The Vertical Sea by Brian Freschi

​The strikingly titled Vertical Sea is a story of panic attacks and one woman’s struggle to cope with them in her daily life.
It sounds simple because it is quite simple, primarily complicated by the geography, because as it turns out or at least according to this book, while Italy has some gorgeous art and spectacular food, their attitudes toward mental disorders are still somewhat medieval.
That’s actually a good way to judge if the country is first, second, or third world – just check out the way they treat mental disorders. If they propose exorcism or just shun and stone the old-fashioned way – third tier. If they kinda understand what’s going on but still shun it and victimized the person, like they do in this book, - second. You get the idea.
Anyway, so the lovely willowy protagonist of this book has to deal with loads of crap because of her panic disorder, crap that primarily streams from her teaching position (one she loves) and the kids’ parents, etc.
The other way to know this is a European comic is to take in all of the casual nudity. Now that they are good with. So that’s something.
Overall, though, nothing special outside of some pretty art and the message that Italy’s kinda backwards in some way. Ta-da.