Dragon Hoops

Gene Luen Yang is one of my favorite graphic novelists. His new book Dragon Hoops is a memoir about his 17 years as a teacher at the Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California. The book focuses on his interactions with the school's basketball team during his last year as a teacher.    

The author begins with his story as a youth. Being unathletic he hated sports and focused on academics in school. After he learns that his first graphic novel will be published, Yang tries to find something interesting to write for his next book. He decides to have a talk with O'Dowd's coach Lou Richie. The men's varsity basketball team, the Dragons, is headed to the state championships. Yang decides to follow the team all season, interviewing the athletes, the coach and former coach who had to resign due to a sexual abuse allegation.  This book is the result.

I am not a sports fan but because Yang wrote this book I was excited to buy it. I knew he would make it interesting and he did. The book is more than a memoir as Yang gives mini-bios of the athletes on the team as well as the history of the game.  He even has a section on women's basketball.  Yang also delves into the race issue in basketball from all perspectives: middle school, high school and college. I learned a lot about the game while being entertained with great writing and graphics. With an impressive 434 pages, the artwork was drawn by Yang but colored by Rianne Meyers.

I loved Dragon Hoops and highly recommend it to young adult readers as well as adults.  5 out of 5 stars.

I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf

New York Times writer Grant Snider has given us a humorous glimpse at those of us who are addicted to books.  The bright colors used in his illustrations further enhance the light feel of the book.  I could not stop laughing throughout the book and had to read it twice consecutively because I did not want to forget any of his comedic jabs at readaholics. By the end of the week I had read it a third time.

Poetry and the writing experience are prominent themes. At times I felt that I was reading a Dr. Seus book as Snider's rhyming words sounded silly:

May your future be dystopian

May your myths be true

May your fairy tales be grisly

May your poems be haiku

May your self-help be helpful

May your heroes be tragic

May your quests be epic

May your realism be magic.

Comic strips on books taking over your home, figuring out what to do with unfinished books, how to organize and issues concerning writing are all included along with information on several genres.  This is a silly book that will make you smile.  I have now read it four times since I purchased it one week ago.  I highly recommend it!s  5 out of 5 stars.

Saga: Compendium One

Saga is a science fiction and fantasy comic book that is based on Star Wars. Compendium One contains serialized comic strips 1 through 54 in a gigantic, 1,328 page, 5 pound book.  Saga was written by Brian K. Vaughn, with Fiona Davis creating the artwork. Vaughn stated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that Issue 54 was the halfway point for the comic strip and that 108 total issues were planned for this story. It took him seven years to write these initial 54 issues.

This romance story opens with the birth of Hazel, who narrates the book as an adult character. Saga centers around her life. She is the child of Alana and Marko. Alana was born on the planet Landfall, has black skin and wings. Marko was born on Wreath, Landfall's moon, has white skin and horns. Wreath and Landfall have been at war for a long time as has the entire galaxy. Both Marko and Alana are considered AWOL from their military assignments and are being hunted by their respective militias not only because they are AWOL but because they breeded together. However, it is difficult to run with an infant and this new family runs across a few unusual characters while on the run to find a safe place to live.

Saga covers a few social issues such as interracial marriages, racism, gender identity, and violence. Marko and Alana are not the only soldiers to leave their military posts. The main reason they are being sought is because they broke society's rule against having sex with someone who is not like themselves and having the audacity to have a child together. If they are found, they will be killed but both sides want possession of Hazel. Several of the characters they come across while on the lam have gender identity issues. Some are gay. It seemed bizarre to be discussing this issue concerning nonhuman characters. Fiona Davis did a fabulous job drawing these creatures. They were entertaining to look at but to think of them as transgender, gay or something else was more humorous to me than being social commentary by the author.  There was alot of violence in the book but as far as the illustrations were concerned, this was science fiction violence. The social commentary on violence comes into the plot with Marko grappling with his military past. He hates that he has been violent and wants to promote peace. His problem is that to protect his family he may have to be violent.

I LOVED Saga. I am not a science fiction or fantasy fan but this story gripped me from the beginning and I binge read it this weekend. Unfortunately, Issue 55 is not out yet. The author and illustrator took a year sabbatical on writing this comic and nothing new has been published yet. It's killing me because Issue 54 ended with a cliffhanger. 

Definitely 5 out of 5 stars!

They Called Us Enemy

Former Star Trek actor George Takei wrote this graphic memoir about his family's experience being deported to an internment camp for Japanese Americans in the 1940s. Takei lived in two camps between the ages of four and eight. The story covers the moment the police knocked on his door to pick them up until they were released.

Takei is just four when his father wakes him and his younger brother up and tells them to get dressed quickly and wait for him in the living room. They board a bus, then train to their ultimate destination, the Rohwer Camp in Arkansas.  They initially spend time living in a horse stall at the Santa Anita Racetrack before being herded onto a train eastward to Arkansas. The author actually began kindergarten at Santa Anita. Takei felt it all was an adventure, as did the other kids who were traveling with their families.

The California Attorney General, Earl Warren, decided to follow the popular politics of the day to "lock up the Japs," as a way to become Governor. He succeeded (and later became Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court) by stating that the lack of evidence against the Japanese Americans was actually evidence because they were inscrutable. They were "nonassimilable" and therefore "alien enemies."  Note that before the Pearl Harbor attack a person born in Japan could not become an American citizen. These arguments seemed cruel because if an immigrant is prohibited by law from becoming a citizen their hands were tied if a war broke out with their homeland. In the time period between the attack and the beginning of the internment the Japanese Americans were forced to sell their possessions at a a fraction of their value because the U. S. government froze their bank accounts and financial assets.

The family was only allowed to take what they could carry with them to the camp. They were forced to leave behind a two story home in Los Angeles and all of their possessions. They lived at Rohwer until the author's parents were designated "no-nos."  A "no-no" is a person who answered "no" to questions 27 and 28 on a mandatory questionnaire that was distributed to all of the prisoners at the camps. Most of the questions concerned relatives in Japan, criminal records, membership in organizations, foreign investments and magazine reading habits. Question 27 was "are you willing to serve in the armed forces on combat duty," and question 28 was "will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States..." The Japanese were outraged at the loyalty questions, particularly 28. 28 rested on the false premise that they had a racial allegiance to the emporer of Japan. Answering yes to this question meant that they had a loyalty to give up. The Takei family was then sent to one of the other ten internment camps, Tule Lake in Northern California. Tule Lake housed the most disloyal people and had tanks and three barbed wires around the camp to "protect" them.

This story was told well. It alternated between the 1940s and the present time period with the author speaking as a senior citizen about his internment. The detailed black and white drawings were done by Harmony Becker.  She advanced the story with her portraiture of the adults showing their emotions on their faces. With the kids being kids and finding fun everywhere, the seriousness of the internment is shown on the adults' faces and in their postures.

Takei correlates his experience with that of today's migrant children being kept in cages at our southern border. He has said in interviews that he understands how those children feel because he grew up isolated behind barbed wire. When Takei saw the pictures on TV of children being held in cages the old outrage he once felt reemerged. He decided to use a medium for telling his story that most of us first experienced as children-comic books-to help readers see it through the eyes of the child he once was.  I thought this was a brilliant idea.

I learned a few new facts about this part of American history and can see that it was close to being repeated with the Muslim ban and anti-immigration stance we have recently debated nationally. Takei's story is timely.

Highly recommended!

Sabrina

Nick Drnaso 's second graphic novel Sabrina follows his successful 2016 graphic novel Beverly. Sabrina has been nominated for the Man Booker Prize, the first graphic novel to be considered for this award. It was published in May, 2018 by Drawn and Quarterly. 

Teddy's girlfriend Sabrina has gone missing putting him in a severely depressed state. He moves to Colorado to stay with an old friend, Calvin Wrobel, who is in the air force. Sabrina's sister Sandra calls Teddy a few times but he rebuffs her, not even attending her funeral. Teddy lays in bed all day in his underwear, listening to a shock jock radio host and only eats when Wrobel leaves food outside his bedroom door.

When a video of Sabrina's murder surfaces and goes viral, the media and the public goes into overdrive and conspiracy theories begin to point fingers at the victim's friends and family even though the killer is identified in the video. Sandra, Teddy and Wrobel all get threatening messages as the public begins to believe the video is fake and that one of them is the actual killer.

Sound familiar? This is what is happening in society today with our 24/7 news coverage of murders across the country. No one believes the truth anymore and our minds imagine new truths to fit what we hear on cable TV programs that talk about true crimes.  Sabrina is an indictment of our conspiracy theory society.

Sabrina is brilliantly  plotted with compelling characters. Some of the plot movements you only see from drawings with no dialogue. The emotions of the characters pop off of the page. The artwork consists of simple line drawings which are colorful, but the colors are all muted.

5 out of 5 stars!

Green Lantern Legacy

I did not read the original Green Lantern series as I was not yet interested in comics when it was published. Green Lantern Legacy is an off-shoot of the series and fuses the past storyline of the series with a brand new story.  The author, who is a Vietnamese American, has featured an Asian American hero in Tai Pham. Tai Pham is thirteen years old and lives in an apartment above his grandmother's store, the Jade Market. After she dies, Tai Pham learns about a big secret that his grandmother had and it changes his life. After he inherits her jade ring, Tai suddenly discovers that it inducts him into a group of space cops called Green Lanterns. As he learns how to use its power, Tai meets many new characters as his friends encourage him to use the ring wisely.  He also discovers that his neighborhood is overrun with racist bullies.  He is not sure if he can overcome them but begins to learn how to harness the ring's power to defeat them.

I really enjoyed this comic.  While it was written for young readers, this sixtysomething reader found it enheartening.  It's a story of overcoming disadvantages in life and how to deal with racism but told in a friendly, non-threatening way. The brightly colored illustrations also give this serious topic a light feel. The age old American idea that with power comes responsibility is also seen here. There are many lessons young readers can learn from this book. I highly recommend it.

5 out of 5 stars.

Stepping Stones

Stepping Stones is Lucy Knisley's newest graphic novel. It is the story of Jen, her mother and new boyfriend Walter who have moved to a farm in the country. Jen is unhappy there and wants to live with her father in the city.  However, her mother wants her to stay and become acclimated to this new environment. Jen is given enough chores to keep her busy all day while her mother and boyfriend always have excuses to bow out of the hardest work. A few weeks later, to make matters worse, Walter's two snobby daughters arrive for the summer. 

I felt sorry for Jen. She seemed to be used as a work horse. She was also mistreated by Walter who wouldn't even call her by her correct name. His daughters likewise mistreated her, calling her names and ridiculing her country clothes.  Over the summer they became friends though. The author's note at the conclusion of the book acknowledges that Jen is really Lucy Knisley who grew up on her mother's farm. I wondered about this when I began reading because the drawings of Jen are the same as drawings of Lucy in earlier books.  

The artistry was a little different than prior graphic novels by Knisley. The introduction to all of the chapters was done with a kid's handwriting on those old composition book pages. It didn't work for me but since Jen was a child, this approach matched the story. The remainder of the drawings were consistent with the author's style, colorful panels drawn in a primitive fashion.

4 out of 5 stars.

Lennon: The New York Years

Lennon: The New York Years is not really about John Lennon's life living in New York City but rather his life from birth until death.  The storyline of this graphic novel follows several sessions that Lennon had with a psychiatrist while he was living in New York during which he discusses his entire life.

I was quite surprised to read that both of John Lennon's parents abandoned him as a child and that he was raised by an aunt and uncle. With his mother coming in and out of his life as a youth he had serious mental issues. When he began to learn music Lennon started to come out of his shell, using music as therapy.

The book covers the forming of the Beatles, their rise to fame, the crazy years touring and recording albums and their breakup.  I thought it was interesting that when Lennon met Yoko Ono she was able to erase all of the pain he had lived with from his childhood.  I did not know that before. His murder by John Chapman is also covered.

I had read some negative reviews of the book before reading it.  I totally disagree with those reviewers.  This is a fabulous biography of one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century and I learned alot about him.  This is a must read.

Creation

Sylvia Nickerson's graphic novel Creation was a big disconnect for me. Creation is the story of the gentrification of her neighborhood in Toronto.  While the plot is good, the story suffered at the midway point as the author alternated between giving her own story of self-discovery as a mother and telling the story about the changes in her neighborhood. I did not see the connection between the two.

The artwork did not help this story in any way. She used graphite pencils throughout the book. I could not understand why she drew people with blob figures and shaded her drawings in deep gray. The book cover is quite colorful and gives a happy feeling but this feeling is not carried out through the book.  It's rather depressing. When I bought this book I had not seen the inside so when it arrived in the mail I was surprised.

It is almost impossible for me not to like a graphic novel but this book was a big disappointment. Skip it. 

Windows on the World

Windows on the World chronicles a son's search for his undocumented father who was working in the Twin Towers on 9/11. His father had a job as a dishwasher at the Windows on the World restaurant to support his family in Mexico. When his family does not hear from him within two weeks after the catastrophe, his son Fernando travels from Mazatlan, Mexico to New York City to look for him a/nd bring him home. Fernando searches New York from the downtown area to the Spanish Harlem neighborhood.  Along the way, Fernando experiences a warm embrace from fellow immigrants and a cold shoulder from American citizens.

This book was based not the 2019 movie of the same title. The plot moves fast as it shifts from Fernando's family life in Mexico to his illegal entry into the U. S. to begin his search for his father Balthazar. While this is a story that Americans should be used to hearing, it continues to grip our hearts 19 years later. I was unable to stop reading and wished that it continued on after the ending. It pulls at the heartstrings when you read that Fernando is told at a 9/11 rescue center that "if your father didn't officially work in the towers he can't officially be missing." The reader can feel Fernando's disappointment and desperation.  However, he knows what his mission is and does not let anything or anyone keep him from his search. 

Windows on the World is a story that never gets old.  5 out of 5 stars.

Jane

Jane is a modern day version of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre told in a graphic novel format. The writer has changed Bronte's storyline but the two main characters Jane and her love Rochester are present.

The book summary from the back cover blurb reads:  "Growing up in an unhappy family in a small New England town, Jane dreamed of escaping to New York City to study art and live a life of independent adventure. Soon after arriving, she takes a job as a nanny for a mysterious, powerful businessman, Rochester, and his lovable but lonely daughter Adele, in a lavish apartment filled with unsettling secrets. Jane soon finds herself drawn into a world of intrigue, danger and romance that takes her far beyond her childhood dreams."

This is a delightful, fast paced read. However, if you're looking for Jane Eyre in a comic you will be disappointed. The author has changed the plot significantly. I think it is a cute book but the advertisement of the book as a modern day Jane Eyre is deceptive. The only thing it has in common with the old classic is Jane's family background and that she loves a man named Rochester.

The artwork is beautiful. Ramon Perez did the illustrations and Irma Kniivila did the coloring with her watercolor washes. The pages are primarily blue with gold highlights but many are orange with gold highlights or olive green with the gold. The effects are striking. I think the art makes this book. While it has interesting characters and a good plot, without these drawings I don't think the book would be as engaging.

I enjoyed this book immensely.  It's light charm was a perfect choice for the park on the first warm, sunny day of the season that I chose to read it on.

5 out of 5 stars.

Royal City

I just finished Royal City Volumes 1 through 3.  The comic was written by Jeff Lemire and published in 2017 and 2018.  The comic is about a troubled family, the Pike family, and the town they live in.  The City of Royal City, a once thriving factory town, is slowly disappearing as residents flee for other neighborhoods where they can find jobs.  The comic is a continuation of Lemire's Essex County comic.  

Patrick Pike, a fading literary star, reluctantly returns to his home town after his father suffers a stroke.  He becomes drawn into the dramas of his two adult siblings, his mother, and his browbeaten father, all of whom are still haunted by the death of the youngest brother Tommy.  This family saga covers a span of thirty years.  

I hated for the story to end.  I loved all of the characters and felt like a was a member of the Pike family too.  It would be awesome of the author picked up this story and continued it.  Although this is a comic, the character development and intensity of each family member's reaction to the death of Tommy at age 14 could easily have been written as a fiction novel.  The looseness of the comic format has not hindered Lemire.  The story has a definite beginning, middle and end.  I also liked that the artwork was done in color.  Black and white comics just don't grab my attention.

5 out of 5 stars. 

I Remember Beirut

Zeina Abirached, in her follow-up graphic novel to A Game For Swallows, concentrates in I Remember Beirut on those things that she remembers about her life living in war torn Beirut in the 1980s. There is no formal plot. Each page begins with "I remember" and talks about a different memory she has such as the sound of unwrapping a Kitkat candy bar, never having running water and that the school bus did not stop in her neighborhood.

The artwork is the same used in A Game For Swallows.  The drawings are stark black and white.  Each time the letter "o" is used in a word the author placed a dot inside it. This is a bullseye and shows how victimized the residents feel about the war.  It is a most unconventional graphic style but works well for the story the author is telling.

I loved the book but must admit "Swallows" is better.

British Ice

British Ice is a fictionalized account of a commissioner's year on Reliance Island off the northern coast of Canada. At the time of Commissioner Harrison Fleet's visit, the island was part of the British Arctic Territory. British Ice is a graphic novel. 

Since the plot revolves around the setting, it will need some explanation.  The British Arctic Territory is an imagined territory that consists of one main island, Reliance, and a few smaller ones including rocks and underwater formations. It was discovered in the early 1800s by Captain Netherton and the main island was named after his ship. It has remained British land since its discovery and has been constantly manned by a member of the British High Commission even though it is in remote, freezing location. The artwork contributes to the setting. It has been colored entirely in an icy blue tone to match the setting. Drawings in comic strip panels complete the look of this book.

Upon his arrival on Reliance Island, Fleet immediately realizes he cannot speak the native language. He soon meets Ana and Abel, the Community Engagement Officer, both whom treat him with plenty of distrust and sarcasm. After snowmobiling to Netherton's home, a townhome, Fleet settles in for what is supposed to be a four year post. Inside he finds a few items owned by the prior commissioner, who disappeared without a trace. The natives refuse to communicate with him so Fleet must rely upon his pilot, Ana and Abel to determine why the indigenous people have always mistrusted the British.

I did not expect this book to be a mystery but love that it is a historical mystery. Fleet did an investigation into the background of the natives anger toward British rule and was surprised at what he discovered. It wasn't just a reaction to colonial rule. I won't be a spoiler but the answer to that question connects to the first chapter. He also asked plenty of questions about his predecessor. Why did he disappear?  Fleet was able to figure this out after snowmobiling around the island looking for clues.

I was impressed with the author's creation of the setting. He went into great detail in the beginning of the book to tell the reader about the geography of the area, the person who discovered it and British colonialism. Then he began the story.  Incredible!

5 out of 5 stars.

Lady Killer

I laughed hard while reading this dark comedy about a female serial killer.  Josie Schuller works as a killer for a syndicate and is the perfect homemaker at night. She is gorgeous and dresses well so no one suspects what she is up to.

The story opens with her as an Avon lady,  killing her client after offering her a lipstick. Then she gets a job in a nightclub, the Kitty Cat Lounge, where she dresses up as a cat to get close to a man her boss wants dead. She seems to love knives and messes which is not what you expect from a female killer.  Page after page Josie accepts jobs from her superior, a handsome man named Peck, and completes them within a day, all while looking picture perfect in her dream dresses.

There is a mystery to the story at the halfway point but I don't want to be a spoiler.  I understand that there are sequels to this book.  I will be looking for them because I loved this graphic novel. The author came up with a fresh, new idea with this female serial killer who kills like a man but enjoys domestic bliss.  It is worth a look.

Portugal

I waited 6 weeks for an Amazon 3rd party shipper to deliver this graphic novel to me and it finally arrived today. Cyril Pedrosa's Portugal is about a fictional cartoonist named Simon Muchat traveling to his family's country of origin in order to overcome his artist's writing block.

The story opens with Simon Muchat and his live in girlfriend Claire arguing over whether to continue their relationship by advancing it with the purchase of a home.  Simon decides to not discuss it and Claire takes her cue from Simon as a "no." Simon decides to travel to Portugal, the land his grandparents emigrated to France from, for a comics convention.  There he feels an attachment to the people he meets even though they are different from him and speak another language.  Upon his return to France, Simon and his father attend a family wedding of Simon's cousin Agnes whom Simon has not seen in 20 years.  A third of the book concerns the interactions of the family members during the wedding celebration week. 

The family dynamics are what make this book.  It is an accurate depiction of what I think most families are like.  Each generation seems fractured by how they were raised.  The grandparents who emigrated from Portugal to France pined for their home in Portugal and the reader never discovers why they left although there is speculation.  The grandmother spent her whole life crying for everything she left behind.  The grandfather only communicated with the oldest child because he was born in Portugal.  The rest of the children were born in France so there is some sibling rivalry over the oldest being the favorite.  When these children grew up and had their own families they were not close families.  However, during the wedding celebration week, the children of the immigrants spent every minute of every day together reminiscing, making new memories and a little fighting.  They enjoyed each other's company though.

Simon then decides to return to Portugal to meet his relatives.  He stays in his uncle's home, which was formerly owned by his grandfather before he emigrated to France.  Here he discovers his family's history and ponders the reason why the men in the family are unable to pursue happiness, including himself.

The artwork is done is very dark colors, so dark that it is difficult to see the faces of the people in the drawings.  The drawings themselves are loose.  They look like pen drawings colored over with watercolor paint and are not detailed.  Each character's face is unhappy.  I am not sure if that is intentional due to how they are feeling or if this is the author's style.  It seems unusual to me that every character looks depressed.  However, during the last third of the book when Simon was in Portugal, the colors used were light. Obviously, the author used color to reflect the characters' emotions.

This book was rather depressing.  I enjoyed the middle part of the book when the celebration of Agnes' wedding occurred. However, the book is about Simon.  I could not feel any sympathy for him as a character.  The drawings of him did not make him look very likable and the colors that the author  used for the Simon scenes were not attractive.  I enjoyed Simon's search for his family's roots which is what the book is really about but the characters were unappealing and that detracted from the story.

Drawn to Berlin

Drawn to Berlin is Ali Fitzgerald's memoir of teaching comic workshops in refugee shelters in Germany during 2015 and 2016. She is an American living in Berlin and many of the refugees are from Syria.  They have come to Europe in huge numbers seeking asylum. The story takes place at The Bubble, a refugee center in northern Berlin.

The refugees featured in the book surprisingly did not draw violent images from their former lives in Syria.  Instead they chose friendly subjects such as flowers and ships. Her discussions with them were different, though.  They were painfully sad. All had left loved ones behind and could not get in touch with them. Without the right papers, the German government will not allow them to obtain housing or jobs so they were stuck in the shelters unable to move forward for months or even years. While the Germans were welcoming initially, nationalism begins to rise in response to their fear of losing their culture.

The story is told in black and white  drawings.  They are not done in a style that I like but the since the story had depth it didn't bother me that much.

The historical connection between today and immigrants from 100 years ago as well as between Germany today and a century ago was interesting. A century ago Jewish refugees from pogroms in Russia came to Germany and had trouble getting settled. Also, a font that the Nazis used when writing their propaganda, called fraktur, had a renaissance after the Syrian refugees arrived. This font was never supposed to be used again after the end of World War II but nationalism has caused it to reappear. The author discussed several other connections between the present and the past that were fascinating.

Drawn to Berlin tells an important story in history.  While I had read news stories about these refugees in Germany, I never read anything from the refugees' perspective.  The author did a great job of presenting their story.

Nanjing: The Burning City

I was disappointed in Ethan Young's Nanjing. It is a wartime narrative of the fall of China's former capital city Nanjing to the Japanese in 1937. The book showcases 2 Chinese soldiers who were caught in the city after it was captured by the Japanese.

I did not learn much about the WWII fight commonly known as the Rape of Nanjing. Perhaps I am used to this type of story being told as a reportage comic which has tons of detail via the dialogue.  There is little dialogue in Nanjing and the artwork consists of black and white drawings in comic strips.

Unfortunately, I can only give this graphic novel 1 out of 5 stars. It just didn't teach me anything about this episode in history.

I Was Their American Dream

This graphic memoir by Malaka Gharib is a lovely autobiography covering the author's birth through her recent marriage. Gharib is a first generation American of Filipino Egyptian ancestry whose parents invested their lives in their children in pursuit of the American dream.

Growing up in Cerritos, California Gharib only knew other immigrant children. It was normal to ask her peers "what are you." Everyone talked about their heritage openly.  It was expected. Her family, however, were stuck in their country of origin, only serving ethnic foods at home and continued to follow the customs of the Philippines where Gharib's mother and siblings emigrated from. Her father was an Egyptian who returned there after divorcing Gharib's mother. Gharib then spent every summer in Egypt and picked up many of the attributes of the Egyptians.

When the author turned 16 she suddenly had a bunch of feelings about white people. She wanted to be white and have everything they had. Since she had not mentioned white people until the midway point, I was taken aback by her statements about them. Where did these ideas come from?  What made her think she had less? I did not think she had less. When it was time for college and a career she chose "white" schools and cities to live in. I was confused as most of the book heralded her ethnic origins. I heralded them along with her. I just didn't understand her choices when she became an adult. They contrasted with what I thought was a love of heritage.

The artwork style is primitive. It looks like a child created the drawings. The story is told well. The reader can feel Gharib's emotions as she tells each part of her life story. In addition, the way that she introduced her many family members was brilliant because it is difficult for readers to remember alot of characters. I had no problem getting to know every member of her extended family and remembering each person's idiosyncrasies. I enjoyed meeting her friends and classmates too.  All of these characters were memorable.

The author ended her book with a lifestyle that is more American than ethnic. I don't know what to think about that. Is it just the norm for first generation Americans to assimilate into society or is Gharib embarrassed by her ethnicity?

I loved this book. It is thought provoking concerning how to handle this thing called the American experience.  It should be required reading for all of us.

The Big Kahn

The Big Kahn is a graphic novel about a family secret, so secret that Rabbi David Kahn's wife and kids do not know about it. At the Rabbi's funeral, his long lost brother arrives and tells the family that Rabbi Kahn has lived a lie. He is not Jewish, not a real rabbi and his real name is Donnie Dobbs. They are horrified. 

All of the family members react differently to the news. Son Avi who was expected to inherit the rabbinate worries that the congregation will not vote him in, considering him to be a fraud like his father.  Scandalous daughter Lea becomes more interested in Judaism and wife Rachel cannot cope with the whispers about her that she overhears from ladies in the congregation. Young son Eli is just trying to find himself.

I loved this novel with all of its Jewish flair.  However, the same story could have been told about any faith tradition. All churchy people gossip about other church members so I can fully understand Rachel wanting to withdraw from society. The scenes from the funeral are not unique to Judaism as all people say the same words at funerals.  That said, this is a very Jewish story.  I can relate, though, from my experiences as a Protestant.

While this is a small book of 166 pages, the author has created characters with great depth through superb dialogue and emotional drawings.  This is the first time I have seen characters created as fully as you would find in a regular novel. Speaking of the artwork, The Big Kahn has black and white drawings with minimal shading done in comic panels.

Loved this book.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars!

The Attack

When I bought this graphic novel I presumed it was about a terrorist attack in the Middle East, which it is.  However, the plot was much different than I expected.

Amin Jaafari is an Arab and a naturalized Israeli citizen living in Tel Aviv.  He is also a surgeon and lives a life of luxury compared to that of his fellow Arabs. When his wife Sihem is identified as a suicide bomber who killed 19 people in a restaurant, Amin has to comes to grips with how she decieved him. He had no idea that she had terrorist leanings. Amin then travels to Palestinian areas in order to discover how his secular wife became radicalized.

I loved this book. The author does not take a side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, unusual in a book taking place in the Middle East. He shows both sides along with the stress and grief that they both share in this conflict. 

Zahra's Paradise

Zahra's Paradise takes place in Tehran in 2009. The author and illustrator have chosen to remain anonymous for political reasons and are known only as Amir and Khalil. 

The story is about a mother, Zahra, searching for her son, Mehdi, after one of the biggest street protests that took place in Tehran after an election. Mehdi has disappeared.  His mother and his brother Hassan, a blogger and the book's narrator, search for him at all of the city's hospitals, prisons and at the morgue.  They plead with corrupt politicians for information on an almost daily occasion, showing them all a copy of Mehdi's photograph. Hassan even hacks into one of the regime's most notorious prison's computer system with the hope that he will find him there.

This story primarily shows that a mother's love has no boundaries. However, it also shows how Iranians engaged with each other at that time period, which was not so long ago, just 9 years ago.  We westerners have been taught by the media that Iran is solely Muslim yet Zahra's best friend since the 3rd grade is Miriam, a chain smoking, drinking Armenian Christian. The title of this book "Zahra's Paradise" is also the English translation of the name of the largest cemetery in Iran, located in Tehran. Those interred there include people who both supported and opposed the Iranian Revolution as well as the current regime. Also, the regime buried Jews there that they caught and murdered. This story is showing a more diverse Iran than I am accustomed to hearing about with Jews and Christians living there alongside Muslims.

The artwork is composed of black and white drawings with varying degrees of grey shading which I assume reflects the desperation felt by Medhi's family. The comic is formatted in a traditional comic book page spread.

This story is an important one to tell. It shows what life is like in Iran at this time period. While this is a book of fiction, real life events took place in its pages. The election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 as President of Iran resulted in days of protests. The arrest, torture and murder of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi is part of the story. Also, the hanging of 2 gay men was mentioned. I remember reading about this in the newspaper. What surprised me was what the Iranians in the book thought about the execution of these 2 men. They wondered why their leaders could not wait for God's judgment on them and why they felt that they had to be the judge and executioner.

Highly recommended!

The Best We Could Do

The Best We Could Do is the story of the Bui family in both Vietnam and the U. S. Most of the story, though, takes place in Vietnam.  It gives the family's history from the time of the  author's grandparents to the family's arrival in America in 1978 and then to the present time.

The story opens and ends in 2005 with the author giving birth to her first child and then switches to 1999 when the author left home to move in with her boyfriend. The cultural differences between the author and her mother and their inability to communicate confounds the author and results in her wanting to search for her roots in Vietnam.  Her memories move back to 1978 Malaysia where the Buis lived in a refugee camp for several months before emigrating to America. Then we travel back in time and to Vietnam as the author's father tells her the family history. This is where most of the story is told.

The Bui family was quite resourceful in adapting to the changing political terrain in Vietnam. They were always able to remain just above destitution until the Vietnam War decimated the country. The Buis were not concerned with which side of the war was right or wrong.  They were only trying to survive and keep their extended family safe. Author Thi Bui's parents' relationships with their own parents is dissected and how the grandparents coped with a changing country is shown. Likewise, Thi Bui's siblings' relationships with their parents also unfolds as they grow up and learn to deal with the harshness of their lives.

I was captivated by the family's story and believe that their cultural background aided their ability to survive conflict and make a new life in a different country. The Vietnamese are longsuffering.  They are family oriented and as long as the family is OK, life is good.

I am unclear on the reason for title of the book. Obviously, the family's sufferings to survive could be the reason the author chose "The Best We Could Do." However, I think it is about her relationship with her mother. Thi Bui became assimilated into American culture including its expression of affection. Her mother rarely displayed affection or said what she felt in her heart, which I believe is pretty normal for a person who experienced the trauma of war and displacement. These differences seemed to create a divide between them that could not be breached. Ms. Bui clearly wants to be closer to her mother. Another thing I noticed is that throughout the book the author included several private moments that she had with her mother. She did not share her siblings having these moments. With the book opening and closing with the author having a baby, and her mother being present for the birth, instead of this being a family saga, it seems more like the back story for the reason that their relationship is restrained.

I feel that I must mention the artwork. Ms. Bui used pen and ink drawings to tell her story. They were colored in cool-toned orange shades.

The Best We Could Do is such a great story that I read it twice in a row. I cannot recommend it more highly. I think that you will love it and, at the very least, you will learn about the history of the Vietnamese in the 20th century.

Palestine

Journalist Joe Sacco wrote Palestine in 1991 and 1992 as a 9 issue comic book series.  He wrote it after spending two months in the Occupied Territories and it is about the first intifada against the Israeli occupation which he says in the Foreward was running out of steam at the time of his visit. The edition that I have read is the 2015 Fantagraphics Books edition. The original comic book series won the 1996 American Book Award.

Sacco interviewed many Palestinian families but heard the same stories over and over. People were run out of their homes by Israeli policemen or soldiers, were arrested and jailed for offenses that they did not commit, lived in squalor, were n

atred of Jews. The book opened with a discussion he had with a Palestinian about Jewish American tourist Leon Klinghoffer being thrown over the ledge of a cruise ship in his wheelchair by the PLO. The Palestinian only cared about the international news coverage that he felt the Jews were getting over the murder.

The artwork is a little different from what I am accustomed to seeing.  The author used black line drawings and text in full page and double page spreads as well as an occasional traditional comic book page layout.

Had I read this when he wrote it, it would have been newsworthy for me.  However, I have heard these stories from several different news sources and have read one or two books on the Palestinian/Israeli issue. I am aware that Sacco's book was groundbreaking for it's time, particularly for a graphic novel and therein lies it's value.

Poppies of Iraq

Poppies of Iraq was written in 2017 by Brigitte Findakly and illustrated by her husband Lewis Trondheim is a memoir of Findakly's life growing up in Iraq.  Findakly had a better than average life in Iraq as her father was a dentist and they could afford private schools and vacations in France where her mother emigrated to Iraq from.  The family was unique because they were Orthodox Christians in a Muslim country.

With her father being asked to pay excessive taxes that he could not afford to pay, he decided to leave Iraq for France.  His cover story for the government was that he needed training on how to do dental implants.  The training was approved and the family left with no intention of returning until things improved in Iraq.  I believe the author was about 18 years old at this time.  However, this was 1979.  The Iran-Iraq War followed from 1980 until 1989, the Gulf War in 1990, and the second Gulf War in 2003.  Her father never expected his exile to be that long.

The family was not political unless they had to be and when her father could no longer support Saddam Hussein's government he willingly gave up his government pension and all hope of ever returning to Iraq.  The author, however, made several trips back to Iraq over the years and saw her relatives homes, possessions and dreams becoming more and more shattered.  Eventually they all left by 2016, their homeland no longer recognizable.

While the family did not suffer much religious prejudice while the author lived there, as Saddam Hussein's government took hold her cousins suffered persecution and developed Islamaphobia.  It seems to me though that the author's mother kept her indoors at certain times so perhaps there was some prejudice happening to them.

Poppies in Iraq is an informative graphic memoir on life in Iraq from 1950 through the present time.  The title comes from an archeological site in Nimrod where the author used to play as a child.  Poppies were prevalent there.

Red Rosa

Kate Evans' Red Rosa is a graphic biography of Rosa Luxemburg.  I was not familiar with Luxemburg before reading this biography but I found that she was a woman ahead of her time.  Rosa was a passionate socialist who did alot of writing and speaking to educate and inspire many people to her cause. She was the only woman of her era, the early 1900s, to have this power.

She was born and raised in Poland but also lived in Germany promoting her beliefs. She was tough enough to question the beliefs and actions of both Marx and Lenin. She also did not care for society's role for women and chose not to marry, prefer to have lovers instead. She was truly a woman in control of her life and I admire that.

As a feminist myself, I was surprised that I had not heard of Rosa Luxemburg before seeing this book.  She was certainly a female powerhouse of the twentieth century and belongs in studies on women's history.  Unfortunately, none of the courses I took in college mentioned her.

Ladies, this is a must read!

Notes on a Thesis

French cartoonist Tiphaine Riviere's graphic novel covers the life of Jeanne Dargan during her 6 years as a PhD student.  While the book is satire, her story is sad and discouraging as well. Jeanne's life during those years was so disjointed that I would not choose to work one a PhD myself.

The publisher's summary:

"When Jeanne is accepted on to a PhD course, she is over the moon, brimming with excitement and grand plans - but is the world ready for her masterful analysis of labyrinth motifs in Kafka's The Trial?  At first Jeanne throws herself into research with great enthusiasm, but as time goes by, it becomes clear that things aren't quite going according to plan.  Notes on a Thesis is a reminder of the strangeness of academia, of every awful essay, every disastrous exam, and every insanity-inducing dissertation."

The artwork in Notes is interesting.  As Jeanne becomes more and more discouraged by her lack of progress, she is drawn with an increasingly wilted body.  Some of the other characters are drawn the same way, especially the lazy administrator Brigitte who I think resembles a government employee more than an administrator. 

The story was funny but also discouraging. I have thought about getting an advanced degree but Jeanne's experience makes me think twice about it. Jeanne got bogged down in teaching grad students and spent years just working on her thesis idea and creating the writing plan. This is not something that I want to do. 

Riviere is known for writing satire. She certainly excelled with Notes. She has Jeanne reading 3,200 books during the research phase of her degree and Jeanne wrote a 69 page outline of her thesis. Unbelievable!

5 out of 5 stars.

Exit Wounds

I have been looking forward to finding another Rutu Modan book ever since I read The Property.

In this fiction story Koby Franco, a Tel Aviv cab driver, is contacted by a female soldier, Numi, who is looking for Koby's father Gabriel whom she believes was killed in a suicide bombing at a bus station cafeteria.  Gabriel was also her lover.  Together they follow clues and interview witnesses to the bombing to see if anyone knows whether Gabriel was in fact at the cafeteria at the time of the bombing.

The artwork consists of simply drawn characters with detailed background drawings of buildings.  I liked the use of bright colors.
This is a coming of age story with Koby trying to come to terms with his relationship with his father.  The mystery plot was well thought out and followed the pattern of a normal mystery novel with the usual 3 problems that a protagonist has to deal with in order to solve the mystery. 

I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to reading more from this author.

Patience

I must start off this review with a mention of the artwork.  The author has used psychedelic sixties colors which puts me in heaven.  I wish that the story matched these lovely colors but for me it did not. 

The story opens with a man named Jack finding his pregnant wife Patience murdered in their home. After years of living with his grief Jack finds a time traveling machine and uses it to go back in time to save Patience.

I am not a fan of time traveling stories so I found this book hard to follow. It does not seem right, though, to fault an author for writing a book that I am inclined to not like.  I pickd up the book at my public library based on the color of the artwork. So, if you love time travel books, maybe this one is for you.

Weapons of Mass Diplomacy

French author and diplomat Antonin Baudry, writing under the pen name of Abel Lanzac, has written a fictionalized account of his time working for the French Foreign Ministry during the time period leading up to the U. S. invasion of Iraq. 

The story begins with Arthur Vlaminck getting hired as a speechwriter for Foreign Minister Alexandre Taillard de Vorms.  De Vorms has a nasty temper and loves to quote poets and philosophers. He is never happy with what Vlamink writes. Never. Vlamink gets to travel with the Minister on diplomatic trips abroad and to the United Nations (U.N.) where he sees the American president (George W. Bush) and Jeffrey Cole (Colin Powell) address the U.N. concerning Resolution 1441 which provided for inspections on the nation Khemed's (Iraq) weapons of mass destruction in order to avoid war.

While this is a serious topic, the author has written a wonderful satire of this part of our recent history. He has shown the difference of opinions between France and the U. S. on the subject all while showing the reader how diplomacy works.

I do not understand why the author does not use his real name, the name of his boss, Bush, Powell or Iraq. I am certain there is a professional reason for this but I do not know what it is.

This book was pretty amusing.  I highly recommend it.

This Was Our Pact

This Was Our Pact is a children's fiction novel completely illustrated in shades of blue.  Five friends decide that they will meet on their bikes and follow lanterns that have been placed in a river as they float downstream. They have many adventures along the way, with friendships being cemented throughout the journey.

The publisher's summary:

"It's the night of the Autumn Equinox Festival, when the town gathers to float paper lanterns down the river.  Legend has it that after drifting out of sight, they'll soar off to the Milky Way and turn into brilliant stars, but could this be true?  This year, Ben and his classmates are determined to find out where those lanterns really go, and to ensure success in their mission, they've made a pact with two simple rules:  No one turns for home.  No one looks back.

The plan is to follow the river on their bikes for as long as it takes to learn the truth, but it isn't long before the pact is broken by all except for Ben, and (much to Ben's disappointment) Nathaniel, the one kid who just doesn't seem to fit in.  Together, Nathaniel and Ben will travel farther than anyone has ever gone, down a winding road full of magic, wonder, and unexpected friendship."

This Was Our Pact is a great fantasy quest for kids. Kids will love the adventures that the boys come across on their journey. Every now and then science facts are thrown in but the quest to follow the lanterns is the main story. The adventure itself is mesmerizing but the artwork with all its blue hues accentuates their escapades. The storyline also includes the quest of a bear that the boys meet so this book is definitely all about the exhilaration of following a quest.  

5 out of 5 stars.

Rolling Blackouts

Rolling Blackouts:  Dispatches From Turkey, Syria and Iraq is a graphic novel summarizing a trip that the author took to the Middle East with friends who are international journalists.  It is a comic about how journalism works and is based on true events that occurred during the two month trip.

The journalists have formed a collective called Seattle Globalist and have planned a trip through  Turkey, Syria and Iraq to write reports primarily about the region absorbing refugees with dwindling resources, an underreported subject in the mainstream media.  All but one are friends from childhood and includes a former Marine who had been stationed in Iraq.  The author observed her friends interview civilians, refugees and officials including a UN refugee administrator, taxi driver, Iraqi refugee deported from the U. S., Iraqis seeking refuge in Syria and the American Marine.

The journalists use their first interview with a subject mainly to get to know them personally.  Then they meet afterward to discuss what kind of story they can get from the person and how to lead the interview.  Follow-up interviews focus on how the war affected them and if the interviewee was a refugee the journalists discussed their life before the war, how they became refugees, what their future plans and/or desires are and what kind of life they think is actually possible for them.

I found it interesting that none of the refugees wanted to resettle in the U. S. They believe the U.S. invasion of Iraq caused their life to be permanently over. It was also interesting that while the refugees were both rich and poor, most of them were formerly middle class with degrees. There is no longer a middle class in this region and that is why these countries are finding it impossible to rebuild.  All of the people with skills that are needed to rebuild are sitting in refugee camps.

I loved this serious non-fiction graphic novel and hope that more serious graphic novels are written in the future. The information inside its pages was very informative.  The artwork was created with colorful watercolor drawings done in comic panels.  This book is a must read for our national politicians as they do not seem to understand the problems facing the Middle East.  Highly recommended!

Preacher

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Everyone told me not to read this graphic novel because it would offend me as a Christian. Not so. While foul language runs supreme and there is blasphemy here and there, the book has an amazing plot that I couldn't help but love.  Book One contains issues 1 through 12 of this 75 issue serialized comic. The issues were published between 1995 and 2000.  It was written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Steve Dillon.

Preacher opens with our former preacher Jesse Custer eating out with two friends Tulip O'Hare and Cassidy. He is asked why he gave up preaching at his Annville, Texas church. Jesse then begins his life story. The rest of the book is an autobiography that explains how Jesse's possession by a supernatural force called Genesis caused his church to be flattened, killing his entire congregation. Genesis was formed by an unholy coupling between an angel and a demon. This coupling caused Jesse's church to be destroyed. With a strong sense of right and wrong, Jesse travels the U S. while trying to find God. His friends Tulip and Cassidy travel with him.

The artwork kept me reading this novel. The crisp line drawings and vibrant colors were attractive and the supernatural creatures that Steve Dillon created were cool.  Even the facial expressions supported the story, something that I didn't expect in a fantastical story like Preacher. Above all, it was the coloring that attracted me to the story. I don't normally read fantasy fiction but this graphic novel had enough questions about how people find God and lose God over circumstances in their lives that made me want to keep reading.  There are 6 more books giving the Preacher story.  I will be buying them but will not be reviewing them.  The artwork is the same and Jesse's life story continues so there will not be much to add in a review. 

4 out of 5 stars.

Shanghai Dream

Shanghai Dream is a sad book.  It is well written and illustrated but because the story concerns Jews running away from Nazis, and then the Japanese, in order to save their lives.  It ends abrultly without a denouement and I feel the rest of the story should be told in a subsequent novel. Luckily, Shanghai Dream is Book One.

The publisher's summary:  

"A young German Jewish filmmaker escapes the Nazi threat in Shanghai, where he is forced to adapt to a new land and cope with familial loss through the magic of filmmaking.  In 1938 Berlin, aspiring filmmaker Bernard Hersch works at the UFA studios and dreams of one day directing the screenplay he and his wife Illo are writing. But as a Jew in Hitler's Germany, Bernard faces increasing danger and discrimination, and is soon forced to accept deportation to Japan as his only hope.  However, Illo, disconcerted at having to abandon her elderly father, leaves Bernard behind at the last minute and returns to Berlin, where she and her father are shot by Nazis.  Rerouted to China, a heartbroken Bernard struggles through grief and vows to bring his and Illo's screenplay to life as a tribute to her legacy. Along the way, he finds love in a city under siege."

I was spellbound by the storyline. It was an emotional roller-coaster to read how the family made one choice after another, all of them lose-lose choices. I fell in love with the Bernard and Illo characters and felt like I knew them, perhaps because I have friends who lived this reality. The writing was suspenseful. A fast pace increased the suspense but it was also written with a sense of dread as the family had to make decisions quickly if they were going to survive the antisemitism directed at them. 

The artwork was drawn in comic strip panels. Some pages were colored by Delf in sepia tones and others were in black and white. All of the pages that referenced the writing of Illo's screenplay were drawn in black and white. 

Shanghai Dream is an accurate retelling of a part of WWII history. I highly recommend it, especially for young people.  5 out of 5 stars!

Dior

Girl in Dior is the story of the rise of the fashion label Christian Dior. Intermingled into the story is that of a fictional budding journalist Clara Nohant who becomes one of Dior's models and after marrying into British royalty, a customer.

The book is supposed to be a biography of Christian Dior.  While his life is covered, the addition of a fictional character, Clara, mars the story and I do not know why the author chose to add her to the story. Clara was not necessary to write a great graphic biography.

The illustrations are exquisite.  I would love to see some of them framed on my walls. The question for many will be whether the price of the book is worth the illustrations given a botched storyline.  For me, the answer is yes.  It was the beauty of the dresses illustrated that made me buy this book.

It's hard to figure out how to rate this book.  I think anyone interested in fashion will like it because of the illustrations as well as the history of the House of Dior.  I just wish fiction wasn't added to this biography.