This engaging graphic novel insightfully explored how forgiveness operates in a variety of meaningful ways, as influenced by different factors, based on research from the Forgiveness Project.

This was a really interesting book to read because it makes you think about what forgiveness really implies and who it is truly meant for. The drawings were nice and it is an interesting subject.

This is a really interesting way to approach the subject of Forgiveness. Not quite what I was expecting, but I liked it.

Forgiveness is Really Strange is a lovely book. I was rather fond of the art as it fit well with the text and topic. For me, forgiveness is always hard sand loved reading the personal stories included with in the pages. I always loved that the book included a quote about how forgiveness happens over and; too many time we forgive once and are done or we have the need to forgive the same people/things each day.
This is a neat look and a great way to get people on the track to forgiveness!

A very good fully-illustrated guide to the sometimes testy subject of forgiveness - what is the right time and place for it, how to affect it without it also effecting you incorrectly, and so on. Should be a valuable guide for many people, from teens and up. It's a lot clearer, and therefore much easier to learn from, than the sister edition regarding anxiety from the same publishers - if only it wasn't so blatantly anti-Israeli, it would be pretty fine.

Forgiveness is really strange is a graphic novel that goes into the process of forgiveness and illustrates it really well. I feel like this format makes the subject less boring and less scary, because I find the subject to a little intimidating. But this was really great! I loved how it explained the process but made it interesting. I liked the quotes from people's experiences. I think it made it feel like forgiveness was actually attainable coming from people who had been through all these terrible things. I enjoyed the artwork and the coloring was really pretty. I highly recommend this is you don't know much about the subject/process (LIKE ME) and want a book that doesn't feel like a self-help book.

Forgiveness is really strange by Marina Cantacuzino comes out on February 18th!

An interesting read with a lot of information packed in. I liked certain parts of it more than others, but overall it was a good book and I thought the illustrations were great.

A great look into grief and understanding forgiveness. I liked the statistics and factual elements and how it connected with true accounts of how people looked at grief. A great beginners introduction to understanding forgiveness, especially if you want to explore societal behaviour.

I read this book as a free ARC on #NetGalley

What a truly unique and fascinating graphic novel. This book features stories from people who have been harmed and chosen to forgive, brief summaries of scientific studies that have been done on forgiveness and all sorts of tools and suggestions of how to include forgiveness in your own life.

Presenting the information as a graphic novel make's it accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds and draws you in and keeps you interested. I'm so inspired to look at any hurt I've suffered and make sure I've come to a place of forgiveness for my own wellbeing. I want to live longer!

I got this book expecting psychological answers and ideas, I instead got a bunch of quotes from people in extreme situations. I don't even feel like I got what the first half of the description promised. I want to break it down

What is forgiveness? This was covered pretty decently. It even went into forgiveness vs condoning behaviors and actions. This is huge and I was really impressed with this part of the book. I have had this argument with people and reading memoirs of survivors of concentration camps come to the same conclusions as this book presents.

What enables people to forgive? I don't feel like this was answered at all. I can't remember any discussion about what enables people to forgive or even what sorts of people forgive. This was what I was really interested in. 

Why do we even choose to forgive those who have harmed us? This was discussed, but generally only in extreme circumstances of war and suicide bombers. There was little discussion of the smaller types of forgiveness that most of the people who read this book are going to experience in their lives. 

What can the latest psychological research tell us about the nature of forgiveness, its benefits and risks? There was only discussions of the benefits of forgiveness, except for one example of physical abuse in new marriages. 

So overall, this book had a great idea, but all of the examples are from extreme circumstances which makes the book inaccessible or able to be applied to most of the readers' lives. There is little psychological or sociological studies on forgiveness. In the end it was just a motivational book of "if someone can forgive a suicide bomber for killing their kid, you can forgive whatever in your life". It did not sit well with me.

This is such an important book!
At first I thought it might be the book equivalent of one of those annoying, self-righteous positivity memes - you know the ones that tell you if you just thought about sunshine more you wouldn't be so messed up? - but actually it's completely beautiful, insightful and I think probably a little bit vital.
In not much space it manages to pack quite a lot in and relates forgiveness to the wider world as well as making it a concept/skill that's accessible on a personal level to let go of distress, trauma and bad feeling.
The illustrations are absolutely beautiful - and echo perfectly the way that the text takes something has the potential to be an overwhelming, dry and complex topic, but makes it simple, beautiful and effective.
I will absolutely be buying this for several friends who I think would benefit greatly from reading this gorgeous book.

This graphic novel is within the same series as "Anxiety is Really Strange", which I have reviewed previously. One thing I like about both of these books is the art style present. This series doesn't seem to know what it wants to do, in direct contrast to "Anxiety is Really Strange", "Forgiveness is Really Strange" seems to have no scientific basis and is incredibly simplistic. This doesn't work so much for the first half of the book but becomes much better within the second half. Within the first half, forgiveness is explained. This includes explaining pros and cons of forgiving someone who wronged you, and the different effects this can have on the body physically as well as much more. After this, there are real-life examples of people who have suffered great losses or tragedies and have forgiven those who have harmed them for various different reasons. These vary from forgiving for their own mental health to wanting to help those who hurt them as they recognise that there are deeper reasons for their actions. Although I feel this graphic novel could benefit from a little more scientific evidence to back up the points made, it is a nice, simplistic piece which is accessible to everyone and the addition of real-life stories makes the points hit home even more. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eCopy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

Interesting enough but didn't delve as deep as I expected it to.

I was impressed by this book on forgiveness, which uses information from psychological studies and real people to explain what forgiveness is and is not, and that it is different for everyone. It is a thoughtful, poignant book with simple illustrations that breaks down a person's reactions to hurt and their paths towards yearning for revenge or forgiving the perpetrator. At the same time, the authors are very clear that masochistic forgiveness, false forgiveness, or condoning or excusing bad behavior is not forgiveness at all, and can perpetuate the cycle of harm.

Basically, it boils down to an individual realizing that continuing to live with hurt, resentment and anger are draining and painful, and that letting go might be the answer to a more peaceful life. At the same time, the authors realize that forgiveness might not look the same for everyone, and it can be incredibly hard to forgive when those around you (or society at large) are clamoring for revenge.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

This book was kind of a comic book about Forgiveness.

As interesting as it was, I felt kinda betrayed because it talked about how forgiveness is hard to give and not an automatism for everyone and the more it’s expected to be given, the harder it can be to give but at the very end of the book they tell you that you should forgive and they give tips to help you forgive and that made me sad, I thought they got it...

The book was a mix of scientific things, quotes and illustrations.
It was pretty interesting even though I had trouble focusing at times…
I would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to know more about forgiveness though.

Forgiveness Is Really Strange is a collection of thoughts on the nature of forgiveness and its role in human relationships. These diverse thoughts are sourced from people who have been hurt in the most grievous ways.

WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
Humans of all colour, creed, and cultures.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
Reading this book is like watching a documentary. I love the diversity of interviewees and varied opinions. The variety makes the subject much broader.

.......

Forgiveness Is Really Strange by Marina Cantacuzino, Masi Noor, Sophie Standing (illustrations) is available to buy from on all major online bookstores. Many thanks to Singing Dragon (Jessica Kingsley Publishers) for review copy.

In its simplest form Forgiveness is Really Strange is a comic book about finding forgiveness for people who have harmed you. The authors and illustrator weigh the pros and cons of forgiveness and clearly believe that forgiveness is critical to heal oneself(s) and to help build a moral world. I do not believe in this basic premise. I don't think a person who has been abused or harmed has to forgive an abuser to have a fulfilling life. I do believe that a person(s) does have to come to some type of self-reconciliation and forgive themselves and work on issues of self-blame, self-worth and self-love. This is different. I have worked with sexual abuse survivors and whether they have nothing to do with their abusers, forgive them, don’t forgive him/her does not really matter. There are so many ways to have a meaningful life with a sound moral compass.

I feel somewhat differently about forgiveness between countries and conflict within them. I do think that forgiveness or reconciliation is necessary to being able to work together. The trauma of war, etc. needs a full airing in structured, protected settings so people can heal together. This is not a namby-pamby concept but very challenging and hard and we know from the South African Truth and Reconciliation testimonies that outcomes are fraught and in some cases negligible.

A thought-provoking comic that is fun and engaging. Concepts are clearly described I do not buy the basic premise or let’s just say that I think it whether to forgive or not is a complicated and multi-dimensional process

2.5 stars.

I'll start off with the positive. I liked the quotes and I liked how it talked about the different ways that different people dealt with forgiveness. I thought that the illustrations were pleasant. I really like the cover and the colour contrast between those who forgive easily and those who don't. I liked the illustrations of the people who told their story, it made it feel even more personal. I also liked the bit on pseudo forgiveness (constant forgiveness).

I think the main problem that I had with this was the fact that it didn't feel like it was edited properly. It felt more like a rough draft or a rough outline and it wasn't refined enough. I think it is a really interesting concept but it felt quite muddled and so the execution was a bit of a let-down. I also thought it was going to be deeper and more scientific. I wish that it dug a little deeper and that it was longer. It also didn't really hold my attention very well. I was interested in bits but my mind kind of glazed over a few times too.

If you think this book sounds interesting, then check it out but I wouldn't go around recommending it to everyone.

* I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was truly interesting. Using graphics the subject less boring and preachy. It never preaches as none of the authors stated a reader had to forgive. I wished it used more empirical evidence

'Forgiveness is Really Strange' by Marina Cantacuzino and Masi Noor with illustrations by Sophie Standing is a graphic novel that talks about a difficult subject.

What is forgiveness? Should it always be given? What does forgiveness do to our brain and body? These questions and more are covered. There are lots of real world quotes from people who have been wronged. The thorny questions remain around allowing the person who wronged you off the hook to err again. We forgive for what it does for us, though. Not for what it can do for others.

Having gone through a tough bout of forgiveness, I would have found this book very helpful. I wish I'd had it at the time. There are no easy answers, but this book chooses a path that helps the wronged and may clear the way for restoration, although not always.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Singing Dragon, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.