Feeding Ghosts

by Tessa Hulls
Feeding Ghosts cover
Good Books rating 4.08
Graphic Novels / Comics
Technical:
  • ID: 485
  • Added: 2025-09-12
  • Updated: 2025-09-13
  • ISBN: 9780374615185
  • Publisher: MCD
  • Published: 2024-03-05
  • Formats: 4
  • Reviews: 3
Buy online
Waterstones
Paperback • £20.99

Feeding Ghosts is an evocative and genre-defying graphic memoir by Tessa Hulls that chronicles the intertwined lives of three generations of women in her family. It reveals the impact of Chinese history on her grandmother Sun Yi, a Shanghai journalist persecuted after the 1949 Communist victory, who fled to Hong Kong and wrote a bestselling memoir before succumbing to mental illness. The story continues through her mother Rose’s struggles and Tessa’s own journey of escape and eventual return to confront the legacy of trauma and identity. Rendered with striking artistry and extensive research, the memoir is a vivid homecoming that exposes the haunting fear and trauma passed down through generations, while also celebrating the enduring love that holds the family together. It is praised for its emotional depth, inventive narrative, and poignant exploration of exile, grief, and resilience against the backdrop of Chinese political upheaval.

Reviews
thelibraryladies.com · Kate · 2024-06-25
emotional 4.00

An emotional and dense memoir exploring cycles of trauma across three generations of women, deeply personal and very well done.

Kate found this memoir to be a challenging but deeply moving read, revealing the complex histories within a family across generations. She initially expected a horror graphic novel due to the title and social media context but discovered a profound exploration of trauma and family ties instead. She appreciated the memoir's emotional depth and personal nature, labeling it a magnum opus for the author's efforts to untangle complicated family histories. Kate recommends it to readers who enjoy memoirs, highlighting its importance and impact despite its density.

Quick quotes

    An emotional memoir about cycles of trauma that went through three generations of women.

    Feeding Ghosts is dense, deeply personal, and very well done.

    A magnum opus for an author who was trying to untangle some complicated histories in her family.

www.tcj.com · 2024-03-19
hopeful 4.50

A hopeful and sweeping story of family survival and connection despite historical wounds, showcasing the power of comics to convey complex trauma.

This review highlights the hopeful nature of the memoir, emphasizing how it portrays a family deeply wounded by history yet resilient through love and support. The reviewer underscores the memoir’s use of the comics medium as a perfect vehicle for telling this vivid and compelling story. They reflect on the broader theme of trauma recovery, quoting a renowned psychotherapist to frame the memoir as a testament to survival and healing. The work is praised for its emotional resonance and narrative strength in depicting intergenerational trauma.

Quick quotes

    Feeding Ghosts is a hopeful book.

    It’s a sweeping story of how a family wounded by history nonetheless survived and continued to carry each other.

    This is a remarkable and vivid gift that fully utilizes the comics medium as the perfect medium for this compelling story.

lareviewofbooks.org · Martin Dolan · 2024-03-07
complex 3.75

A complex, dense graphic memoir that skillfully blends personal and historical trauma, though sometimes weighed down by pop sociology.

Martin Dolan appreciates the memoir's ambitious scope and its use of graphic nonfiction to explore intertwined personal and global histories. He praises the author's unique narrative voice, combining artistic skill and introspective depth, especially in how she connects her own life with her grandmother's legacy. However, he notes that some parts, particularly the incorporation of trauma theory, occasionally feel heavy-handed and detract from the narrative’s flow. Despite this, he recognizes the memoir as a significant and subgenre-defining work that does not shy away from difficult subjects or easy conclusions.

Quick quotes

    Feeding Ghosts uses the often untapped potential of graphic nonfiction to reckon with history—both personal and global.

    Hulls’s narrative voice is uniquely captivating because she combines her cartoonist quirkiness with both a fine artist’s eye for page composition and a willingness to dive into dense subject matter without grasping for easy closure.

    Some of the summarized history and quoted trauma theorists lend the book an uneasy air of pop sociology.

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