My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness

In this autobiographical manga, Kabi Nagata examines the distance between the adult life she feels expected to lead and the one she is actually living. Work, family expectations, mental health and the difficulty of recognizing her own needs become part of a frank account of loneliness and desire. Her exploration of sexuality is inseparable from the search for comfort, independence and a more honest understanding of herself. Rather than presenting coming of age as a neat sequence of milestones, the book makes room for uncertainty and uncomfortable self-examination. Its intimate focus follows one woman's effort to name what she wants and to understand why asking for it can feel so difficult.