Reviews

Fights: One Boy's Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill

janagaton's review against another edition

5.0

so hard to read but so worth the read

trevoryan's review against another edition

5.0

Joel Christian Gill ONLY writes/illustrated great books, OK?

geekwayne's review against another edition

5.0

'Fights: One Boy's Triumph Over Violence' with story and art by Joel Christian Gill is a graphic memoir about the author. Very graphic.

In a moving memoir, the author tells about his childhood. His father was distant, and died when the Joel was quite young. He grew up being abused and beaten by those around him, and had no one to fend for him. He learned to fight back, but he also, eventually, learned how to avoid fights.

The story is brutal in nature, but has some moments of humor. This is balanced incredibly well. This is a book for a young person in your life that may not see a way out of their circumstances. It is an amazing story of endurance and transformation.

I've been fortunate enough to read a few graphic novels that Joel Christian Gill has written. It's safe to say I'm a pretty big fan of what he does.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

breezrose's review against another edition

4.0

Spoiler

"Fights" is a heavy but very real read, and I appreciate that Gill didn’t sugarcoat his story. It reads as authentic and honest all the way through with his reflections on how he internalized his experiences from a young age and how he in turn externalized his pain in both healthy and unhealthy ways as he got older. The earlier chapters show how he perceived his experiences with loss, violence and hate through a child’s lens, and this perspective evolves over time. As a child, he describes children as sponges that soak up hurt, violence and indifference from around them, and when the sponge is full, these things spill out. He applied this analogy to his own actions and the observed actions of those around him who committed violence to him or others.

With a title like “Fights” there is plenty of physical fighting, but we also see the social and internal strife that Gill grapples with in his familial relationships, his friendships and with himself. His use of a picture when white people in the story use racial slurs is creative and conveys an element of his interactions with white people in the South in the late 70’s/early 80’s. He also uses flames and fire imagery to indicate anger and heightened emotional states which signifies choice points for Joel when he is hurt or provoked. This book is not written for the white gaze or comfort of white audiences; Gill’s story stands on its own to portray his relationship to fighting and how he worked to understand it and break the cycle of fighting in his own life. This certainly wasn’t an “easy” read, and I don’t think that it’s meant to be. However, it’s a valuable and typically untold or misrepresented story.

Especially for younger audiences, this would need a content warning for sexual abuse.

katiegrrrl's review against another edition

4.0

There was a lot of really hard stuff in this. But it shows that kids figure out how to survive, even if it shouldn’t be this hard. I also take away from this as parents we try to make our kids lives better.

thisisstephenbetts's review against another edition

4.0

Moving engaging memoir of a kid growing up in a violent and unstable environment. Recommended by Ellen.

jwinchell's review against another edition

3.0

I think this is YA that adults should read so that they better understand kids. And kids should read it so that they better understand trauma and violence that may be around them or their friends. There are some scenes of sexual abuse that are not dealt with in any real way; I would have liked for there to be some material in the back about how to get help- for the abuse or for the violence. Now that I think about how important that is, I’m dropping my review to 3 stars because I think Gill could have been more responsible to his readers. Otherwise, a compelling topic.

rothsreviews's review against another edition

4.0

The book's thesis statement (to the extent that there is one) has stuck with me since I finished it a couple days ago: "Grief washes over a person. Overwhelming. Although you can throw them a line, you should never jump in. They have to either use the line you throw them, or swim their way out. At five, I guess no one thought to throw me a line. I mostly had to get myself together. But I didn't know how to swim."

Heartbreaking and touching graphic novel about growing up around violence with little external support and trying to break those cycles.

norapalooza's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

rdyourbookcase's review against another edition

5.0

I appreciated Gill telling his story. It showed how good people can get caught up in bad situations. The ending warmed my heart, and the art was excellent.