Oh Brother: A Graphic Memoir is Georgina Chadderton’s debut book. In it she tells us her story of the ups and the downs of growing up with a disabled, autistic brother who needs a lot of help, all while having her own undiagnosed autism fly under the radar.

She shares the way the family manages their lives to keep Rob safe, keeping him out of the things they don’t want him to get into. She condenses a lifetime of experiences into a year of pivotal change
with her author’s note at the back giving context to this.

While this is Georgina’s story about working through change, anxiety and the frustrations with everything going on, Rob is still front and centre. His needs and struggles are captured sensitively through the comic-style presentation. She shows us how the family is affected, and how they cope and, at times, express their frustrations with Rob not being able to communicate as he wants to with them.

Oh Brother is a powerful heartfelt memoir about family, disability and acceptance. How getting the support you need is never easy.

Reviewed by Ashleigh Meikle
Age Guide 10+

Read our interview with Georgina Chadderton about Oh Brother

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Georgina Chadderton (she/they) is an awkward yet friendly Australian cartoonist with an undying love of eating snacks, drinking green tea, patting dogs and playing roller derby. Although Georgina has been published all over the globe, Oh Brother is her first full-length graphic novel. When they’re not making comics, Georgina co-directs Papercuts Comics Festival, runs comics-making workshops and reads comics by their favourite comics makers (basically, it’s all comics, all the time). Georgina lives on Kaurna Yerta (Adelaide) in South Australia with her partner Owen and their distressingly large collection of books.

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Visit the Penguin Books website