All of it is delicately balancing wry humor (such as about coffee shops with silly names he visits daily) with poignancy. Much of this is very moving at one point his young nephew says he wants to see him more, and it is a poignant moment. Then someone close to him gets sick-okay, it's cancer-so he needs to learn how to make connections there this pushes him, makes it urgent. But he knows this is not enough for her, nor for him. She's an oncologist, so he begins to ask her about that work, though-given his well-ingrained personality-his inclination is just to joke around a bit and have sex. He has had girlfriends, he has had a couple friends, but he is most connected to his sister, his nephew, and his mom, who understand him as socially distant though friendly, but they too know he needs to make real and deeper connections with humans.Īt one point he meets and begins dating a woman, though he doesn't yet know how to talk with her. The guy has problems relating to people, doesn't know how to have conversations that get beyond the surface level, but he really wants to. I am told this is semi-autobiographical, as it features a guy who does illustration/art for a living. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.One of my top ten graphic novels of the year, In, a first graphic novel by Will McPhail, whose work is best known in the US through his New Yorker cartoons, maybe.

He is a two-time winner of the Reuben Award for cartooning, and his debut, In, was the first graphic novel to win the Betty Trask Prize. Will McPhail has been contributing cartoons, sketchbooks, and humor pieces to The New Yorker since 2014. “The visuals are scrumptious and the yearning for personal connection is deeply relatable…McPhail presents with style and grace, deftly moving the story along with subtle, impactful visual cues…Gorgeous.”-Kirkus Reviews . “A sharply observed, funny, and achingly poignant examination of a subject widely understood yet rarely described, rendered subtle and playful, and made wonderfully new.”-The Paris Review McPhail’s witty and moving work shows the high stakes of small, everyday connections by affording a glimpse of a time when it’s too late to make them.”-The Wall Street Journal

If you’d like to receive the Zoom link for this event, please email us at with the subject line “Scottish Bound Book Club”.Ī poignant and witty graphic novel by a leading New Yorker cartoonist, following a millennial’s journey from performing his life to truly connecting with people We will meet up on Thursday, April 20th to discuss.

Please join us in reading IN for our second book selection of the year.

In will mcphail review