This is a young adult and up-level graphic novel with language and content that may be too rough for middle grade readers. Manga fans will snap this up, and booktalk this with books like Elizabeth Partridge’s National Book Award nominee, Boots on the Ground. It’s atmospheric, but often left me struggling to figure out what was going on and where. The manga-inspired artwork is dark and often muddy. The story is strong, although I struggled with the artwork. Readers will see our vets reflected in Jun and her fellow homeless vets.

Basic human kindness angers her – she initially rebuffs the woman who runs a food stand, because she’s so unused to humane gestures. She’s angry, she’s in pain, and the only thing that seems to take the edge off is drugs. Jun gives us a chance to glimpse into a vet’s psyche: beaten down, haunted by her memories, and physically broken, she’s been left behind by the people she thought she went off to defend. Set in a fictional, Hong Kong-inspired city, PTSD chooses a gritty, urban futuristic landscape to tell the story of a veteran who went off to fight a war, and came home to indifference. When she connects with a single mom running a food booth, and a fellow vet and his dog, Red, Jun begins to heal and works toward helping her fellow vets heal. Alone, desperate, and suffering from wounds both mental and physical, she seeks relief in the illicit. She’s mentally and physically broken, finding relief in the drugs she’s addicted to. Guillaume Singelin - 'After returning home from an unpopular war, Jun becomes an outsider in an indifferent world. 2019, First Second), $24.99, ISBN: 9781626723184Ī veteran home from an unpopular war, Jun is an outsider whose fate is similar to many of our own vets in the here and now.

PTSD by Guillaume Singelin