying to figure out where she belongs was so raw and real—I felt it deep in my bones. The way she captures that feeling of being “in between” two cultures was just so real.

The art was beautiful and complemented the story perfectly. I was tearing up by the end because it made me feel so seen. If you’ve ever struggled with identity or belonging, this graphic memoir will absolutely resonate. Highly recommend!

Touching and revealing memoir about the author and her experiences as a half-Japanese, half-American woman coming of age while simultaneously dealing with both depression and her lifelong uncertainty about her own ethnic and cultural identity. Intense and intimate with an appealing art style. For readers who cannot identify with the angst of being hapa, the more universal themes of trying to find yourself as you shift from childhood (where success is easy to quantify and largely universally agreed upon) to the far more ambiguous definitions of adult success should still appear. Trigger warnings are needed for depression, self harm, and suicidal ideation

For anyone who wonders where they belong, this book for them. It's a coming of age story about who you are and who you become. It was really good.

Halfway There was an excellent exploration of how one's identity can be so closely tied to their self-worth. Christine's dive into depression due to her lack of identity was sad but understandable, but I appreciated the hopeful end.

“…morning always comes and a new day is waiting.”
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Author and illustrator Christine Mari shares her story of a teen struggling with self-identity as a girl with a white parent and a Japanese one. She decides to study Japanese abroad where she can learn more about that side of herself. However, once there, Tokyo isn’t the answer she was looking for. She doesn’t fit in, she’s not good at learning the language, and she’s singled out as a hafu. While struggling with her mental health, Christine learns what being herself looks like.
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This was such a great YA graphic novel memoir by Christine Mari that many students will connect with. Through a year we see Christine grapple with several issues from connecting with her family to going to therapy for the first time to her interpersonal relationship struggles and more. This was such a poignant story out now.

CW: mental illness, panic attacks, racial slurs, racism, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, grief, suicide attempt, xenophobia, confinement, injury, emotional abuse, dysphoria

I think when it comes to self-identity, no matter if you were biracial or not, everyone struggles with finding who they are and their purpose in life. I can somewhat relate to this memoir as I am Chinese American and at times when interacting with my parent’s family, it seems I am not Chinese enough for them; I was often called jook-sing (竹升), which roughly translates to someone who was born in the West or someone who identifies with the Western culture than traditional Chinese culture. I’ve learned the values of manners and small Asian customs like rejecting red envelopes when someone gives them to you until you accept it the second time or opening the red envelope in private and not in front of others or else it would seem rude and unmannered. But when it comes to Western standards, I have learned that respecting elders does not mean much to me anymore, especially those who have done me wrong and don’t deserve my respect because of their inhumane actions. It would seem like I have a mixture of both, all mixed together in a melting pot and became something of its own. So somewhat a complete opposite of author Mari’s experience, haha…

It is sad to see that it is a hard topic to talk about because self-identity is something most people struggle with especially when you don’t come from the mother land. With the modern world being interracial and living in different countries for work purposes, I can see how this can be a relatable content for future generations when more and more will be mixed race as people interrogate into society.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy for review!

A really fantastic account of one girl's identity crisis. A part of the immigrant experience that those who live in American struggle with is figuring out who they belong with, in terms of people, culture, and personality. Christine didn't feel like she fit in with her American classmates, but nor did she feel like she belonged in Japan either. One of her biggest issues is with the phrase "hafu," which is slang for being half one ethnicity and half another. This "hafu" sense of self is widely romanticized and desired in Japan, and it definitely sends our narrator into a downward spiral into some major mental health issues. The art was beautiful and evocative, and I raced through the story!

I love graphic novels and this was such a special story that I really enjoyed. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

I think this story will resonate with many readers, particularly those of mixed ancestry. I also appreciated the authors willingness to discuss her struggles with depression and how that was linked to her identity, or what she felt like was a lack of identity. The artwork was beautiful and I loved the colors.

In this graphic memoir, Christine Mari recounts her year of studying abroad in Japan. Being half American and half Japanese, she didn't feel like she belonged in either world. She hopes that studying in Japan would help her sense of identity, but instead, she finds herself spiraling into a depression. It's all she can do to stay afloat until the end of the year, to figure out who she really is.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Ink for an advanced copy of Halfway There by Christine Mari to review! There have been quite a few graphic novel memoirs around this similar topic in the YA realm recently, but they all read so differently. This book especially focuses on Mari's mental health, and learning how to cope with it.

One of the strongest themes throughout this is the worry about not having everything figured out the first year of college. It's a misconception that everyone immediately knows what they want to do when they get to college, and Christine worries about this throughout the book. The fact that she doesn't seem to have any one thing that stands out as what she wants to do for the rest of her life. It's a worry that the targeted teen audience will definitely identify with, especially those getting ready to go to college.

There's also an important analysis of what it is to biracial and not feeling accepted by either culture. I especially appreciate the way that Mari outlines the different ways she's viewed in the US vs. Japan, and how that contributes to her mental health. It's well written, and written in a way that's relatable to the audience.

The art is just as well done as the writing, pulling the reader into the story immediately. An excellent addition to the growing number of YA graphic memoirs.

Absolutely STUNNING book. I cried my eyes out!!!! The art is beautiful and the writing is profound and the discussions of mental health are nuanced. I want to gift this book to every teenager I know.

Halfway There is a graphic memoir about the authors struggles with anxiety, depression and identity. This was an incredible and deeply thoughtful book. The authors depiction of depression really resonated with me and her journey of sef acceptance is something that many readers will identify with.

While I appreciate this work, I don't know if I really enjoyed it. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mind for such an up-close look at depression and struggling with your identity. The artwork is great, but it's mainly monochromatic bluish-purple coloring with a splash of red or pink occasionally. I would have preferred either full color or for the coloring to relate directly to Christine's mental health throughout the story.

I had high expectations for this graphic memoir as a fellow Japanese and white (American) woman. Yet for some reason, and maybe this is simply a timing issue, I felt mostly sad reading it. The author's depression was apparent before it was directly addressed, and I couldn't help but spend much of the book feeling sorry for her. It is likely that at a different point in my life I would have been right there with her and would have felt seen by this and our shared experiences. Instead, I feel almost motherly (older sister-ly?) in my reading of this. There's a part of me that wanted to reach in and tell her, "Hey, it doesn't always have to feel like this. Things can be different! You can be you in your unique way and that is always enough!" That might be the therapist part of me... In fact, the author (as portrayed in this graphic memoir) pretty much fits the description of my "ideal" client in that I love working with mixed folks around intersecting identities. So I guess you could say that my intersecting identities showed up to read this and experienced it in a multitude of ways.

As a girl whose grandma is from Japan, I felt like I could connect to this book a little bit. Especially when I know my mom dealt with discrimination from not being American or Japanese enough. This book grappled that topic as well as self identity issues and depression incredibly well. I loved the supportful relationship between the grandma and our main character. The art style was pretty too!