A beautifully introspective account of a Jewish author learning about her roots—and a dark side of Swedish history.
A journey of self-discovery.
Growing up in Sweden, Rubin Dranger could always turn to her aunt, Susanne, for emotional support. “She wasn’t just my aunt but also my grown-up friend and protector,” writes Rubin Dranger. “When I was miserable and felt abandoned, it was Susanne who crawled under the bed to comfort me.” Susanne also gave Rubin Dranger a copy of Art Spiegelman’s landmark book Maus, instilling in her niece a love of graphic novels and an interest in their Jewish past. And so it was a shock when Susanne, suffering from depression, took her own life. Another shock came when Rubin Dranger learned that Susanne’s name was on a Swedish register of Jews and Nazi opponents that was supplied to Nazis during World War II. In 1997, those names were found on 3,000 cards hidden behind the wall of a late university lecturer who had been a Nazi, then a member of the right-wing Sweden Democrats. In Rubin Dranger’s poignant and often sorrowful graphic memoir, one sees how these events helped motivate the author to know more about her family history and how, along the way, her eyes were opened to some Swedes’ complicity during the war. As a friend in Israel puts it, “The first generation were quiet, the second generation felt they couldn’t ask, and now the third generation tries to find out what happened.” Thanks to her dogged research, Rubin Dranger finds out a lot. She details it—her travels, her encounters with antisemitism, the sweeping journeys of her ancestors, her doubts about creating the book—in tender illustrations set against old photos and postcards. “On some level,” she reasons with great compassion, her book “illustrates that all people are connected—we are all part of the same story.”
A beautifully introspective account of a Jewish author learning about her roots—and a dark side of Swedish history.Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593836903
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
A memoir for those who want to laugh through the free fall of their own emotional roller coaster.
A humorous take on dread.
In her amusing graphic memoir, cartoonist Correll turns her emotional roller coaster into a literal, visual experience with her own amusement park of worries that she calls Anxietyland. Within this playful framework, she guides readers through her lifelong struggle with severe anxiety—there are attractions like the “worry-go-round,” “booze cruise,” “downward spiral,” and more, all culminating in finding the help that not only helps her manage the anxiety, but pushes her to do the work in confronting and living with it. To her credit, Correll uses the amusement park concept to dissect points in her life where her anxiety was holding her hostage from leading a fulfilling life. One panel shows Correll’s whimsical approach, as when her cat, Oliver, goes missing. “Why hasn’t he come home?” she thinks, her eyes full of worry, her mouth downturned. “What if he’s dead?” The subsequent image shows her pet peeking into the panel; the accompanying text reads, “Oliver (very much alive).” It’s one thing to read a memoir that breaks down episodes with the benefit of time and knowledge; it’s a completely different experience to see someone living through their depression while hanging on for dear life in “anxie-tea” cups. Readers who hold season passes to Anxietyland will be able to laugh along with the author, but this book will also benefit those coming to terms with a new or future anxiety diagnosis. These readers may, for the first time, be able to put their swirling emotions into a tangible context that makes more sense to them and others. That’s the beauty of Correll’s memoir: The book provides a comical medium lens that can open doors to understanding—rather than a door to the house of horrors.
A memoir for those who want to laugh through the free fall of their own emotional roller coaster.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781668004159
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
An accessible, informative journey through complex issues during turbulent times.
Immersion journalism in the form of a graphic narrative following a Syrian family on their immigration to America.
Originally published as a 22-part series in the New York Times that garnered a Pulitzer for editorial cartooning, the story of the Aldabaan family—first in exile in Jordan and then in New Haven, Connecticut—holds together well as a full-length book. Halpern and Sloan, who spent more than three years with the Aldabaans, movingly explore the family’s significant obstacles, paying special attention to teenage son Naji, whose desire for the ideal of the American dream was the strongest. While not minimizing the harshness of the repression that led them to journey to the U.S.—or the challenges they encountered after they arrived—the focus on the day-by-day adjustment of a typical teenager makes the narrative refreshingly tangible and free of political polemic. Still, the family arrived at New York’s JFK airport during extraordinarily political times: Nov. 8, 2016, the day that Donald Trump was elected. The plan had been for the entire extended family to move, but some had traveled while others awaited approval, a process that was hampered by Trump’s travel ban. The Aldabaans encountered the daunting odds that many immigrants face: find shelter and employment, become self-sustaining quickly, learn English, and adjust to a new culture and climate (Naji learned to shovel snow, which he had never seen). They also received anonymous death threats, and Naji wanted to buy a gun for protection. He asked himself, “Was this the great future you were talking about back in Jordan?” Yet with the assistance of selfless volunteers and a community of fellow immigrants, the Aldabaans persevered. The epilogue provides explanatory context and where-are-they-now accounts, and Sloan’s streamlined, uncluttered illustrations nicely complement the text, consistently emphasizing the humanity of each person.
An accessible, informative journey through complex issues during turbulent times.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-30559-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Metropolitan/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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