Graphic Novel: The Elephant in the Womb by Kalki Koechlin; Illustrated by Valeriya Polyanychko

With whimsy and compassion, uproariously funny art and spellbinding honesty, The Elephant in the Womb blends the deeply private with the blazingly political. Actor and writer Kalki Koechlin opens up about so much that we don’t talk about-the social stigma of abortions and unmarried pregnancies, the toll that pregnancy takes on a body, the unacknowledged domestic labour of women, the emotional rollercoaster of giving birth, bouts of postpartum melancholy. From fixing broken parts to enduring untimely farts, Koechlin’s nuanced prose-gorgeously illustrated by Valeriya Polyanychko-tells us the bare-faced truth about the physiological discomfort and manic expectations that make it a bittersweet experience.