Introducing The Next Generation Of Leaders And Thinkers

It’s All Absolutely Fine

Ruby Elliot, otherwise known as Rubyetc on Tumblr and Twitter, will be releasing a beautifully done, well monologued graphic novel, It’s All Absolutely Fine: Life Is Complicated So I’ve Drawn It, Instead about her struggle, the stigmas, and general silliness that comes with having one or many mental illnesses. One of my favorite January read-throughs, it kept me emotionally on my toes and did nothing if not make me laugh from its simplicity and hilarity throughout.

On Tumblr, Rubyect is a cartoonist who draws silly comics about her life and inability to work along with funny scenarios like a collection of comics entitled “father and son birds” about, well, a father bird and his son bird. She’s fun to talk to and adorned as she speaks about mental illness comfortably and informatively.

Upon hearing about the release of her graphic novel, I was, of course, ecstatic as I love the artist for her quirky, swift style and the lovely way she talks. Never does she pause to share a story nor does she stray away from the difficult, uncomfortable parts of her life which I appreciated throughout the years of following her art.

And her novel is no different.

Cuttlefish look even cuter when she draws them

In her book which is to be released in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia January 31 (United Kingdom’s edition has already been published and there is a version in Italian for sale as well), she’s open and fluid about her life. She monologs every chapter, either going on a semi-rant or writing a memoir about the why, when, where, what, and how of her mental disorders.

She can be serious but serious when she needed to be: when discussing the stigma of mental illness and the horrible associations people make with therapy, her tone was educationally upset. Here in her novel, Elliot shared her personal experience with her therapist which made me, a person who’s always contemplated visiting a therapist but has always been intimidated by the brand that comes with it, rethink the whole affair (thanks, Elliot).

Each illustration is fun and draws away from the seriousness and usually sobriety that tends to accumulate around writings about mental illness, especially self-harm, depression, and eating disorders.

Later in the novel, she writes, “This is why I talk openly about what I’ve been through. Because the silence is exhausting and isolating in a way it needn’t be.” Yes, Elliot. Silence need not be tacked along with everything else.

Beautiful. Abstract. Made me laugh for a very long time, actually.

Anyone who enjoys Sarah Andersen or Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half or anyone who wants to edge away from the solemnity of disorders in novels that make it all too serious, Ruby Elliot is the author for you.

Though I only received her copy in digital form, the physical paperback copies are a crisp 256 pages with french flaps (the best kind of paperbacks honestly). They are up for preorder on Amazon for $16.99 and $9.99 on Kindle.

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