This searing portrait of a teenager with an eating disorder is a slim comic stuffed with weighty issues. Readers will page along as Anna morphs from a young, healthy girl into an adolescent riddled with hormones and self-image issues and, finally, an adult with a life-threatening eating disorder. She scarcely tips the scale when she bottoms out at a dangerously low 85 pounds, barely surviving on a vitamin-enriched diet of diet drinks and laxatives. Fairfield’s spare illustrations—loose and undefined line drawings that parallel Anna’s inability to distinguish between reality and disease—work to elevate the elusiveness of her protagonist’s demon. The author personifies the eating disorder here as Tyranny, an ill-defined whirlwind that berates and abuses Anna, a slippery Etch-a-Sketch–esque figure who lurks and slinks her way invidiously through the panels. It’s a crusading work with a laudable message and boldly honest about the disease and its consequences; death, laxative abuse and early-onset osteoporosis all make an appearance. A well-proportioned volume with a haunting story and characters—both literally and figuratively. (Graphic fiction. 14 & up)
Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-88776-903-0
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2009
A contemplative exploration of faith, love, and the human condition.
Though intending to grow closer in their devotions, Adam Chen’s and Zayneb Malik’s insecurities and the fractures in their relationship are amplified in this follow-up to Love From A to Z (2019).
Islamically married but living apart—Adam’s in Doha and Zayneb’s in Chicago—the couple meet for short international getaways while Zayneb finishes law school. They’re both hiding internal stressors: Adam’s art gigs and income have dried up, and Zayneb faces unstable housing, and old scandals linked to the undergraduate Muslim Student Association’s leadership threaten her future in international human rights. Eagerly awaiting a romantic reprieve in an English cottage, Zayneb is disappointed when Adam, who’s in a period of remission from multiple sclerosis, suggests they instead make Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. Zayneb is sorely tested when Adam’s old crush is a leader of their Umrah group who seemingly tries to keep the couple apart. The novel’s dual narrative structure references a curated selection of artifacts as it considers faith and emotion in ways that are unapologetically Muslim and entirely human. Adam and Zayneb draw from prophetic examples and Quranic stories to strengthen their faith and interrogate injustices—both Western democracies’ double standards and intragroup oppression. The examinations of their inner selves, vulnerabilities, feelings of self-worth, and growing codependence are religiously framed and skillfully navigated. Rich descriptive details immerse readers in the landscape of Islamic history.
A contemplative exploration of faith, love, and the human condition. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66591-607-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
How can such a hefty tome be un-put-down-able excitement from beginning to end? (glossary) (Fantasy. 14 & up)
This hefty sequel to Six of Crows (2015) brings high-tension conclusions to the many intertwined intrigues of Ketterdam.
It's time for revenge—has been ever since old-before-his-time crook Kaz and his friends were double-crossed by the merchant princes of Ketterdam, an early-industrial Amsterdam-like fantasy city filled to the brim with crime and corruption. Disabled, infuriated, and perpetually scheming Kaz, the light-skinned teen mastermind, coordinates the efforts to rescue Inej. Though Kaz is loath to admit weakness, Inej is his, for he can't bear any harm come to the knife-wielding, brown-skinned Suli acrobat. Their team is rounded out by Wylan, a light-skinned chemist and musician whose merchant father tried to have him murdered and who can't read due to a print disability; Wylan's brown-skinned biracial boyfriend, Jesper, a flirtatious gambler with ADHD; Nina, the pale brunette Grisha witch and recovering addict from Russia-like Ravka; Matthias, Nina's national enemy and great love, a big, white, blond drüskelle warrior from the cold northern lands; and Kuwei, the rescued Shu boy everyone wants to kidnap. Can these kids rescue everyone who needs rescuing in Ketterdam's vile political swamp? This is dark and violent—one notable scene features a parade of teens armed with revolvers, rifles, pistols, explosives, and flash bombs—but gut-wrenchingly genuine. Astonishingly, Bardugo keeps all these balls in the air over the 500-plus pages of narrative.
How can such a hefty tome be un-put-down-able excitement from beginning to end? (glossary) (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62779-213-4
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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