Reviews

Zenobia by Morten Dürr

bibliobrandie's review

4.0

Incredibly sad but real story about a girl forced to leave Syria by boat. Would be good to pair with Escape from Aleppo, Other Words for Home and Refugee.

frozenheartv's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

4.25 stars 
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘 

🧠 My thoughts 

A very beautiful but tragic story concise in only a few pages. The storytelling through the nice artwork made me speechless. 

👍 What I like 

• Fantastic storytelling skill
• Nice artwork

👎 What I don't like

• It’s too short to have anything to complain about

alexutzu's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I picked this book as part of a reading challenge and it was a very quick read, mostly through images. It's a simple book, but it just stays with you for a while due to its ideas, as the cultural aspect blends with the tragedy of war (specifically through a child's eyes).
 
😍 The good:
The story is very meaningful even though most of it is just image-based. The art is rather simplistic, but it fits with the story line and uses different colours for different moments.

😅 The not-so-good:
Not much to complain about, but the book was rather short and simple, so it did not get to delve much into the story background, the characters and such.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and War

Moderate: Death of parent

ember171717's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

So hartbrakeing💔😭this is a good to teach children about war 💂and<spoiler is she dies and she lost her whole family > and SAD

nikkitadcomeau's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

jwinchell's review

4.0

I think it’s courageous when a graphic novel relies heavily on pictures to tell a story and evoke a sense of place. Zenobia has sparse text and that really works. It’s the story of a Syrian refugee, told in flashbacks from her attempted escape on a boat to her time at home with her mom and her uncle’s rescue of her. The pages of devastation in her Syrian village were so powerful. They resonate with images and video I’ve seen (most notably the film The White Helmets), but it was so moving to see her and her uncle so small, moving through that devastation. The ending is heartbreaking but real. War takes too much beauty.

readabookbraun's review

4.0

Heartbreaking story. The illustrations do a fantastic job of conveying the plot without much text.

acourtofreading's review

4.0

A quick read, but a haunting story of the experience of a refugee that doesn't end happily ever after. It really puts into perspective what war does to communities and the people who call them home.

hallizalli's review against another edition

3.0

Very powerful, but I had hoped for some...well, hope, at the end. I did love the use of color to depict time and mood.

niajacobsen's review against another edition

4.0

A chilling perspective on war from the eyes of a child. Beautiful illustrations.