Framed by moving, thoughtful text, Sfar’s beautifully detailed “little drawings” convey heartbreak.
Turning to art in the face of grief.
“L’Chaim”—“to life”—cry guests celebrating Sfar’s belated birthday on October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas attack, as he is given a Chai necklace of the Hebrew letters. Wearing it, however, becomes “an act of bravery.” The acclaimed French graphic novelist’s intensely personal account of that day and the next 80 days is anguished (“It’s gone from difficult to unbearable”) but hopeful. He identifies his adversary: “not the Palestinian, or the Israeli, or the Muslim or the Jew. The enemy is the person who decides that children or civilians are targets.” Those pairings anticipate further tensions strung throughout: between Ashkenazi and Mizrahi and Sephardic lines; between his deep French identity and secular Judaism; between horrifying experiences of increasing antisemitism and critiques of Israel. “A Jew who doesn’t vilify Israeli is already a stranger in the eyes of many,” but, to Sfar, hoping for Jews’ mere survival, it is “a safe haven”—then, perhaps not. Vividly reporting the attackers’ atrocities (and accusing activists and the press of silence or distortion), he contextualizes them in past and present antisemitism, also recognizing Israeli violence against Palestinians. He sometimes even doubts the utility of writing, talking, or teaching, but he never stops drawing. Evoking large- and small-scale history, he reframes the conflict, concluding that “each side must be able to acknowledge the suffering of the other side.” His goal is “the Israeli ideal: a nation of refugees that cares about the law and the dignity of one and all.” But can the rule of law prevail? Moments of self-deprecating humor or irony, observation, and personal details contrast with the dire situation. Kane’s colloquial translation from the original French text gives Sfar’s impressions, conflicts, and reflections a lively, authentic, informed, and agonized voice. Sfar’s blue-washed ink drawings richly evoke emotions, and the many wiry and expressive portraits bring his interlocutors “to life.”
Framed by moving, thoughtful text, Sfar’s beautifully detailed “little drawings” convey heartbreak.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781250393210
Page Count: 448
Publisher: 23rd St.
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
An impassioned message of rage and hope.
The author of Persepolis returns with a collection about burgeoning activism in Iran.
In September 2022, the beating and death of Mahsa Jina Amini, an Iranian student arrested for not wearing her headscarf properly, incited a solidarity movement among women and men that spread around the world. To publicize and bear witness to this major uprising, Satrapi has gathered stories, cartoons, and essays from more than 20 artists, activists, journalists, and academics. The author has two aims: “to explain what’s going on in Iran, to decipher events in all their complexity and nuance for a non-Iranian readership, and to help you understand them as fully as possible”; and “to remind Iranians that they are not alone.” Setting the movement in context, Iranian American historian Abbas Milani offers an overview of the political upheavals and revolutions that have led to the current misogynist, repressive regime and the “resolute defiance” that has emerged in protest. As each contributor attests, life under a wrathful dictatorship is consistently frightening and dangerous: “The Islamic Republic ensures its own survival by murdering people. During the successive demonstrations” over Amini’s murder, “several hundred people were killed in an attempt to strike fear into the hearts of protesters. Young people were forced to confess under torture.” Women are especially vulnerable. Since November 2022, young students in schools across Iran have been poisoned by toxic gas as part of an attempt to force girls’ schools to close. Protecting the regime falls to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary organization that answers directly to Khomeini, the Supreme Leader, and for the past four decades has carried out a reign of terror. This collection pays homage to victims and celebrates the dreams of Iran’s determined activists. Other contributors include Joanne Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, Paco Roca, and Mana Neyestani.
An impassioned message of rage and hope.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781644214053
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Seven Stories
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
IN THE NEWS
A sharp compendium of dreamy visions that could only have come from the iconic cartoonist’s sleeping mind.
The renowned cartoonist taps into Freud, Jung, and Kabbalah to discuss what happens when the head hits the pillow.
Chast, famed New Yorker cartoonist and winner of the inaugural Kirkus Prize for Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? makes it clear that while your own dreams may be inherently interesting, listening to other’ dreams is markedly not. Thankfully, the author’s thumbnail depictions of dreams that span a cross section of her bedside dream journal bring just enough humor and wit for readers to be charmed instantly. “This book is dedicated to the Dream District of our brains,” writes the author, “that weird and uncolonized area where anything can happen, from the sublime to the mundane to the ridiculous to the off-the-charts bats.” Familiar classics—“alone at a party,” “teeth falling out”—sit alongside the bizarre and hilarious—e.g., “too many birds not enough cages.” Even actor Wallace Shawn, son of former New Yorker editor William Shawn, makes an appearance: “He and I were walking down Main Street in a town in Connecticut and I needed to point something out to him: ‘Look, It’s a Broccoli Patch!’ ” From “Recurring Dreams” to “Nightmares” to “Dream Fragments or Ones That Got Away,” Chast explores beyond the first blush of the strange and personal in dreams. She writes, “here’s what’s interesting: dreams come out of my brain…as I sleep, I am creating them…so why, as they unfold, am I always so surprised?!??” The author reaches for answers beyond Freud and Jung to a wider range of insights from Kabbalah, Aristotle, neuroscientists, molecular biologists, and more. Illustrations and visual storytelling weave together a broad range of content on dreams that offers insight while never feeling burdensome or overly analytical. Easy on the eyes and witty, this book will have readers reaching for their own dream journals.
A sharp compendium of dreamy visions that could only have come from the iconic cartoonist’s sleeping mind.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781620403228
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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