Raised by Ghosts by Briana Loewinsohn. Fantagraphics, 2025. 97988755000508. 216pp. At the end there’s a section on how to fold notes three different ways, “I made you a mixtape, hope you like it,” and a selection of VHS tapes titled “Pick your favorite three movies and tell me what you think.”
Briana is alone at school and at home. In class she doesn’t fit in and has trouble paying attention; at home she’s like a ghost, haunting a house where her parents are barely present. Just at the end of middle school she makes a friend and things improve a bit. She finds her people. High school is about writing notes and trying to make sense of her father, who rarely leaves his room, and her unpredictable mother. Briana has an incredible amount of freedom because no one is paying attention to her or what she’s doing (other than the teachers whose assignments she doesn’t do).
Briana’s story is partially told in journal entries and partially via comics. Her story was both devastating and easy to relate to. It’s rare for me to find a coming-of-age story that reminds me of parts of my childhood as specifically as this one did. When I finished it I needed to sit in the dark, alone, for a bit.
Fantagraphics’ website says this graphic novel is semi-autobiographical, but it couldn’t feel more real. It covers Briana’s middle and high school years (with an emphasis on the latter) in the 1990s.
