Spellbound
A Graphic Memoir
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“Often quite funny . . . The layers of identity and story in the memoir and Som's fluid approach to representing the self, feel impressively easy, unbelabored.” —Hillary Chute, The New York Times Book Review
A Lambda Literary Award Finalist
The meticulous artwork of transgender artist Bishakh Som gives us the rare opportunity to see the world through another lens.
This exquisite graphic novel memoir by a transgender artist, explores the concept of identity by inviting the reader to view the author moving through life as she would have us see her, that is, as she sees herself. Framed with a candid autobiographical narrative, this book gives us the opportunity to enter into the author’s daily life and explore her thoughts on themes of gender and sexuality, memory and urbanism, love and loss.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Som (Apsara Engine) turns the conventional transgender memoir on its head in these witty and inventive diary-style autofiction comics, which reimagine episodes of her life played out by her cisgender quasi-avatar Anjali. Anjali acts as both a stand-in for Som before her real-life transition, and her own distinct, fully realized character. Through Anjali, Som recalls her Bengali-American upbringing, friendships and dating in N.Y.C., and how her lifelong love of art gets shunted into architecture to please her parents (nonetheless teaching her to "think expansively and sideways and diagonally"). Between flashbacks, Anjali/Som abruptly departs from a toxic architectural firm to pursue comics full-time, with the typical woes of self-setting deadlines (and lots of cooking and talking to her cat). Som's design choices display her architectural eye, from the precise layout of word balloons to crisp interiors and glowing landscapes. In the chapter "Elevator Pitch," Som recounts meeting Titania, a trans woman, at a party; as they bond and begin a relationship, the emotional consequence plays out differently for Anjali as a character than for Som herself (as she explains in an afterword). In capturing both experiences, Som distinguishes her dual narrative talents. As Anjali remarks, "I've always been this way." Creative nonfiction aficionados and fans of queer comics alike will flock to this literally transformative work.
