Growing up in the US, Mari always felt *other*—half Japanese and half American, born in one country but raised in another, part of her wondered whether she'd have fit in better if her family had stayed in Japan. And as a young adult, she had a chance to try out a different life for herself: she moved to Japan to study abroad, to buff up her Japanese, and to see if Tokyo was a place—THE place—she could be the person she dreamed of being.

But as so often happens: wherever you go, there you are. Some things about Tokyo were just what Mari remembered or envisioned or loved—and other things were just like being in the US again but the reverse, and she didn't develop magical fluency in Japanese overnight, and, well, being a young adult is hard.

I picked this up partly because I have no resistance, natural or acquired, to moving-abroad books (whether expat or moving-back-to-homeland or otherwise), and partly because of the cover (read: I am shallow)—how pretty is that cover? The art inside is simpler, but still pretty, done largely in shades of grey and purple. I may eventually look up Mari's earlier travelogue about time spent in Tokyo as a teenager, but it looks like her art style has matured a lot since then, and for the time being I'm pretty happy keeping the art from "Halfway There" foremost in my memory.

Not always a happy memoir, but one that will resonate with teens and young adults who are struggling to find their way and their place in a world that doesn't always feel welcoming.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

I haven't cried this hard with a book for a minute. As a content warning, this graphic novel discusses SH and depression, though no SH is depicted in the art. As a 100% Caucasian person in the US, I feel like I can't speak much on the main bulk of the story: being half Japanese, half American, except to say that the way it is discussed made it easy for me to understand the struggle of being "mixed" ethnicity from an outside perspective. Christine quite openly and honestly explains her experience, and paired with a beautiful artistic style, I felt the turmoil. The other aspect that's heavily explored in this story is depression, a topic I can definitely speak on. She captured the essence of depression and the struggles of working through it so perfectly with her words and pictures. I feel a sort of kinship with her that I wasn't expecting to get from this book. I highly recommend this book.

I thought this book was quite beautiful. The art was gorgeous, and the emotional journey was well written. YA graphic novels don't have too many graphic memoirs compared to middle grade. So this is definitely a good recommendation to have in my pocket. I can't wait for it to be out in the fall that way I can buy it in print!

Halfway There is a really interesting graphic novel that explores being a young biracial American as well as mental health struggles for the main protagonist. This was a really well done book, and the illustrations were super clear at conveying emotions and concepts. It was A LOT more intense than I thought it would be. At some point the focus of the book seemed to be less on the main character's heritage and more on her depression and mental health. This isn't a bad thing, but it is good to know going in that this is not a relaxing read.

That being said, I think it did handle that subject matter really well, and I loved the relationships between the main character and her family. That was super sweet! Thanks to NetGalley, Christine Mari, and Little, Brown Books for the opportunity to read and review. My opinions are my own.

I got an ARC of this book.

I really liked the art and the focus of this memoir. The feeling of other, because of a part of you that you can't change. I am a white man, so I can't speak on the race aspects. I do however have a lot of other idenitites where I got feelings that seemed to be similar to Mari. These feelings hit hard. I felt so intensely for her. I wanted her to find a place she felt at home and without the burden of others trying to define her or call her less than.

While this was an engaging read, it is hard to call it fun. The topic was intense and the depths of Mari's depression was difficult to read. It was an important story. It just was one that needed time to sit with and really be in the feelings versus many other graphic novel memoirs.

I don't think I know Mari any better now, which can be a downside to memoirs that can make them rated lower. In this case, I feel like it was a bonus. I learned about some intense feelings and complications to her identity, but I didn't learn her. She was not the focus. This outside pressure was. It was really well done.

Christine Mari shares her struggle with identity and depression in this coming of age graphic memoir. Her whole life she’s felt like an outsider, she’s had people tell her she’s not really Japanese because she can’t even speak the language. Christine decides it’s time to go back to her roots, she says goodbye to her fiends and family to study abroad in Japan. As it turns out Japan isn’t exactly what she was hoping, instead of fitting in and finding herself she feels even more confused, and lonely.

I want to thank NetGalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The author does a good job at showing the mental struggle of not feeling whole, I feel like a lot of biracial people could relate to the things Christine has gone through. I personally felt myself relating to her mental health journey, understanding you have depression and feeling guilty for even having these feelings is very difficult. Especially when you feel so alone in the world even though you’re surrounded by people.

“In the end language doesn’t matter, I just want to hear your voice”

The relationship the author has with her grandmother was touching, and I’m very proud of Christine for reaching out and asking for help.

I definitely recommend this to anyone struggling right now, you’re not alone and it’s okay to ask for help!!

⚠️Trigger warnings⚠️
-Heavy talks of depression
-Self H*rm

There was a lot to relate to for me, unsurprisingly since I share a lot of identities with the author/mc, but the start of the book had me worried that it'd be too niche to be relatable to many, and that it also might just not have anything fresh to add to the ya graphic memoir category. It went in a bit of an unexpected direction and veered away from just focusing on the mixed kid identity crisis though and addressed depression, which I think probably ended up being the stronger piece of the story. I do wish the language barrier she had with her family was explored further though.