Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Palestine by Joe Sacco

26 reviews

thura's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

Obviously incredible comics-journalism. Good introduction for anyone looking to learn right now. Emotional, vivid, challenging.

At times outdated, with sexist and racist undertones especially in its narrations of Palestinian women and militant resistance. Sacco’s voice is highly present and often threw me off, because my reactions to described experiences were very different from his then. 

The story I keep thinking about is Ansar III. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, and Torture

Moderate: Racial slurs

angievansprang's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

This is the very first graphic novel I’ve ever read, and I don’t think I enjoyed doing so in a digital format. This was of course to no fault of the author, so I wouldn’t say it affected my rating. Another note I will add is that I did not do enough research about this author before picking up the novel, and I believed he was Palestinian which he is not. I think it is of the utmost importance to read from Palestinian authors at this time to hear their stories directly, and I certainly hope to do so soon myself. I thought this was an incredibly effective story to read at this time in history. Palestinians have been terrorized by Israelis and the IOF for so so long, and it was eye-opening to read this work which was written about the ‘90s and published in 2000 with the ongoing genocide occurring in the Gaza Strip. Sacco uses the medium well to illustrate both the living conditions and horrendous recounts of torture and unjust incarceration that he observed. I also felt that the artist captured facial expressions well, and I thought that added so much emotion to the text which was already wrought with it. An emotional, informative, and powerful read. Free Palestine, from the river to the sea. 🇵🇸

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Torture, Death, Confinement, Deportation, Classism, Violence, and Murder

Minor: War, Kidnapping, and Police brutality

pmileham's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Child death, Police brutality, Torture, Xenophobia, Colonisation, War, Medical trauma, and Bullying

kbeucler's review against another edition

3.5

If you’re one of the many people right now trying to educate yourself on the Israel/Palestine conflict, this is a great primer. Sacco, a Maltese American, is a graphic journalist who visited Palestine in late 1991 and early 1992, trying to himself understand the conflict. What I like about Sacco is his honesty. He has no illusions about what he’s there to do. He’s looking for a story, for anything good for the comic. He’s suspicious and questions everything. He tries to unravel the complicated history and current situation by sharing the stories of many Palestinians, and even a few Israelis.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, War, Colonisation, and Violence

jannimk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and War

robinks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

A powerful collection of images and information about the occupation of Palestine. The comics cover a wide range of intersectional topics. Sacco also writes about and acknowledges his privileges in being able to travel safely and have comforts in Gaza. It is wild but also unsurprising that this was drawn based on experience in the early 1990s, and 30 years later, it still rings true based on news from journalists in Palestine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Confinement, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racism, Ableism, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Torture, Colonisation, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Homophobia, Bullying, Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Deportation, and Excrement

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Animal death, Fatphobia, and War

beanmilkcantread's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Genocide, Torture, Gore, Gaslighting, Cursing, War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Hate crime, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Confinement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Child death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Deportation, and Blood

moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective

4.5

Palestine by Joe Sacco is a comic/graphic nonfiction work of journalism that documents his travels through Palestine in the early/mid 1990's. Alongside his own experiences, he tells the stories of many Palestinians that he interviewed. He is invited into many houses for tea and food while hearing stories of brutal imprisonment, death of children, political divides within the community, and much more. 

This work will certainly put the Palestinian struggle into perpective if you are unfamiliar. It also makes the crimes against humanity we are witnessing being livestreamed online even more horrific. For example: hospitals are being bombed now with doctors and patients inside, parallel is the story of a boy (15) who had already been shot by a soldier and sent to the hospital only to be beaten inside the hospital by soldier (his arm broken alongside the arm of a member of hospital staff who tried defending him). The horrors we are seeing now have a long history and this comic shows many small snapshots within that history.

Throughout the story of Sacco's time in Palestine, we see some of his thoughts and at times he outright discusses some of his biases. This was a self-aware framing that is supposed to (I think) show us some of the problems with the Western gaze. Even as I understood it, I still found some of it annoying in the moment. As I reflect on it, I do think that parts of this message are quite important in the context of journalism (particularly as we see how much western news has covered Palestine recently). I still have mixed feelings, but ultimately it's small parts that I have conflicted feelings about. 

Overall, this was an intense collection of experiences and an important read. I'd definitely recommend it to people who are unfamiliar and wanting to learn more about Palestine. It is western journalism that is self-critical and even if the jurry is out on my full opinion of exactly how he did that framing, I'm glad that it was there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, War, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Torture, Genocide, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Death, and Child death

brookey8888's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

I’m choosing not to rate this because I don’t think it would be fair. I did learn a lot and I liked hearing about Palestinian stories and what these people went and are still going through. That being said this was told in such a confusing way to me. I also did not like the art style either. These things made it harder for me to understand and learn about some of the things mentioned. I do think this was well done, but maybe pick something else up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Torture, Deportation, Kidnapping, Murder, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Gaslighting, Genocide, Racism, Child death, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Death, and Colonisation

meganpbell's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

4.5

Eyewitness journalism meets comics in this landmark work of graphic nonfiction, based on over a hundred interviews in Gaza and the West Bank during the author’s visit in the 1990s. This book is intense, ugly, heartbreaking, and remains unfortunately not only relevant but urgent. The author comes across as pretty unlikeable—but you have to respect his transparency. I read this on the recommendation of Jewish author Sim Kern.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Colonisation, Violence, Torture, Sexism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Confinement, Classism, and Child death

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse