A moving and heartfelt graphic memoir.
A Canadian cartoonist and writer pieces together the unspoken lives of her Chinese-born parents.
When Wong, author of a previous graphic memoir, Dear Scarlet, visited her mother, Sandy, in the hospital in 2014, she became aware of how poorly she spoke Cantonese and how disconnected she felt from her now deeply depressed mother. Determined to understand the reasons behind the distant relationships she had with both Sandy and with her emotionally absent father, Frank, the author began revisiting her past. Language was only one part of a problem: Her immigrant parents were also blue-collar working people who “weren’t around much” during her childhood. Probing further, Wong realized that the distance also had to do with the personal stories her parents had avoided telling her—e.g., about the dangerous escapes they made to Hong Kong during the Communist Revolution. Through spare, pen-and-ink images and simple language, Wong imagines Sandy and Frank's respective histories, skillfully interweaving them with strands of the life the family shared in Canada. Plunging deeper into the past, the author also imagines the lives of her mysterious paternal great-grandfather, who came to Canada early in the 20th century to “lift his family out of extreme poverty.” Despite “overwhelming racism,” exemplified by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 and in forced separation from loved ones in China, her great-grandfather persisted, doing everything he could to “give his family a good life from afar.” What emerges from the fractured segments of Wong’s story is not just a poignant tale of intergenerational trauma, but also an inspiring portrait of familial dedication that embraces wisdom, grace, and love. “I am the descendant of people who stepped out into the unknown and found a way to live,” she writes. “A child of survivors, many generations back.”
A moving and heartfelt graphic memoir.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781551529493
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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 delightful exploration of navigating the bumpy road to adulthood.
A story of a long-overdue Sapphic coming-of-age.
Through an autobiographical graphic narrative that is at times hysterically funny and at times gut-wrenching, readers follow Mieri, a young Japanese woman living in the U.S. From the lesbian characters in anime that she crushed on to the first real girl Mieri was attracted to, she’s known for a while that she likes butch girls. The fact that she sees fewer butch x butch relationships won’t stop her from trying to find a girlfriend even though the path, in person and on dating apps, is fraught with challenges. After she goes to visit her grandparents, Mieri meets Ash, a White American teaching English in Japan who becomes her first girlfriend. It starts out great: College sophomore Mieri experiences the stress and rewards of making the first move and even has her first kiss. But a month later, Ash breaks up with her, Mieri’s parents get divorced, and her grandparents learn about and aren’t cool with her sexuality. Worst of all, she can’t stop thinking about Ash. As Mieri navigates the aftershocks of the breakup, she also grows into maturity. The book has impeccable pacing and is engaging from start to finish. The humorous art enhances the narrative in a meaningful way, especially in portraying Mieri’s own emotional journey.
A delightful exploration of navigating the bumpy road to adulthood. (extra panels, author’s note, creating a manga, Q&A, bonus gallery) (Manga. 14-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781974736591
Page Count: 208
Publisher: VIZ Media
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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