Summary and Reviews of Something, Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt

Something, Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt

Something, Not Nothing

A Story of Grief and Love

by Sarah Leavitt
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  • Sep 2024, 144 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

A poignant graphic memoir about the power of art to transform and heal after the death of a loved one.

In April 2020, cartoonist Sarah Leavitt's partner of twenty-two years, Donimo, died with medical assistance after years of severe chronic pain and a rapid decline at the end of her life. About a month after Donimo's death, Sarah began making comics again as a way to deal with her profound sense of grief and loss. The comics started as small sketches but quickly transformed into something totally unfamiliar to her. Abstract images, textures, poetic text, layers of watercolor, ink, and colored pencil—for Sarah, the journey through grief was impossible to convey without bold formal experimentation. She spent two years creating these comics.

The result is Something, Not Nothing, an extraordinary book that delicately articulates the vagaries of grief and the sweet remembrances of enduring love. Moving and impressionistic, Something, Not Nothing shows that alongside grief, there is room for peace, joy, and new beginnings.

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Reviews

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Structured chronologically, Something, Not Nothing reads like a diary of Leavitt's first two years after her partner's death—although, mirroring the unpredictable and non-linear quality of grief, it is not always straightforward. The narrative is full of abstract musings, fragments of memories, and stuttering run-on sentences... Leavitt's experiments with art, text, and the combination of the two reflect her navigation of the grieving process; reading the book feels like being inside her mind as she adapts to her new reality...continued

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(Reviewed by Callum McLaughlin).

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Beyond the Book



Graphic Memoirs Exploring Physical and Mental Health Struggles

In her graphic memoir Something, Not Nothing, cartoonist Sarah Leavitt chronicles her partner's declining health, her eventual death, and the immense grief that followed. The medium of graphic memoir—in which the author documents their experiences using a combination of text and artwork—can be particularly powerful when used to explore health struggles, be they physical or mental. Accessible and immersive, the form inherently explores the possibility of art as a means to process and represent pain.

Below are a few other examples of graphic memoirs with a focus on health.

Book cover of The Hospital Suite by John Porcellino The Hospital Suite by John Porcellino
After surgery to remove a tumor from his small intestine, Porcellino suffered a number of health complications, ...

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Read-Alikes

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