Book Review: One in a Million by Claire Lordon

Publisher’s description
Debut graphic novelist Claire Lordon’s medical misfortunes may be one in a million in this relatable memoir, but so is her determination, grit, and passion to beat the odds and reclaim her life.
Something is wrong with Claire, but she doesn’t know what. Nobody does, not even her doctors. All she wants is to return to her happy and athletic teenage self. But her accumulating symptoms—chronic fatigue, pounding headaches, weight gain—hint that there’s something not right inside Claire’s body. Claire’s high school experience becomes filled with MRIs, visits to the Mayo Clinic, and multiple surgeries to remove a brain tumor. But even in her most difficult moments battling chronic illness, Claire manages to find solace in her family, her closest friends, and her art.A deeply personal and visually arresting memoir that draws on the author’s high school diaries and drawings, One in a Million is also a sophisticated portrayal of pain, depression, and fear that any teen or adult can relate to. With a sensitive preface and an author’s note connecting past to present, this true story of resilience strikes a moving balance between raw honesty in the face of medical and mental trauma and the everyday musings of a teenager.
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Amanda’s thoughts
So the day I read this I was texting a friend at lunch and was like, “I’m buying gifts for a friend having brain surgery, but she doesn’t have the dark humor that we do, but if YOU ever need brain surgery, I’ve found some weird and morbid gift ideas.” And she was like, “Funny story: Before I can yeet my uterus, the doctor wants to check for a tumor on my pituitary gland.” And then I cracked this book, which I only knew was about some kind of illness, to find a main character who needs brain surgery because of a tumor on her pituitary gland. I thought, well, either this story will make me worry for my friends (and probably convince me I have a brain tumor) or I will see that she ends up okay and everything will be fine.
Claire does end up being okay. I mean, this is an autobiographical memoir, so we know she doesn’t die. And when I say she ends up being okay, I also mean her story is filled with lots of ups and downs and continues to be scary and uncertain after the graphic narrative ends (a short note after the final panel fills us in on what came next for Claire).
Claire’s symptoms seem to be all over the place. She has anxiety, depression, insomnia, weight gain, strange stretch marks, and more. She’s exhausted all the time. She sees a million doctors who run a million tests, and eventually she’s diagnosed with Cushings and a tumor is found on her pituitary gland. After a million more doctors who run a million more tests, she has surgery. Twice (and then more after the main part of her story ends). She misses a ton of school, is worried how all of this will affect her chances of getting into a good college, and is frustrated to feel so left out of her “normal” teen life.
Telling this story in graphic format is really the only way this story could be told. Claire is an artist (I mean, obviously—she grew up to make this novel) and she so adeptly captures her many feelings about her health in grayscale art. As a person who also lives with depression, anxiety, and migraines (which are obviously not tumors but DO make my head feel like exploding much like her tumor does), her art really nails it. This stuff sucks. And even though Claire works hard to keep up with school and friends and activities, she is also really sick and going through SO much.
Readers who have struggled with their own health will be grateful to see another teen go through this and feel less alone. A really moving look at resilience in the face of so much exhaustion and uncertainty.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
ISBN-13: 9781536213676
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication date: 10/10/2023
Age Range: 14 Years
Filed under: Book Reviews

About Amanda MacGregor
Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on BlueSky at @amandamacgregor.bsky.social.
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