A powerful introduction to a formidable personality.
Graphic biography of “the most famous unknown of the [20th] century.”
With visual stylings that recall Jazz Age poster art, Macy evokes the life and times of modernist Djuna Barnes, whose social circle was a veritable Rolodex of the Lost Generation. Macy begins in medias res, as Peggy Guggenheim rushes to Barnes’ rescue for the umpteenth time in 1938, “another bad year for Djuna Barnes.” Macy then takes readers back to 1912 and Barnes’ early career as a journalist, at 19 supporting her mother and younger brothers. From there, he goes back even further, to Barnes’ decidedly unusual childhood in an ill-fated utopian commune established by her grandmother to promote free love—and from which she was married off at 17 against her will. Her father, characterized by Macy as “an idiot manchild,” was a talentless artist, but Barnes had talent to spare. Her “special brand of snark” helped her find a home with the literary elite, among whom “Djuna was on a mission to be as experimental an artist as possible.” To give readers a taste of what this means, Macy works quotations of her writing into the dialogue from time to time. These snippets attest to her facility with modernist wordplay; his presentation of an English-language reading of her 1958 play, The Antiphon, reveals her at possibly her most challenging (“What does ‘fornication of the mint’ mean?” wonders an audience member). Barnes’ fiery red hair draws the eye in Macy’s otherwise monochromatic panels, visually underscoring the vitality that made Guggenheim and T.S. Eliot such loyal friends. She was not so lucky with lovers, of whom there were many and of such variety that in her waning years “she became an LGBT icon” (but rejected the label). By the end, readers will understand Macy’s admiration for this woman whose “greatest creation was herself.”
A powerful introduction to a formidable personality.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781951491338
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Street Noise Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
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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