Vic Lee's Corona Diary

Vic Lees Corona Diary stands out from the slew of 2020 inspired works. A superbly illustrated and incredibly detailed artistic journal of this dreadful year. Anyone interested in collecting memorabilia relating to 2020 and the COVID pandemic should definitely buy this wonderful book.

This is an excellent timeline for the Covid 19 pandemic. It portrays the facts of the virus in graphic novel form providing information but also the more humorous incidents during this ongoing disaster. While the author is based in London, he covers the details of the pandemic response in many other countries including America, my own country. The artwork is just amazing. I plan on buying a hard copy of this book when it's released.

Fantastic piece of memorabilia for your kids to have in years to come. Who'd have thought we'd be going down in history in 2020. Great illustrations & the perfect summary of this year

Vic Lee models through word and picture, in highly artistic form, the reflection and processing that is so important in the context of 2020. Digital applause for a text that is well done and timely.

This has been a year like no other.

Here is a book like nothing I have ever seen or read.

You would think that we would all have had enough of COVID 19, indeed I am dreading New Year’s Eve as we say goodbye to the first two waves and scan 2021 for the swell and rise of the third wave.

We can’t just dwell on the past, we have to process it and go forward with some sense of identity and reason to be encouraged.
Here is where this book works for me.

Here is a personal diary of life under the changing reality of new disclosures, advice and statistics assailing our senses everyday since we learned of Wuhan and a new virus that all too quickly became a global pandemic.

Different images, incidents and interviews from the 24 hour news feed that we endured will be with us for many years to come. Other strange news items may have past us by completely.
I think having personally been self-isolating and a follower of the media I may have become mentally oversaturated with this deadly disease. Happily, prudence, providence and protection from employer, family and friends have endured - I have not caught the virus.

This book of original and unique illustrations has captured the whole thing and brought some clarity and indeed closure. As I have seen the epidemic through Vic’s interpretation and comic touches I have felt a sense of common journey, shared struggle and an united mindset. We have shouted at the same things and struggled to make sense of the same double speak and mixed messaging. He has recorded on paper what I couldn’t express in words alone, and in the way one’s own artistic expression can be healing. By association his work has served to be transforming and cathartic for me personally.

I am indebted to the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy. I have loved the whole process of poring over the artwork, illustrations and messaging.
The black and white designs have the sense of banners carried in earlier twentieth century protests from women’s suffrage to the temperance movement. The hunger marches to CND.
I found each page unique but comfortably familiar as I learned to absorb the words and pictures. This is a complete and satisfying overview perhaps written for Vic himself initially, but most recently created and shared just for me.
I will purchase this book for myself, not as an investment to sell at at local date. It has time capsule potential but electronic books means it may always be on record for historians. I just feel it is a book to refer back to when things seem difficult or others don’t appreciate your low mood. This book for me is part of the process of re-building, and like homes in an earthquake area - may we create something that endures and stands robustly against future disaster.

Though the formatting for this ARC [and one can only hope it will be better in the purchased version] was horrible [instead of side by side, you had to scroll up and down, therefore missing a LOT of the story and it was very awkward and disjointed in spots], the art and story itself was just fantastic. Vic Lee is an extremely talented artist and it was interesting to see the Pandemic through someone else's eyes, especially one who is also an artist. His feeling come through loud and clear and it is fantastic [and also pretty frustrating]to look back through his lens and art. I highly recommend this. Very well done.

Thank you to NetGalley, Vic Lee, and Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion/Frances Lincoln for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully illustrated and what a short concise and encouraging and heartbreaking story of corona to date. This is so necessary for everyone to read in life. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I think someone in a few decades time will pick this book up and think it’s a work of fiction, I'm glad someone has documented all that’s happened over what has been the craziest year of my life - funny to look back and remember WOW THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. Will also be a great revision tool when children in many years time come to talk about the history of 2020. I loved it.

Amazing!

However, I would like to say that I am so sure this graphic read will be much better with the physical version.

Do not hesitate to read this one if you love comics and illustrations but with the basic black ink.

The dates and facts are quite accurate and relevant regarding the ongoing 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

Awesome efforts put in this one I can totally see it. Thoroughly enjoyed reading the advance reading copy.

Thank you, author and the publisher.

Vic Lee has done a fantastic job of memorializing this year and the horror of COVID.His drawing his storytelling make this a book that detail through illustrations the shocking sad year 2020 has been.A book that is perfect for everyone’s library to always remind us of this Covid year,#netgalley#quartoboks

I thought that this was very insightful and thought provoking. This journal/graphic novel kicks off from the beginning and makes some interesting and relatable observations about life during the pandemic. I thought the artwork was amazing and very interesting. It flows very well and takes your eye through the pages to pull together the experiences Vic Lee talks about. It also made looking at numbers and statistics interesting, so if you're not a fan of the statistics or political things (like myself, that stuff is scary) it's not something that is a very big part of the narrative. It's there, but it's not overwhelming.

Everyone has their own experiences having to do with the entire year of 2020 as a whole and especially with the pandemic, but I think that for the most part it feels universal - it really isn't if you get down to the nitty gritty. I liked this because it was a good reminder of that. As an American, it feels overwhelmingly American to only focus on what is happening in America and I was actually happy to see little of America discussed in this (and little of Tr*mp as well) because I already know the stats and how irresponsible and scary it is over here. I was happy with seeing a different perspective from someone non-American and to have a little occasional check in about other countries as well. It's sad but refreshing, but I think that it was done is a masterful way where it wasn't so scary, which I think is also part of the reason why other countries stats aren't looked at as much (especially by myself).

Overall, I don't think there are many if any faults with this journal, after all I cannot fault someone's experience. The fact that Lee even decided to share this, I applaud that. I feel like this is apart of history now and I'm so happy with that. I always ask "who writes history?" and I believe that this is a good answer to that question; us, we don't write history, we document it.

This is a wonderfully illustrated diary of the first 6 months of the Coronavirus. It was accurate of everything that happened. It was also was interesting to see the perspective of someone living in Europe, since I have lived in the mess of the United States. I would look for other books to see if the author continues through the duration of the virus.

This book is gorgeous Vic Lee's Art is something that I found myself zooming in to look closer at pieces. Because It is so intricate.
But I also found myself surprised by how far away January of this year feels, part of me feels like March was just a little while ago. But when confronted with the newslines we were hearing in January and February, as well as the early headlines of the pandemic. It's easy to realize how desensitized we have become to these headlines after nearly a year.

As an American it is also interesting to see how similarly and differently things affecting people living in a different country.

Vic Lee's Corona Diary 2020 is a personal diary / graphic novel focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Lee chronicles this unprecedented period with hand-drawn typography and illustrations that displays the initial news from Wuhan and the eventual declaration of a global pandemic by WHO to the economic fallout. I consider this book to be a telling book filled with details that are collectively-felt emotions and experiences.

It is a stimulating book. Due to being on the Spectrum, it is a bit over-stimulating for me. However, I feel like this book is necessary to read. It certainly made me feel less isolated.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I was not familiar with Vic Lee's work, so I was unprepared for the complexity that I found. Each page is full of such skill and impact that it can be returned to again and again. While he claims it is simply one person's experience, Lee has documented the details of this bizarre time for readers in many places around the globe. Also, he encourages others to try to create a visual diary like he did. While a fascinating challenge, it is clear that "just doing what Vic Lee did" is nearly impossible. This is more than a diary; it is a true work of art that creates a window into 2020. When we find ourselves on the other side, and certainly as future generations look back, we can point to Vic Lee's Corona Diary and say, "This is what it was."

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. This was...exhausting to read, mainly because it's all so fresh, and not even close to over yet. I felt like I took a pill that contained a condensed version of 2020, and it hit me like a brick wall. This was heavily compounded by the art; the haphazard mural-style drawings almost made me feel just as free-falling as the pandemic itself. This was...a lot.

Well done and I expect we'll be seeing a lot of "my life in 2020"-type publications in the next couple of years, and this certainly set the bar high. The writing itself was sometimes really hard to read to the point I just couldn't make out certain words, and this happened on too many pages to be ignorable. I read this as squinty-eyed as the day is long, which only added to the exhaustion once it was all said and done.

That being said, it was definitely worth the read.

Vic Lee's Corona Diary 2020 is among the first (of likely hundreds if not thousands) personal diaries to be published and it exceeded my expectations. Lee mixed personal milestones and experiences with what was occurring locally in the UK as well as globally. Living in the U.S. I appreciated seeing his entries and illustrations of the U.S. alongside what was happening elsewhere in the world. While we've all lived through this hyper aware of each day's news about the Coronavirus, the days have blended together. It's hard enough to keep my own local and national news in order without trying to remember what was happening elsewhere in the world.

It was a bit depressing reading this book in the midst of an out-of-control second wave of the coronavirus. The book finished on a relatively positive note before Covid-fatigue and selfish actions caused this unprecedented rise in cases that we're experiencing in December 2020. While this is true, I imagine this is a book that will become even more valuable as time passes for a unique, personal take on the events in the first 6 months of this pandemic as they unfolded.

This interesting graphic journal of the Coronavirus is really interesting now but will be even more valuable as we get enough time away from this and our perspectives become more fully shaped. The art reminded me of classic, political cartoons mixed with, like, almost band posters. Each page is a full rendering of Lee’s thoughts and impressions as the pandemic unfolded across the world. It’s deeply personal and also a reflection of a global event.

The art is almost overwhelming at times, and I really appreciated that. It perfectly embodies the overwhelming feelings of people as things change daily and things we knew months ago seem like a lifetime ago.

It’s out on Tuesday, and I think I’ll be revisiting it in a year or two to see if my opinion changes, how my experiences this year will influence my thoughts about this work and the larger world.

Wow. Just wow. This graphic novel is stunning in both illustrations and content. Stunning content as in wtf is wrong with the world and the staggering facts, figures and statistics of the Corona Virus. Stunning visually with bold black and white ink that decorates each page. This graphic novel chronicles major and lesser events from the start of the virus in January to about July of 2020. As an artist, Vic Lee's perspective on the virus made me both want to cry and smile at times. He shows the good (healthcare workers, frontline responders and general good deeds done), the bad (the stupidity of some people since Corona beer sales dropped, people trying to crash trains into ships, the loss of jobs) and the ugly (politics, the obsession with toilet paper, the disregard of mask and social distancing mandates).

Vic Lee is super talented artistically and obviously was staying up to date on daily news. As an American, it was interesting to see a British perspective on this global pandemic. I wish I had done a visual diary through "these unprecedented times" since it creates such a powerful statement. I am sure this will become a staple testament for this time in history.

As a teacher, I LOVE the ending of this novel. I very much want to use this in my classroom and have the open end spark students to start their own visual journal. This will pair nicely with 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson.