The Hidden Cost of “Working Harder”: When Doing More Isn’t Enough
Rendered in clean black-and-white panels occasionally accented with blue, Gormally’s debut traces the aftermath of assault and the toll of functioning within systems — family, academia — that reward silence and punish vulnerability.
Structured in ten loosely themed chapters, the memoir avoids a linear narrative arc in favor of a fragmented, non chronological approach that mimics the process of trauma recovery itself. Flashbacks surface unexpectedly, interwoven with scenes of academic life, therapy sessions, and ordinary moments made suddenly overwhelming. Early in the book, a haunting sequence shows Gormally reliving a past traumatic event — blank panels, floating speech bubbles, and the line: “I just have to push thru.” It’s a striking representation of how trauma carves absence into presence.
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