My Alcoholic Escape From Reality - Book Review

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Photo from Seven Seas Entertainment

My Alcoholic Escape From Reality was written and illustrated by Nagata Kabi and published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment on 11 May 2021. It is 136 pages long and suitable for older teen readers. It is the fourth book in Nagata Kabi's award-winning autobiographical manga series. Nagata Kabi is an award-winning Japanese manga creator who captivated the world with her autobiographical works, My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness (2017), and the Eisner-nominated sequel series, My Solo Exchange Diary (2018-2019). Nagata Kabi has been praised for sharing her quest for self-acceptance and love with her readers and exploring complex themes in her memoirs like physical and mental illness, sexuality, relationships, loneliness and family.

In this latest emotional chapter, Nagata shares the time she was hospitalised for alcoholism and pancreatitis. With her trademark honesty, Nagata reflects on her life's choices, and how she started drinking as a coping mechanism to handle stresses in her life. After she develops unbearable stomach pains, she goes to a medical clinic, where she is diagnosed with pancreatitis and immediately hospitalised. Nagata spends several weeks in hospital suffering from stomach pains, boredom, and being forced to eat clear broths and low-fat foods. When she is finally released from hospital, Nagata struggles to recover from her experience with critical illness, and bounce back to creating manga. The biggest question that she struggles with is should she write about her experiences in hospital or should she stop writing autobiographical manga to protect her family's privacy?

My Alcoholic Escape From Reality was another great book by Nagata Kabi. As someone who has been in hospital a few times herself, I could really relate with her experiences. I know how it can feel being stuck in a bed hooked up to an IV for hours on end, watching free-to-air TV, eating tasteless hospital food and wallowing in boredom while waiting for a doctor to come and visit me. I liked how Nagata decided, in the end, to continue writing autobiographical manga. After debating that the story was too personal to share with her readers, she decides to go ahead and write it, because she enjoys writing memoirs and wants to share with her readers her experiences with loneliness and love.

Summary: Nagata Kabi is hospitalised after being diagnosed with pancreatitis.
Website: My Alcoholic Escape from Reality - Seven Seas Entertainment
Cost $29.99
More Book Reviews by Marisa
My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness - Book Review
My Solo Exchange Diary - Book Review
My Wandering Warrior Existence - Book Review

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