This is a very sweet and lovely graphic novel.

Briana Loewinsohn’s “Raised By Ghosts” is a partial autobiography about growing up. We follow a young Briana who flits between her divorced parents’ houses and struggles with connecting with people her age. We follow her from middle to high school. We see her struggle with grades. Struggle with maintaining friendships. Struggle with having absent divorced parents.

It was honestly kind of relatable for me. As a kid of divorced parents who also struggled at home for similar reasons that are detailed in this book, I really felt for Briana. When she struggles with what to do when she thinks a friend is mad at her..also relatable. It was very poignant and when Briana finds solace in art and in writing, it was just such a beautiful moment of growth.

Overall, I think this is a lovely book. I at times felt too old for some of it but I think it’s a lovely way to pass 20 minutes.

Visually this book is absolutely stunning! The drawing style is calm and melancholic and I love how the slow passing of time was visualized through the use of multiple similar drawn panels or by splitting one image into multiple panels, which really added to the sad underlying mood. I also love the title, which was the first thing that caught my eye and I find it really fitting and poetic. The structure of this book was interesting and quite unique, as most of the story is told through little notes, letters and diary entries, but because of this I struggled a bit with finding a connection with the secondary characters and sometimes I couldn't remember if they were introduced before or not.

Raised by Ghosts is an interesting take on an autobiography. It is a graphic novel told using a mix of comic panels and notes. I found it really interesting how the notes changed throughout the book, and were sometimes on different scraps of paper. I liked how her parents were never truly shown on page; just a hand, shadow, or a speech bubble at most. It really showed how alone Briana felt at times. I liked the art style for the book as well.

In this semi-autobiographical work, Briana Loewinsohn gives us a wonderful, moving account of growing up in the 1990's. Told in a mix of comic panels, and journal entries. The art is evocative, using muted colours to help portray the sadness and isolation that Briana feels.

In a time before the internet and mobile phones kept everyone connected, keeping us up to date with news and gossip at the touch of a button, Briana navigates her teenage years. She uses her art and her journalling to try and make sense of the world, and her place in it, and to combat the isolation she feels.

I haven't read Loewinsohn's other work, but Raised By Ghosts made me feel like I should immediately locate it. A haunting is loneliness, and this memoir made that all too clear. The writing itself is candid and overly aware of itself and its use. I felt the writing confined the narrator to the page a little too much, but it aided readers in understanding this loneliness as well as "ghosts" taking up space and removing the narrator's agency. This section of shared life felt very intimate and was moving to read. Thanks for the opportunity to read this important work as an e-ARC, NetGalley and Fantagraphics!

I really liked the art style and the melancholy vibes, but this one didn't really hit home with me. I feel like it needed more substance for it to really hit home.

Briana is raising herself throughout middle school and high school. Her parents are absent physically and emotionally. It’s the story of loneliness and being alone. Feeling alone even at school, in the middle of a crowd, even when in a room full of people that you think are your friends. These emotions, the way of drifting through a day, feeling completely alone and disconnected, are ones I distinctly remember from my own youth, and still sometimes feel. The beautiful art reflects the longing and insecurity of growing up.
Thank you to NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books for this DRC.
#RaisedbyGhosts #NetGalley

I feel like this will be selected as a part of the JLG, it's a brilliant combination of coming of age story in graphic novel format.

DNF'd at about a third of the way through, unfortunately, the art style did not capture my attention and I couldn't make myself continue reading.

I loved Loewinsohn's first title, Ephemera. However, I felt Raised by Ghosts lacked the same focus and insight into Loewinsohn's adolescence. It came across very superficial and rushed and ultimately, I did not feel as connected with Loewinsohn as I did with Ephemera. I do feel the message is applicable to the intended audience, so I would still recommend this title, but it is not one I would revisit.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for me to review!

I did not fully read the summary and was expecting actual ghosts, so boo to me for that. :'(

The art is sketchy and lovely, very well rendered. I like how most of the dialogue is in notes between Briana and her friends, or diary entries. The relationship with her parents could have been fleshed out further.

Overall, a very nicely designed book. Just not enough ghosts!!!