I Am Only a Foreigner Because You Do Not Understand
What do you do when you don't feel like you?
Author: Nichols, L.
Year first published: 2023
Original Language: English
Genre: LGBTQ, Memoir
The best way I can think to describe this book is raw. I know that word gets thrown around a lot, but that's the best way I can put it. It's a raw, emotional, heavily visceral look into the life of the artist, L Nichols, and their journey as a queer and trans individual. And by visceral, I mean that in the visual sense as well. The casual abuse thrown their way from family and relative, their feelings about their body and how they present themself to the world.
It's not a very long read, but it is very heavy, and speaks of the alienation they have felt through their life, and discovery of who they are. The text is sparse and the art is a gut punch steeped in turmoil and personal traumas, and how they've grown and learned and lived through it all.
This page in particular felt like a punch to the face, because I get it. I'm not trans, but I do have chronic illness that makes my body sometimes just feel...wrong to me.
The book is incredibly relatable to anyone who's ever felt isolated and uncomfortable in their own skin, both literally and metaphorically. Simply reading about someone's opinion of this very personal peek into the artist's mind does it a disservice. If you can get ahold of it, and can handle a bit of gore and body horror, I recommend giving it a read.
Review posted 2024/02/22