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crybabybea's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Don't expect a lot of historical facts or an overarching story. It's simply the author's experience as a child during the Lebanese civil war, as told through vignettes of memories. As such, the scenes are painted with childlike innocence which makes the book feel sort of eerie in a good way.
An unimaginable childhood of war and danger but normalized to somebody born into it and living it every day. Some of the more memorable scenes being the author going hunting for cool shrapnel with her brother, getting her haircut at the women's barber before a bomb ruined the wall that separated the men's/women's salons, and remembering the day she got to take her first real shower.
I loved the simple but effective art style. Never seen a graphic novel done in scratch art but it was super cool and told the story really well. Loved how the author played with black and white to add mood and tone to certain pictures, and some of the more doodle-y bits added a childlike essence that I felt lended itself really well to the story the author was trying to tell.
Really solid for a graphic memoir. Just read it, it takes like 15 minutes lol
An unimaginable childhood of war and danger but normalized to somebody born into it and living it every day. Some of the more memorable scenes being the author going hunting for cool shrapnel with her brother, getting her haircut at the women's barber before a bomb ruined the wall that separated the men's/women's salons, and remembering the day she got to take her first real shower.
I loved the simple but effective art style. Never seen a graphic novel done in scratch art but it was super cool and told the story really well. Loved how the author played with black and white to add mood and tone to certain pictures, and some of the more doodle-y bits added a childlike essence that I felt lended itself really well to the story the author was trying to tell.
Really solid for a graphic memoir. Just read it, it takes like 15 minutes lol
Content Warnings
Moderate: War
theaceofpages's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
2.5
I feel bad rating this so low because it is clearly a personal tale. And these kinds of stories definitely need to be shared. But it fell a bit flat to me. While I liked that the unique perspective (what a child remembers of a war) there was something about the tone that just didn't hit quite right for me although I know others won't have the same problem. It was maybe a bit simplified at times (and I'm not taking about the artwork). I think it could have benefitted from an introduction/afterward providing a little more detail, potentially with the author reflecting back upon the memories that were shared in the graphic novel. I think it's still worth a read but I think I was expecting something completely different before going in.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War
Minor: Gun violence
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