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4.65 AVERAGE
4.65 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
What a fantastic continuation of these autobiographic graphic novels. I'm excited about the third installment. The pictures are wonderful and what John Lewis does is utterly and completely inspiring.
dark
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence
Minor: Homophobia
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Again, I read all three back to back to back, so it's hard to review them individually. But this one is probably the one that stood out the least to me of the three. Still powerful and impactful, still important to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief
If anything, this series gets better with book two. This was more challenging to read, just because the brutality of what Lewis and the others faced becomes even more prominent. But their stories are inspiring. And vital.
It is difficult for me to read this book and not think of current events, of Charleston and Ferguson and the tragic connections between race and violence in the United States. While the first volume of March set the stage, the second volume focuses on the conflict, with special emphasis on the Freedom Riders.
There's a chilling two page spread that juxtaposes the aftermath of an attack on the Freedom Riders in Montgomery with the inauguration of Barack Obama. That ceremony (and John Lewis's presence at it) has been the framing sequence for the series, but it's often been separate from Lewis's telling of his story. Here, Lewis, Aydin, and Powell mix a scene of celebration (with the singing of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" at the inauguration) with inset images from Montgomery showing death, indifference, and --- in one unsettling panel --- an attacker's disgust with himself. The violence and conflict of the 1960's invade the story of the present-day, and it is easy to see how the attitudes of fifty years ago still linger and infect who we are.
The book also covers Lewis's speech at the March on Washington and clearly shows the struggle between Lewis's (and the SNCC's) impatience with more moderate voices in the civil rights movement. Lewis's amended speech (and the fight about it) are portrayed in the graphic novel, but the authors wisely put his original text in as an appendix.
As with the first volume, Nate Powell's artwork is astonishing, regardless if he is portraying the confusion of an attack or the laughs shared by Freedom Riders serving their sentences in jail. I did get lost a time or two with the large cast of characters, but that reflects the growing diversity of the civil rights movement of the time.
A tough read, but intensely compelling.
There's a chilling two page spread that juxtaposes the aftermath of an attack on the Freedom Riders in Montgomery with the inauguration of Barack Obama. That ceremony (and John Lewis's presence at it) has been the framing sequence for the series, but it's often been separate from Lewis's telling of his story. Here, Lewis, Aydin, and Powell mix a scene of celebration (with the singing of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" at the inauguration) with inset images from Montgomery showing death, indifference, and --- in one unsettling panel --- an attacker's disgust with himself. The violence and conflict of the 1960's invade the story of the present-day, and it is easy to see how the attitudes of fifty years ago still linger and infect who we are.
The book also covers Lewis's speech at the March on Washington and clearly shows the struggle between Lewis's (and the SNCC's) impatience with more moderate voices in the civil rights movement. Lewis's amended speech (and the fight about it) are portrayed in the graphic novel, but the authors wisely put his original text in as an appendix.
As with the first volume, Nate Powell's artwork is astonishing, regardless if he is portraying the confusion of an attack or the laughs shared by Freedom Riders serving their sentences in jail. I did get lost a time or two with the large cast of characters, but that reflects the growing diversity of the civil rights movement of the time.
A tough read, but intensely compelling.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
This is an important story, and not an easy one to read. I think the format of the graphic novel does lend itself well to its telling. However, I still have issues with stylistic choices -- the way the panels are sequenced and how the narrative flows. 3.5 stars.
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
fast-paced
Picking up where book one left off, this memoir in graphic novel format (black & white illustrations only) continues the story of Barack Obama's inauguration day from the perspective of Congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis, while simultaneously flashing back to Lewis' experiences as part of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the 1960s. I'm not a fan of graphic novels, or I might have rated this higher, but I found that, though the pictures were powerful visually, I wanted more information than is given. Still, a powerful and painful read that I highly recommend.
Book Two of John Lewis' "March" series was more difficult for me to connect with. He is telling a more in-depth story of his becoming and acting as the leader of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). This leadership role, at such a young age, secured him a spot in the line-up of world-changing speakers at the iconic March on Washington. Lewis comments that of all those speakers, he is the only left living. While his age contributes to that, many speakers went on to become martyrs for the Civil Rights cause they advocated so adamantly for in life.
Maybe it is the shadow of so much uncertainty and death that surrounds this portion of the story that made it difficult to enjoy. In his first segment, I could read the hope underpinning the movement, and one fulfillment of that hope in the person of Obama, a black president of the United States. Instead, book two holds a magnifying glass to the lead-up to the march, where speakers including Lewis were asked to soften their speeches. People were being killed and silenced in other ways all around the movement.
The story ends with the bomb that killed innocent girls in Birmingham, AL. And maybe an intent of this segment is to leave the reader experiencing a piece of the darkness and despair that the movement felt as it lived through these acts of violence and hatred. I certainly do. And I also certainly feel similar despair surrounding the current state of brutality and disinterest in acknowledging a racial divide. The arc of the universe is indeed long, Lewis and others are pulling with all of their might to bend that arc closer to justice. This book invites us to pull with them through the grit and the pain.
Maybe it is the shadow of so much uncertainty and death that surrounds this portion of the story that made it difficult to enjoy. In his first segment, I could read the hope underpinning the movement, and one fulfillment of that hope in the person of Obama, a black president of the United States. Instead, book two holds a magnifying glass to the lead-up to the march, where speakers including Lewis were asked to soften their speeches. People were being killed and silenced in other ways all around the movement.
The story ends with the bomb that killed innocent girls in Birmingham, AL. And maybe an intent of this segment is to leave the reader experiencing a piece of the darkness and despair that the movement felt as it lived through these acts of violence and hatred. I certainly do. And I also certainly feel similar despair surrounding the current state of brutality and disinterest in acknowledging a racial divide. The arc of the universe is indeed long, Lewis and others are pulling with all of their might to bend that arc closer to justice. This book invites us to pull with them through the grit and the pain.