Sometimes telling the truth will only lead to trouble.

Imagine being born without a mouth. Unable to eat, kiss, talk, sing... Unfortunately, Perihan had a loving and supportive family who would do anything to help her. But as hospital bills get heavy, and Perihan's condition worsens, she must become stronger and learn how to manage on her own. Even if it means living a lie.

Interesting concept filled with pretty images.

I would describe this one as horrifying and graphic. And it didn't turn out to be what I had expected. Maybe it's for the best.
The cover and the description looked really promising and I am left a little disappointed when I went into half of the book till the end. I would describe it rather as the story of a family with a child born with no mouth.
I see this book as more of the fears faced by the family and the main character herself rather than the 'disability' she was born with. I saw it as a coming of age story and sexual abuse as well.
And I really dislike the comparison between her and the 'introvert' friend regarding speaking up. I feel like the comparison is not proper and required.
The art and the dialogues were difficult to read and a bit congested.
The ending seems like another comparison which I feel is of poor taste.
Maybe this one is not for me.

Thank you #NetGalley for the book #Perihan

Wow this is a story that does not stick to genre in a conventional way. Mind you the good people from Europe Comics have done it again and brought to English a Turkish graphic novel. To criticise it unduly is like saying their desserts are too sweet.
This is the story of Perihan (The girl without a mouth) illustrated and written by Cem Ozuduru originally published in Turkish in 2018.
Now as readers we need to understand that as a comic book the author has used some licence here. It is not a straight fiction of a family coping with a severely disabled daughter. It is seeking in the story to say something figuratively and with some nuance to managing with pain, a facial disfiguration and how one’s senses might respond.
I think the clue is in the quote at the start. “Don’t believe a word I say, because I tell the truth.”
- Ursula K. Le Guin, Left Hand of Darkness. But I might be completely wrong as there is little from the author here to gauge how the story came about.
Perihan is normal in every way but her face has no lips or aperture where we have a mouth. Internally she has a completely functioning space with tongue, teeth and food pipe. She is unable to have a corrective operation until she is eight years old and then bizarrely wakes up one morning with her month sealed again. The second operation is another success but almost bankrupts the family due to the excessive hospital bills.
We learn during her years of speechlessness she grew to understand fasciae expressions on others and discern the smallest of sounds. Sufficient to judge who was moving over a squeaky floorboard to the refinement of attributing personality by their movements. Her mouth nearly closes up again but in rage she vents in front of a mirror. Her anger includes the first curse words to pass her lips and strangely her lies and vile speech heals her mouth. She gauges that the lies and outspokenness rather than saying what people want to hear and simple truths enables her to counter the fear of her mouth closing up again.
The story is at times the agony of her parents, their loss of the daughter they so wanted, their hopes and fears amid a neighbourhood that blame God and said they were cursed. Perihan’s pain is also lovingly conveyed with a couple of teenage scenarios played out. Perhaps some my see it as a tangent but the heart of the story seems to be hidden truth and words suppressed by fear. Contrast to Perihan who once could give voice to her emotions. It is more about exposing truth I feel than the default consequences of telling lies but it doesn’t end well.
In the end it raises another of our senses where a witness can have the means through perfectly working eyes to recall what happened but no remains blind to the truth and has no testimony to give as they saw nothing.
I’ll be interested in how others view this story from another culture and interprets from a English perspective..

Named after the main character of this novel, Perihan is a short Turkish graphic novel about a girl born without a mouth, forced by nature into silence, unable to put into words her feelings or enjoy food. She grows up surrounded by doctors, being fed via perfusions until she can have surgery and finally be able to express herself through spoken words.

Her mouth, however, keeps wanting to shut itself, which I thought was a clever metaphor of how society shuts women down throughout history, and even today in certain countries/societies/religions.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the story is how Perihan's best friend can't find her voice to speak up about her father abusing her, despite herself not having any physical impairment.
The art style is rather simple, with tones of blues, greens, oranges, and greys that have some melancholy to them.

There are many metaphors and different interpretations of this story, especially the ending, which comes back full circle in some way.

Perihan has rare disability.
It is most rare and unheard disability. She has no mouth.
She then undergoes surgery to correct her defect. Although details of disease are
But correcting it doesn't fix the mental and emotional disability.
It is a complex book.
At points it is hard to make the connection in the narrative.
Complex emotions ; very strong and poignant with graphical nightmares make reading a little tough.
It jumps between one trajedy to another and overall theme is extremely dark and disturbing.
End is also complex and leaves reader distressed for the fate of characters and possibly meanings.
Story is probably allegorical take on problems disabled people face.
Even after disability is corrected, scars still hurt.
The character which I liked most is her father who stands by her at every moment.
A complex book which requires a reader ready to read unpleasant tale with sad ending.
Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.

What a strange book. I felt a bit like I was reading a story written by a young child. At times it didn’t make sense to me. The graphics were good and the overall story was ok, just very weird.

This is an interesting graphic novel. The art style is alright. The story itself is very interesting. I'll recommend it.

There are times when those who can speak wish they could not. There are times when lies are better than the truth. Perihan explores all of this. The art is excellent, very graphic and detailed. The story is a twisted tale with curves, highs and lows. Relationships are tested and friendships are formed.

I think overall my experience with the comic was okay. The fact that Perihan doesn't have a mouth could be interpreted as a number of things (which I loved). BUT there was a lot of victim shaming here, that was sad to see, as usually is.

Interesting story about a girl who is born with no mouth. When she is older she has operations which help and so she learns the power of speech and the impact of truth and lies.

It is a clever story with a lot of deep meaning that I unfortunately just couldn't understand. Very intriguing story though.

Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Really interest story and fine artwork. Some may find the story strange, but I liked that about this book.

Omg this graphic novel was so good! and that ending! I can't wait more. Disabilities like this always fascinate me and I think they story was really well done. I can't wait for more!