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ohlhauc's review
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
lllkilli's review against another edition
5.0
memoir of a Korean woman adopted by Swedish parents and her emotional journey to meet her birth parents/uncover her roots in a graphic novel format. Very emotional without being preachy or whiney. She clearly articulates her disconnect from the culture of her adopted parents and her dismay at the constant barrage of 'you should be so grateful to these people who rescued you'. I have no similar experience, nor do I know anyone who does, so she is my first real introduction to this subject.
fantastic book for that alone, then there is the whole illegal human trafficking, baby trade thing...
fantastic book for that alone, then there is the whole illegal human trafficking, baby trade thing...
mollyan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
lakeh's review
dark
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Incredibly written and very accessible. I picked this book up and didn't stop until I finished it.
Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom illustrates her traumatizing journey of trying to find her biological parents and all the hurdles she and her support had to jump through. Immediately after I finished reading, I looked up more about the issue and found that there were 200,000 South Korean children who were adopted out of the country by falsifying legal documents.
Very grateful to the review of a romance novel that made me look into this book and request it.
Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom illustrates her traumatizing journey of trying to find her biological parents and all the hurdles she and her support had to jump through. Immediately after I finished reading, I looked up more about the issue and found that there were 200,000 South Korean children who were adopted out of the country by falsifying legal documents.
Very grateful to the review of a romance novel that made me look into this book and request it.
shea_proulx's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and Grief
nhudle's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
chantaal's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Palimpsest is the type of memoir that I'm not always comfortable assigning a rating, because it's such a deeply personal accounting of someone's life. I will go with a 4 star simply because I had some issues with the art. At its heart, this is the story of Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom's search for the truth behind her adoption, and the depth of emotion and confusion that comes with that search.
I grabbed this from the library on a whim, and I had no real idea what to expect. I suppose I thought it would just be a memoir about an adoptee's life story, but it ended up being SO much more than that. Surprisingly, Lisa's search began to unearth the somewhat shady practices of international adoption, focusing heavily on the fact that she can never find any documents or truth to support anything she's told about it. She and her husband hit brick wall after brick wall of poorly maintained files, and even agencies hiding documents from her to protect themselves. Because "things were done differently back then," don't you know.
The art is very simple, the color palette an almost off-putting drab brown. But in the end the simplicity worked for me. I do wonder if graphic novel format was the best for this...there is so much text, that I think the information could have been given just as easily and just as emotionally in a written memoir. The art itself didn't do much to support the emotion or action taking place, as it is very simple.
Sjöblom does much to try to balance her own emotional journey with the journey of her adoption, and despite there being a ton of text to work though, I think it comes together nicely.
I certainly had no idea of adoption stories like this beyond horror stories that seem so disconnected from my own day to day life that they could be ripped from movie or TV storylines. Palimpsest does great work as an emotional anecdotal story, while also being educational at the same time.
I grabbed this from the library on a whim, and I had no real idea what to expect. I suppose I thought it would just be a memoir about an adoptee's life story, but it ended up being SO much more than that. Surprisingly, Lisa's search began to unearth the somewhat shady practices of international adoption, focusing heavily on the fact that she can never find any documents or truth to support anything she's told about it. She and her husband hit brick wall after brick wall of poorly maintained files, and even agencies hiding documents from her to protect themselves. Because "things were done differently back then," don't you know.
The art is very simple, the color palette an almost off-putting drab brown. But in the end the simplicity worked for me. I do wonder if graphic novel format was the best for this...there is so much text, that I think the information could have been given just as easily and just as emotionally in a written memoir. The art itself didn't do much to support the emotion or action taking place, as it is very simple.
Sjöblom does much to try to balance her own emotional journey with the journey of her adoption, and despite there being a ton of text to work though, I think it comes together nicely.
I certainly had no idea of adoption stories like this beyond horror stories that seem so disconnected from my own day to day life that they could be ripped from movie or TV storylines. Palimpsest does great work as an emotional anecdotal story, while also being educational at the same time.
librarygirl13's review
4.0
The illustration and written words flowed together well and conveyed emotion very well! It was an interesting story to read.
Note: If you struggle with reading small text, be prepared to magnify the paperback version or find a digital version.
Note: If you struggle with reading small text, be prepared to magnify the paperback version or find a digital version.