A Pakistani journalist’s rousing look back at years of strife.
Speaking truth to power in a repressive regime.
Siddiqui grew up like many boys around the world—he dreamed of superheroes, played soccer with friends, and took an interest in girls. Not every kid, however, has a father who becomes radicalized in his religious beliefs, a man who throws away his son’s comic books and is incensed upon learning that there are girls in his classroom—both sure signs of Satan’s presence, he says. As for soccer, best not to play it during afternoon prayers, when the Muttawa—the religious police—hunt you down in police cruisers and, if they catch you, beat you with sticks and shave your head to mark you as someone who has broken religious laws. That is, unless you happen to escape by hopping over a wall and hiding in what you learn is the empty compound of none other than Osama bin Laden. Such is Siddiqui’s upbringing in Saudi Arabia as the free-spirited child of Pakistani Muslim parents who moved to the kingdom in the 1980s in search of a better life. Siddiqui chronicles his eventful life story in a fast-paced graphic memoir that jumps from the author’s early years in Jeddah to his journey of becoming a prominent journalist in Pakistan who is critical of the Islamic republic’s oppressive military rule. There’s a lot of heavy subject matter in the book—Siddiqui’s life is threatened, and colleagues are killed—but he can be very funny, as when recounting a youthful infatuation that can’t bode well: “Oh, shit! I’m falling in love with a Shiite!” Or when his ever-critical father shares some news with his wife: “You hear that?” he bellows. “Your son won a TV prize! Shame upon us!” Credit also goes to Maury, a former French military officer whose lively and expressive artwork graces these pages; it’s the artist’s first work published in English.
A Pakistani journalist’s rousing look back at years of strife.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781551529530
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 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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