Present

“[Present] is visually minimalist — yet expansive in terms of honesty and emotion.”—Hollywood Reporter

“Reading Leslie Stein's comics – drawn from evanescent moments in daily life and the curious memories they encourage to surface – always feels strangely immersive, like experiencing the inside of someone else's head... [Present offers] modest, compassionate epiphanies.”—Globe & Mail

"A collection of diarylike graphic short stories — frank, charming, insightful meditations on daily life that manage to be sentimental but not cloyingly so."—Buzzfeed, Best Books of 2017

"The drawings in Leslie Stein’s new book, Present, are prismatic, loopy, and effervescent. Her handwritten dialogue, squiggly forms, and watercolor washes are irresistible... I was caught off guard by the aching loneliness that permeates the book’s autobiographical stories... by book’s end, the loneliness feels companionable, like your reflection in a mirror."—Paris Review

"With minimalist linework and delicate watercolors... Stein brings a setting to life with rich color. [Present] is full of smart artistic choices that illuminate Stein’s feelings in the moment, [in which] readers can discover the full range of her talent.”—AV Club

"Every page is suffused with empathy, while resisting the saccharine: there are no tidy endings, nor smug moralizing. Stein’s vibrant watercolors are a marvel, especially in the palette... Even the lettering tells a story, often exploding on the page in different colors and sizes. It all adds up to a sweet, relatable portrait of the minutiae that make life worth living."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Inventive and utterly unique."—Booklist

"Weird, warm, refined, delicate, softly precise and open-hearted, all at the same time."—Paste