The Weight

"This quiet, powerful volume, clocking in at almost 600 pages, collects mini comics that Melissa Mendes has been creating since 2015. Drawn simply but delicately, in black-and-white, symmetrically tiered comics, the story follows Edie, a spirited girl born on a rural farm in the 1930s. After barely surviving her father’s domestic abuse, she eventually comes to live with her loving grandparents, but the cycle seems to start anew when, at 17, she finds herself pregnant. In this immersive, atmospheric work, Mendes expertly captures the beauty and pain of growing up in the countryside, alongside the rhythms of the natural world."