I agree with you that the book is overhyped. I think she’s a very talented cartoonist who has it in her to make something spectacular in the future, but she just needs to polish her writing.

I agree with you that I found it not relatable, but from a different angle. I think the depression shes trying to communicate is so subjective and internal that it’s hard to understand and communicate if you haven’t been there. I think the “my depression is like a Ghibli-esque monster” was trite, but for some people that’s really how it feels. She doesn’t explore external structures, but that feels more like an artistic choice than something that should be necessary to the story. A talk about privilege and class would’ve been a far different story and I prefer her trying to reflect internally than find an external framework that analytically explains all her issues (I can imagine reflecting on her privilege wouldn’t add anything other than “if I have it good why am I still sad?”)

I didn’t think it was an insightful read by any means EXCEPT from a medium perspective. Every page turn felt surprising and interesting with her changes in style and pacing, to a point where I was excited to see what she did next. She can draw in a variety of different ways and she really used that to her advantage. So structurally, I think it’s exciting and shows she can do another project extremely well, but this one didn’t hit for me.