Impossible people A completely average recovery story

The title of Wertz's (not) "completely average recovery story" comes from something her friend Jen told her, a caution against struggling through her recovery alone, avoiding advice and introspection. "Change is impossible under those circumstances. The world is full of impossible people, don't be another one of them." Opening with Wertz being told by a doctor to seek treatment for her drinking and popping into the liquor store instead, this graphic memoir could be Wertz's years-later response to Jen's words. Wertz's style is finely honed, capturing in crisp black and white both the architectural backdrops (the star of Tenements, Towers & Trash, 2017) in cartoon Julia's tiny apartment, New York environs, and sewer-y urban exploring adventures; and Julia herself, who appears in most frames and whom Wertz draws as a big-eyed, childlike character in slight contrast to those around her. Dialogue matches the task at hand here, going deep and often pulling laughs, too, making those particularly stunning backdrops an enjoyable respite for readers to stop and take it all in. Surprising, difficult, beautiful, brutal, and not at all impossible.

A cartoonist wrestles with sobriety in this forthright, wickedly funny graphic memoir by Wertz (Tenements, Towers, & Trash). While pursuing a career she loves and sharing a Brooklyn art studio with her buddies, Wertz attributes her regular solitary drinking to an introverted disposition. She figures she's doing okay as long as she doesn't start gulping before five p.m., even if her sporadic attempts to cold-turkey pause only last an afternoon. But after a health scare and a new kitten fail to impose hoped-for changes, Wertz turns to group therapy and a stay at a rehab facility. What follows is an episodic chronicle of small victories and defeats recounted in a breezily self-deprecating tone, as new habits and coping mechanisms collide with hurricanes, sketchy landlords, a rocky romance with a literal car-crash of a breakup, and the death of a friend. Wertz's punch lines are as perfectly timed and indelicate as ever, and she's augmented her trademark candor with probing insight. There are glimpses into Wertz's childhood trauma, and one of the best supporting characters is her brother, Josh, who has his own addiction demons and whose unorthodox encouragement is a highlight. There's depth to her panels, too, as the relaxed, lumpy character sketches are integrated into the confident architectural detail of cityscape backdrops. Unvarnished yet buoyant, this recovery memoir presents Wertz at her wry best and is sure to recruit new fans to her scrappy, irreverent diaries of the absurd. Agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary Management. (May)

A graphic memoir about a cartoonist's struggles with alcoholism, recovery, and romance. Early on in the text, Wertz, the author of Tenements, Towers & Trash, notes that she had long been telling her doctor that she enjoyed a couple drinks every evening. It turns out she was drinking multiple bottles of wine daily. At the time, she felt like she couldn't live without it, even though she was warned that she would not live long if she continued her habit. Though the subject matter is grim, Wertz's light touch as a narrator and talent as an illustrator help the narrative avoid the down-and-out, hell-and-back pathos of so many recovery memoirs. The author was a functioning alcoholic, publishing productively and meeting deadlines, but there was not much except work and wine to fill her life. However, when she stopped drinking, at least for a while, it didn't solve her problems. In some ways, life got messier, as she forced herself out of her comfortable isolation to meet people and try to find a romantic partner. When she inevitably relapsed, it was not the end of the world but more of a learning experience. She received support from her brother (also in recovery), close friends, and other alcoholics at meetings even as she tried to minimize residual trauma as merely "a relentless series of tedious misfortunes." By any objective standard, her life improved--not only professionally (her work started to appear in the New Yorker and the New York Times), but personally as well. Refreshingly, none of this seems like a pat, cause-and-effect morality play. With her consistently engaging, well-wrought black-and-white cityscapes--native New Yorkers, in particular, will appreciate the fine details of the illustrations--Wertz captures the busyness of life, teeming with possibility, including a happy ending. Her story may be "completely average," but the way she tells and draws it is extraordinary. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.