Notes from a Sickbed

Brunton (Passage) alternates whip-smart humor with searing emotional honesty in this graphic novel memoir about living with myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. Over a five-year period, Brunton’s condition worsens, forcing her to stop working, avoid social gatherings, and curtail her artistic ambitions. Told through a series of vignettes and infused with a fanciful tone—items often magically appear at Brunton’s bedside, including a book titled Mr. Dead’s Guide to Scaring the Living, which she uses to imagine herself as a ghost pestering loud neighbors—Brunton casts her situation in a wryly funny light without shying away from feelings of frustration, anger, and despair. Despite misgivings about potential health effects, she begins work on a graphic novel and makes plans to visit Disneyland for research, a seemingly impossible endeavor that Brunton is adamant to see through. Loose b&w line art renders busy, intensely detailed indoor settings that closely mirror the creator’s feelings and mood at each life stage. Brunton’s varying hair lengths denote the passage of time as she details her experiences with unpredictable symptoms, misdiagnoses, and a fierce pursuit of her wants, making for a revelatory look into one person’s experience managing a chronic condition. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)