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Come Home, Indio

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A Native American cartoonist shares his journey from childhood, through struggles with alcoholism, to a spiritual awakening at Standing Rock.

In this powerful graphic novel memoir by comics creator Jim Terry, the author shares the personal journey of discovering his spiritual home as a Native American. From a childhood in suburbia, disconnected from his identity as an Indigenous person, through an urban adulthood marked by a struggle with alcoholism and the death of his parents, to his life-altering experience at Standing Rock, we are privileged to travel this path with the author as he begins to find a new sense of self as a Native and as an American­­.

234 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2020

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Jim Terry

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5 stars
253 (46%)
4 stars
187 (34%)
3 stars
87 (16%)
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10 (1%)
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2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,524 reviews288 followers
August 1, 2021
A frustrating book. Parts were very relatable because the author and I must be about the same age, have similar interests based on the pop culture references, and were both raised partly in Wisconsin. And he really drew me in with the way we differ, giving his perspective on being the son of a Native American mother and an Irish American father, but just when things are getting interesting in how one might cope with that multiracial heritage, the book turns into yet another testimony about alcoholism, recovery, and sobriety.

"I'm getting the feeling that women don't like drunks as much as Bukowski says they do . . . " thinks Jim Terry at one point, and frankly this reader doesn't like them either. I detached from the standard descent to rock bottom and back narrative as it just went on and on for 100 pages. By the time he is able to deal with other things in his life, the book is practically over.

In the penultimate chapter, I really balked at the artistic choice of dealing with the huge impact participation at the Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipeline protest had on him by retreating from the traditional graphic novel format used in the rest of the book and making that chapter almost entirely text-based. What could have been one of the most visually striking passages in the book doesn't even average one spot illustration per page.

That chapter also highlights another problem with the book. Terry travels to the protest with Wetha, one of his "favorite people." A favorite person who has not previously been mentioned until now on page 200 and who is not distinguished at any point as either a friend, relative, or romantic partner. Wetha is just there until she is gone, leaving me to wonder why she was there at all. The focus is so narcissistic, that this is how most side characters are treated; we barely learn their names, much less anything about their personalities. He does a little better with his parents, but even they disappear for large periods of time and barely have the intervening years of their lives sketched out. Mom lies down on a sofa on page 84 and apparently stays there until she is needed for a big scene on page 192.

I'm on the borderline of rating this two-stars, but I find myself grateful for the many little nuggets that turned up while tunneling through Terry's life. And I liked the art, so I might seek out the Crow book he did with James O'Barr.
Profile Image for Raina.
1,719 reviews163 followers
November 9, 2021
Such an evocative depiction of lifelong trauma.

I think the part of this book that will stand out for me is how Terry describes how set he was against drinking because of what he experienced as a kid, and the chain of events that lead to his own alcoholism. It's vivid, heartbreaking, doesn't make sense, and makes so much sense, all at once.
I also appreciated the nuance in how he describes his relationship with his mother. She comes up (obviously) throughout the book, and is painted in a genuine, complicated, real way.

The illustrations are all in an alternative comix style that others can probably gene-map better than I can. Reminded me a little bit of Howard Cruse, but without the bubbles. All black and white, mostly bordered panels. Part 5 diverts significantly and tells the story of visiting Standing Rock in full-page spreads and paragraphs of text.

Affecting, real. Everything I want a memoir to be.
5,870 reviews146 followers
November 10, 2020
Come Home, Indio is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Jim Terry. Terry's graphic autobiography is a roller-coaster ride of doubt and discovery, addiction and recovery.

Jim Terry is a Chicago comic book and commercial artist and writer.

As a child, Terry grew up between households and cultures: his Irish American father's in the Chicago suburbs and his Native (Ho-Chunk) mother's in the Wisconsin Dells and gets told off by his father constantly about his indigenous culture. However, Terry never fully lets go of his youthful vulnerability.

Terry begins his chronicle of his lifelong search for belonging with stories of being raised by parents whose good intentions are undermined by alcoholism and anger, and continues through his euphoric discovery of drinking as a teen and subsequent grim, drawn-out battle with his own addiction, before ending with his activism and spiritual awakening on the campgrounds at the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Terry notes his attachment to Will Eisner and friendship with artist James O'Barr and their influence is evident in his expressive line drawings and distinctive shading. While he poignantly recalls his teenage girlfriend, he deliberately silhouettes adult romantic relationships, including a broken marriage. In a stylistic shift, the sections around his travels to the pipeline, in which he processes the inherited trauma of his Native ancestry, are elaborated in full pages of text with atmospheric landscape and portrait drawings.

Come Home, Indio is written and constructed extremely well – it is far from perfect, but it is rather close. Covering his entire life from childhood to the present day with dark and evocative art, Terry writes at a very fast clip, skimming over large sections of his adulthood with little explanation. What emerges is a portrait of an artist who was able to fully express himself only after getting sober and addressing his chaotic mental state. Conquering his addiction, Terry gained control of his craft and found ways to honor the sacrifices his ancestors made for him.

All in all, Come Home, Indio is an ambitious in scope that breaks ground for contemporary Native portrayals in nonfiction.
Profile Image for Meepelous.
662 reviews52 followers
July 24, 2021
Content Notes for racism, homophobia, alcoholism, anti-protest violence, parent death, leukemia, lupus and AA.

While I was not aware of this book pre-publication, as soon as I saw it on my library's new acquisitions page I knew I had to read it ASAP.

A long time artist, now author "JIM TERRY is a comic book artist who has worked on THE CROW: SKINNING THE WOLVES, SUNDOWNERS, ALICE COOPER VS. CHAOS, VAMPIRELLA and more. He has self-published a number of titles and is currently working on the next one. He lives in Chicago with his 4 cats. That's right, 4 cats." As he describes himself on his website Wounded But Dangerous.

Keywords that came to mind reading this book were family, growing up, awkwardness and nerddome, developing artist, friendship, community, outsider, spirituality and abstinence.

When it comes to the art, as soon as I cracked this book open I immediately loved the art. I wasn't surprised to find out, as I read through, that Jim was highly influenced by Will Eisner. While certainly a very easy art style to parse, not super abstract, Jim manages to still imbue his work with a high level of expressiveness. Plus there's crosshatching, need I say more?

Writing wise, I found the way that Jim presented his life story to be very nuanced and engaging. His life has been hard and full of ups and downs, but the way he builds out the people around him offers a lot of nuance and perspective. It was also nice to see a page at the very end outlining the process of deciding who and what would be included.

Social constructs of race were certainly one of the stronger themes in the book. Throughout the book we follow Jim Terry as he moves back and forth between the colonizer world and the Ho-Chunk nation of Wisconsin. Sometimes more easily then other times, often feeling like an outsider all around.

While not necessarily clearly outlined or directly talked about, ramifications of class felt like they were tackled pretty head on. Paying bills, noisy apartments and precarious work are the reality for so many of us, it's always nice to see them represented in ways that feel more solidarity building rather then ew poor people.

Community was another strong theme of the book. And while memoirs are obviously largely focused on a singular person, I really liked how Jim Terry always talks about the people who supported him along the way. Especially when it came to platonic friendships. It was also a nice counter balance to the fact that otherwise this book was, understandably, a bit one note on the representation of sexuality and gender.

In ableism vs disability, while I'm not sure anyone in the story identifies as disabled, people's bodies falling short of society's assumptions around ability was a fairly persistent theme that came up a couple of times. Coming to terms with alcoholism and finding sobriety is one that takes up a large chunk of the book. Personally I'm not the biggest fan of the abstinence only process that Jim Terry goes through, but I'm really glad it works for him. I just wanted to take a moment to encourage my viewers who are unfamiliar with the philosophy to do some web searching on Harm Reduction - a slightly different way of approaching people's struggles with substance use.

To conclude, if you hadn't already guessed it, I found this book to be extremely fulfilling reading experience. And one that I will be recommending to many people in my real life, and obviously am highlighting here with a lot of positive feels. Ultimately I'm landing on a four out of five star rating.
Profile Image for Carol.
Author 5 books9 followers
August 30, 2021
Very deep. Covers so many different topics like depression, addiction, self doubt, environmental issues, history. I enjoyed even though I found it very wordy. Jim Terry had a great way of showing his emotions with words even though there's a picture to go with his story.
Profile Image for Therese Thompson.
1,749 reviews20 followers
March 3, 2021
Courageous accounting of author and artist Jim Terry’s life. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Profile Image for Nguyên Nguyễn.
12 reviews
January 11, 2021
An open, and deeply observed memoir that comes to life through a masterly use of drawing and text.
Profile Image for Aniek Verheul.
300 reviews4 followers
November 26, 2023
The first graphic novel I've ever read! And what an interesting one to start with. Come Home, Indio pulls no punches and is a raw, honest work. The art style matches that tone perfectly and I found myself enjoying it quite a bit - I did sometimes miss a bit of colour, but the black and white only worked well for the general theme and tone of the text, so it makes perfect sense. However, I found myself a bit confused by the many names and people introduced at varying points and sometimes struggled to figure out who everyone was. In the end, though, this is a very solid work and I'm glad to have read it. 3.5 stars, rounded down for the font used here: I found longer chunks of text a bit difficult to read.
20 reviews1 follower
July 16, 2022
I quite enjoyed this.

This book chronicles complicated parental relationships, alcoholism, multiracial crises, and much more. To me every one of those felt tied up with a bow by the end. Perhaps that's not how a memoir should end but it had a very nice effect. Everything made sense. Terry has a really nuanced and changed outlook by the end of this and to me it's worth reading for that alone.

The art was versatile and served the purposes Terry wanted it to. I'm not very well-versed with graphic novels but it definitely served to enhance the story being told, especially when combined with devices like callbacks.

Enjoyable book. Check it out for a quick redemption story.
Profile Image for Maria.
138 reviews50 followers
Read
January 24, 2025
Coming of age memoir written by someone who is half native and half white. Covers topics on identity, family, (failed) romances, alcoholism/sobriety, Chicago living, healing/spirituality... Terry is a fan of Will Eisner and it shows (so many words, brush work). Some bits could have been moved around, edited, or omitted to flow better, but still very good. I read this per the recommendation of a friend. This is not something I would have typically picked up on my own but I'm glad I read it.
Profile Image for Suzanne.
1,298 reviews5 followers
January 14, 2021
Every time I read a graphic novel I am surprised by how much I enjoy them. This is a heartfelt story of a young mans quest to find his place in the world, beautifully drawn; the illustrations adding much nuance. Note to self—- read more graphic novels.
Profile Image for Elizabeth☮ .
1,838 reviews14 followers
Did not finish
October 31, 2023
I liked the content of this memoir - tough as it is - but the text is really busy on the page. My eyes couldn't process one panel at a time. For this reason alone I am abandoning it. I wish I could have made it through, but it was really tough on my eyes.
261 reviews6 followers
December 28, 2022
Moving graphic memoir that covers so many aspects of a complicated life: native identity, living in between cultures, abuse, addiction, recovery, even a chapter on Standing Rock. Really beautiful and painful and real. I’d love to see more from him.
Profile Image for Meghan.
761 reviews
Read
February 20, 2023
Interesting and intense. The art was good, but I almost wish for a words-memoir; it seemed there was a whole lot more he could say!
Profile Image for Emily✨.
1,943 reviews47 followers
November 14, 2022
Worth the read, but has a few issues that may be due to a seeming rush to publication. Based on the description, I expected the author's experience at Standing Rock to have more of presence in this graphic memoir. Instead, the first 100 pages focus on the author's upbringing as a biracial Ho-Chunk and Irish American, the next 100 pages follow the author's alcoholism as an adult and his struggle to sobriety, and the last 40 pages focus on Standing Rock and the author's re-engagement with his Indigenous identity. While the section about the author's alcoholism is well written and not uninteresting, it also takes up (what feels like) an unnecessary bulk of the book. The few pages about Standing Rock--what largely drew me to this memoir--completely breaks from the comic panel style of the rest of the book and are just pages of text, which was an incredible disappointment. Did the author run out of time to draw it? This time in his life and its seeming impact on his relationship with his Indigineity seems rich with meaning, but receives so little development.

Additionally, there were multiple times where characters names would be mentioned without any context for who they were in relation to the author, which might or might not be made clear eventually. For just one example, in the text-heavy Standing Rock section, Terry mentions going to the camp with someone named Wetha, who appears nowhere else in the book and whose identity is never clarified other than apparently being one of the author's "favorite people." The author's nickname of "Indio" also just randomly appears and is never explained at all, and most people still refer to him as Jim or Jimmy, so what is the significance of its inclusion in the title? The book feels a little unfinished for these reasons.

Despite this, the artwork is very good and the writing is engaging, insightful, and vulnerable. I was completely absorbed until I began to near the end of the book and realized that DAPL hadn't even been mentioned yet. And then I was so disappointed by the ending. Good for what it is, but could have been better had more time been taken to develop the last part into another 100 pages of comic panels. 3.5 stars

TW: alcoholism, domestic abuse, racism, homophobia and slurs, bullying, family member illness and death (leukemia, lupus, diabetes, liver failure), animal death, divorce, depression

❤️💙 I read this title for the Skoden Readathon! 💛🖤
Profile Image for erin.
58 reviews8 followers
January 31, 2021
read for empty bottle book club & so glad we did, what a thoughtful and beautifully drawn memoir
Profile Image for Maggie Marek.
22 reviews
February 1, 2021
Read this with a book club and was absolutely blown away by this graphic novel meets memoir. The book is beautifully written and illustrated and will truly twist your heart.

It takes you on a journey through loneliness, alcoholism, identity, love, friendship and self discovery. The illustration style at times pulling from the horror genre was such a strong character in and of itself. I think I’ll be haunted by the emotion stirred in me as I read for awhile.

Give this book a read for a light in the darkness and some relief that we are all human and just trying to understand where we belong.
Profile Image for Centauri.
Author 1 book4 followers
August 7, 2024
The artistic approach of the subject matter alone is riveting: poetry in images. The depth of vulnerability on top of the art is pure ethos. I wasn't entertained; I was a witness to a person's struggle and the hard work of making their life better.
The protagonist is far from perfect. And they have no shame in revealing that, nor admitting it. They understand its not about being perfect. Its about building good from all the grief, suffering, missed chances, and things that can keep us down. And they understand that what finally worked for them to get to better is not for everyone. This is a story about a person's journey into becoming an adult.
Profile Image for Terri.
320 reviews
March 1, 2021
This was really good. On one hand it is a touching autobiography of a young man struggling with alcoholism, Indigenous identity and where he fits in with the world. On the other hand it's the struggle of an artist finding himself, his talent and learning how to overcoming feelings of inadequacy and imposter syndrome.

The art style is good at times masterful when he uses such simple imagery to make such an large impact. Huge concepts such as "God" as illustrated so simply yet effectively. The dialogue is also easy to read and relatable.
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
177 reviews
January 2, 2021
Incredibly visceral and honest. Chronicles Jim Terry's childhood and adulthood, focusing on his relationship with alcohol addiction in himself and his family, loneliness and belonging, and issues with relationships. Personally, I have a complicated relationships with addiction. I found the first part from his childhood extremely relatable.

The illustrations are all black and white, and I found them very emotional and full of detail.
Profile Image for Phaedra.
197 reviews13 followers
February 9, 2021
Raw, emotional, bitter and hopeful.

I was misty eyed more than once through the second half of the story. Then, after all of the pain and anger and darkness, even left unresolved, I was left with optimism and a way forward. Such a personal story, and such a human one.

Everything has led up to now.

What do we do with it?
Profile Image for Lisa.
58 reviews1 follower
March 14, 2021
I don't usually write out reviews, but I would give this book 100 stars if I could. I've known Jim for years, and this book is amazing and so powerful. There was a lot of harshness in his early years, but so much hope and beauty by the end.
Profile Image for Raj Bowers-Racine.
248 reviews1 follower
August 28, 2021
I've read 176 graphic novels so far this year. This one is a strong contender for the best.
I straight up ugly cried through the last chapter. Incredibly moving and one of the best memoirs I've ever read.
Profile Image for Kat.
29 reviews4 followers
November 21, 2020
Beautiful, heart-wrenching, honest and relatable; I commend the author for his vulnerability. Hard to put down!
Profile Image for Dain.
296 reviews9 followers
January 8, 2021
Wow. Just. Wow. I'm so moved by Jim Terry's story & art and so grateful to him for sharing it with the world.
153 reviews
January 15, 2021
This is the first graphic novel I’ve read in it’s entirety and boy, what a doozy. Authentic, compelling and honest. An excellent memoir
8 reviews
January 26, 2021
Jimmy if you’re out there or reading this I hope you are happy and have found some peace
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews

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