Parenthesis by Élodie Durand

I got Élodie Durand’s Parenthesis at the Graphic Medicine conference last July, after the graphic memoir won the 2022 Graphic Medicine Award from the Graphic Medicine International Collective to honor the best comic project that was finished or published in 2021. In actuality, the book was first released in French in 2010, and an English translation followed in 2021.

The author describes her experience with epilepsy brought on by a brain tumor when she was in her twenties, as well as related experiences like memory loss, drug therapy, radiosurgery, partial vision and balance loss, but also recovery and rediscovery of the joy of life and its possibilities. Throughout the book, Durand frequently refers to her mother as though she were consulting her about details of her condition that she found difficult to recall.

The inclusion of sketches the author made while ill and recovering added to the vulnerability shown throughout the entire piece:

The book is just another illustration of how graphic medicine can accommodate a wide range of narratives. Like most memoirs and disease-related stories, it had a profound emotional impact on me, and I believe this is due to the sense of closure that writing a memoir may bring.

The memoir has been well-received by numerous audiences. It has won multiple awards, including the Revelation Prize, the Liberation Readers' Prize, and Poland Prize from the Angoulême International Comics Festival.