Kimiko Does Cancer - The Library of the Uncommons

Paperback, 96 pages

Published Oct. 6, 2020 by Arsenal Pulp Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-55152-819-9
OCLC Number:: 1143636470

(1 review)

At the age of twenty-five, Kimiko Tobimatsu was a young, queer, mixed-race woman with no history of health problems whose world was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In an instant, she became immersed in a new and complicated life of endless appointments, evaluations, and treatments, and difficult conversations with her partner and parents. Kimiko knew that this wasn't what being twenty-five was supposed to be like ... but then, she didn't have a choice.

With tender illustrations by Keet Geniza, Kimiko Does Cancer is a graphic memoir that upends the traditional "cancer narrative" from a young woman's perspective, confronting issues such as dating while in menopause, navigating work and treatment, and talking to well-meaning friends, health care professionals, and other cancer survivors with viewpoints different from her own. Not one for pink ribbons or runs for the cure, Kimiko seeks connection within the cancer community …

At the age of twenty-five, Kimiko Tobimatsu was a young, queer, mixed-race woman with no history of health problems whose world was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In an instant, she became immersed in a new and complicated life of endless appointments, evaluations, and treatments, and difficult conversations with her partner and parents. Kimiko knew that this wasn't what being twenty-five was supposed to be like ... but then, she didn't have a choice.

With tender illustrations by Keet Geniza, Kimiko Does Cancer is a graphic memoir that upends the traditional "cancer narrative" from a young woman's perspective, confronting issues such as dating while in menopause, navigating work and treatment, and talking to well-meaning friends, health care professionals, and other cancer survivors with viewpoints different from her own. Not one for pink ribbons or runs for the cure, Kimiko seeks connection within the cancer community while also critiquing the mainstream cancer experience.

Honest and poignant, Kimiko Does Cancer is about finding one's own way out of a health crisis.

1 edition

Literally Graphic reviewed Kimiko Does Cancer by Kimiko Tobimatsu

A potent personal story

5 stars

Published by Vancouver publisher Arsenal Pulp Press in 2020.Content notes for cancer and nudity.

Flipping to the back of the book, this creative duo describes themselves as

"Keet Geniza is an illustrator and comic artist. Born and raised in Manila, she moved to Toronto in 2006 and has since immersed herself in zines and comics as a way to document her struggles as a queer immigrant woman of colour. Kimiko Does Cancer is her first book."

And Kimiko Tobimatsu "is an an employment and human rights lawyer by day. Kimiko Does Cancer is her first book."

What keywords came to mind reading this beautifully concise work? Illness, family, relationships, queerness, age, medicine, gender, work and survival.

A book with a clear mission, and not a centimeter of room was wasted. This is a potent and very personal story.

The art felt a bit reminiscent of Fun Home but different enough …

Published by Vancouver publisher Arsenal Pulp Press in 2020.Content notes for cancer and nudity.

Flipping to the back of the book, this creative duo describes themselves as

"Keet Geniza is an illustrator and comic artist. Born and raised in Manila, she moved to Toronto in 2006 and has since immersed herself in zines and comics as a way to document her struggles as a queer immigrant woman of colour. Kimiko Does Cancer is her first book."

And Kimiko Tobimatsu "is an an employment and human rights lawyer by day. Kimiko Does Cancer is her first book."

What keywords came to mind reading this beautifully concise work? Illness, family, relationships, queerness, age, medicine, gender, work and survival.

A book with a clear mission, and not a centimeter of room was wasted. This is a potent and very personal story.

The art felt a bit reminiscent of Fun Home but different enough it didn't feel like a knock off. Plus it really does really seem to fit with Kimiko's personality.

And for such a highly focused and personal narrative, Kimiko Does Cancer manages to pack quite the diverse punch.

Kimiko is unafraid to examine her experience of cancer through the lenses of gender, sexuality, class and age.

A lawyer in canada, Kimiko does not lack access to treatment, but is honest about the ignorance she has run into with how heteronormative medicine is and all.

Being a bi-racial woman in a place like Toronto I'm not surprised at how much racial diversity was present, but it's important.

And there is of course some discussion of Kimiko's struggle of being a young working professional who is also undergoing major medical treatment.

I also appreciated Kimiko's insight into and commentary on the mainstream cancer narrative as compared to her own, as well as the way she highlighted her experience with menopause and the question of fertility.

To conclude, I found this book extremely informative and engrossing. So short it's hard not to just universally recommend, five stars!