Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2023
352 pages
Genre: Graphic Novels
Publication Information
A debut YA graphic memoir about a Korean-American girl's coming-of-age story—and a coming home story—set between a New Jersey suburb and Seoul, South Korea.
Ever since Deborah (Jung-Jin) Lee emigrated from South Kora to the United States, she's felt her otherness.
For a while, her English wasn't perfect. Her teachers can't pronounce her Korean name. Her face and her eyes—especially her eyes—feel wrong.
In high school, everything gets harder. Friendships change and end, she falls behind in classes, and fights with her mom escalate. Caught in limbo, with nowhere safe to go, Deb finds her mental health plummeting, resulting in a suicide attempt.
But Deb is resilient and slowly heals with the help of art and self-care, guiding her to a deeper understanding of her heritage and herself.
This stunning debut graphic memoir features page after page of gorgeous, evocative art, perfect for Tillie Walden fans. It's a cross section of the Korean-American diaspora and mental health, a moving and powerful read in the vein of Hey, Kiddo and The Best We Could Do.
"[B]reathtakingly meticulous panels in grayish blues and white [elevate this] work to masterpiece status." - Booklist (starred review)
"A raw, relatable memoir exploring mental health and immigrant experiences." - Kirkus Reviews
"An emotionally tender, viscerally illustrated look at one teenager's struggles with identity and mental health." - Publishers Weekly
"In Limbo is a tour de force. Stunning from the first page to the last, and totally unforgettable. Upon getting to the end, I wanted to go right back to the beginning to read it again." - Tillie Walden, creator of Are You Listening?
"Deborah Lee is a masterful storyteller who reminds us everyone we meet is an entire world while we are plunged into her own. I clutched my heart as hard as I clutched the pages of In Limbo." - Sara Alfageeh, illustrator of Squire
"Deb Lee's beautifully delicate gray landscapes are a fitting backdrop for this coming-of-age tale that encompasses so many of the liminal spaces of life: between cultures, past and future, childhood and independence." - Harmony Becker, creator of Himawari House
"With breathtaking art and poignant storytelling, In Limbo is a masterpiece in expressing one's truth as a queer Asian American." - Laura Gao, creator of Messy Roots
"Deb JJ Lee's In Limbo is a stunning study in mood and detail. Her poetic black-and-white illustrations bring you into her world as a lonely high school student, struggling to communicate with her parents and few friends about her frustrations with fitting in as a Korean-born immigrant." - Malaka Gharib, creator of It Won't Always Be Like This
"What a gorgeous meditation on adolescence. Reading this memoir reminded me of watching a molted dragonfly unfurling its delicate wings and triumphantly taking its first flight." - Robin Ha, creator of Almost American Girl
This information about In Limbo was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Deb JJ Lee is a Korean American artist currently living in Brooklyn, NY. They have appeared in the New Yorker, Washington Post, NPR, Google, Radiolab, PBS, and more. Books they have illustrated include The Invisible Boy by Alyssa Hollingsworth (Roaring Brook Press, 2020) and The Other Side of Tomorrow by Tina Cho (HarperCollins, 2024). They enjoy reality tv, sparkling water, and pretending to be an extrovert.
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