tina-beebz:

David Beauchard’s graphic autobiography “Epileptic” is a visually striking and emotionally intense read. Beauchard chronicles his family struggles with his brother’s epileptic condition. As an epileptic, I found myself feeling both extreme comfort and anxiety during the read. It’s so difficult to describe what it’s really like to have a seizure. I’ve often tried to sit down and write out some appropriate prose and failed, set the writings to the side and let them gather dust. Beauchard accomplishes very moving illustrations on what it looks like to have a seizure. I found myself both relating to the brother who was victimized by grand mal seizures, the same kind I have suffered from, and also the narrator, who as a child, fell into the same worlds of his own drawings as I once had.

The graphic novel is superb, and I wonder why it doesn’t garner the some scholarly attention of other graphic biographies such as “Persepolis” or “Maus”, as it deals with both emotional and political issues. For many who are unaware of epilepsy and know only of it as a joke to make paired with flashing lights, it’s very educational, and I think after reading it, you’ll understand just how much epilepsy isn’t a joke. For epileptics, I definitely would say it’s a pleasant and touching must read.