Decodependence by Lila Ash

Author and New Yorker cartoonist Lila Ash's vulnerable and funny
graphic memoir about her attempts to decode her life's relationships
through the lens of her recovering codependency.
Through her skillful, charming illustrations and a voice that is sardonic,
vulnerable, and completely relatable, Lila Ash shares the all-too-well-known
moments that she's experienced navigating the world of family, love, and sex
through the lens of codependency.
In her late twenties, Ash found herself reliving the relationship traumas of her
past. She'd tried everything to help herself move on from painful memories,
from therapy to drugs and more, before entering Codependents Anonymous
(CoDA), where she discovered the characteristics of codependency-and
checked off every box. Ash began drawing her way through her experiences,
allowing herself to recognize the codependent behaviors that ruled her life,
including:
• How her desperation to get a boyfriend propelled her to be sexually active at
summer camp as a young teenager (codependents often confuse sexual
attention for approval or acceptance).
• Having a crush on her guitar teacher only to later realize that he had ulterior
motives (codependents struggle with setting and maintaining boundaries).
• Accepting the role of personal assistant rather than girlfriend in her recent
long-term relationship (codependents have trouble accepting when
prospective love interests are unavailable).
 • And much more
Through unflinchingly honest (and sometimes sad or harrowing) stories, a wry
sense of humor, and illustrations that masterfully set the book's tone,
Decodependence: A Romantic (...)

Lila Ash is a Los Angeles-based freelance cartoonist, illustrator, and regular
contributor to the New Yorker . She has been featured in Lena Dunham's
Lenny Letter, Wired, MAD, The Washington Post, The American Bystander,
and The Weekly Humorist . She created a brilliant set of online comics based
on real women's harrowing #MeToo stories as well as other works honoring
social justice causes. Ash is featured in Send Help! A Collection of Marooned
Cartoons by Jon Adams and Ellis Rosen, a compilation of New Yorker

Chronicle Books
On Sale: Oct 17/23
7 x 9 • 160 pages
9781797223322 • $37.95 • PB - Paperback, full-color
illustrations throughout
Comics & Graphic Novels / NonFic / Biography &
Memoir