cora_max's review

4.5
adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

marhamm's review

5.0

Definitely unique among graphic novels, Wake tells a story that is too often ignored and hidden about women led slave revolts. I found the author’s use of herself as the narrator and main character effective and the illustrations are incredibly detailed and impactful. I love that the book not only teaches about an overlooked history, but it also walks the reader through the ups and downs of the historical research process and why histories are hidden and who hides them. And the graphic novel format is effective for imagining the histories of people that can never be found through historical records because they were not deemed important enough to record. I could definitely see this book being a useful tool in high school classrooms. It may be too advanced for elementary or middle school readers.

jbavaro's review

5.0
challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced
challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

Visually stunning, I wish I had a hard copy versus digital because it was slightly difficult to see some images/text. I'm not sure how I felt about the part memoir part history back and forth, but overall it was full of information that I've not learned of before. It took me longer than usual for a graphic novel strictly because of the difficult subject matter, but it was very well done.

bookperson123's review

4.0
dark emotional informative medium-paced
umimumi's profile picture

umimumi's review

DID NOT FINISH: 5%

Bad font choice made it hard to read with poor eyesight.

Hall's Wake, to me, was a complex mix of subjects - the competition for resources, the inhumanity shown to others as a result of that struggle, those not written into (or written out of) history, and how hard it is to do historical research when the original documents ARE available. Also too how the past shapes the present, as well as how to move forward with that knowledge.

I believe that Hall has presented the historical record as she was able to uncover it, but had to extrapolate some things in order to make a coherent narrative, hence my shelving it in historical fiction.

The art to me, was confusing sometimes, but really came through with showing what Hall was describing, like the design and filling of the slave ships.

4.5 Stars (rounded to 4)

shamatake's review

4.0

I liked the part memoir part historic graphic novel, but I think I would have preferred it as a regular old book. The briefer moments of the memoir parts of the graphic novel made the author more human and relatable, but because they were so brief they seemed pointless in the larger scheme of things. I would have loved to read chapters about the author’s research and the challenges she faced, rather than just brief glimpses. But I suppose that is just the nature of this type of writing.

emmabeckman's review

4.0

4 stars only because I wanted MORE. Otherwise, would definitely recommend especially to young readers.
mdarceyhall's profile picture

mdarceyhall's review

3.0

I really enjoyed this, both content and visuals-wise. Mostly three stars because it felt abridged. There were several chapters that felt rushed or more of a summary when I wanted more.