Reviews

Slow and information-dense, but as always I love that Joe Sacco records without a clear thesis. I feel like this will be a tough book for people who haven't already tried to engage with questions/reflections about land rights, generational trauma, and system disenfranchisement. And I mean that statement broadly, because Sacco really gets into the nitty gritty or land rights and communal decision-making. What benefits communities, and what harms them? It would be easy to make broad statements, but Paying the Land provides nuanced insight into how complex that question really is.

I don't know if this is Sacco's style changing, or his narrative voice shifting as he gets older, but there are only a few instances of self-reflection in this work, as compared to pieces like "Footnotes in Gaza." While he never comes to a conclusion about that would be best for the future of communities in the bush--in part because it would be wildly presumptuous of him to do so--he has some pointed comments for his white readers at the end.

Definitely worth a read, both as a record of the communities he visited on his trip, and as food for thought for those of us whose actions and lifestyles are part of a larger interconnected system.

geekwayne's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

'Paying the Land' with words and art by Joe Sacco is a nonfiction account ot the Dene of the Mackenzie River Valley in Canada.

There are multiple narrators in the book and multiple subjects. The author interviews many Dene about mining, governance, residential school, and alcoholism. All while the people struggle not to lose their heritage. There are lots of problems and solutions are hard.

This book is primarily comprised of interviews. In other hands, this might have been a very tedious read, but Joe Sacco is a master of the non-fiction graphic novel. His page layouts make the conversations flow with interest and content. I found it to be a very moving read, and I feel like the subject matter is treated fairly.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

poorlywordedbookreviews's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

“𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘴?”

Still working my way through Sacco’s works, and still really appreciating his graphic illustration take on journalistic essaying. Here he’s exploring the complicated realties facing the indigenous Dene in Canada’s North West Territories as they battle to save their culture and assert greater independence. The legacy of colonialism looms large, and its inter-generational legacy is illustrated well - just stopping some of the worse offences doesn’t resolve the impact. But how do you embrace the positives modern Canada can bring, without the negatives when the two are so entwined? When capitalism is so insidious? When Canada is a petro-state? When isolation is now a fiction, as human driven climate change impacts land never stepped upon?

I much preferred his slightly evolved drawing style her too, a little less cartoonish than Palestine.

laverna's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

More...