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A review by pangnaolin
Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey by Edel Rodriguez
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.25
A beautiful book, but I honestly have no idea how to rate graphic novels in comparison to books. It feels like another world entirely, and this doesn't quite fit with how I felt about books of any particular rating. I think I tend to feel a lot less impacted by graphic novels, just because they can be so quick to move through. I don't really have time to sit with and feel the characters and story the way I do with novels/memoirs/etc. Maybe I should force myself to slow down on a reread...
Anyway-- like I said, Worm was such a stunning read. The art style is so sharp & wonderful, and Rodriguez moves between color palettes so perfectly in time with the stories told in each vignette.
It was so interesting to be able to see the Cuban Revolution and its aftermath from the perspective of someone who experienced it so vividly, and through the candid eyes of a child [there's a poem in that phrase]. Conversation around non-capitalist governments that have managed to exist are often quite un-nuanced, but I found it particularly interesting that when he referred to the issues with Cuba's communist party, it was not communism that was the problem, but the fact that it wasn't really communism at all-- just dictatorship and totalitarianism.
Rodriguez's comparisons between Trump and Castro were incredibly poignant, but I would've loved to see some reflection as Cuba changed and grew in the later years of his life, even if he didn't know much directly about it. Of course, it's continued to have its problems, but has grown, changed, and adapted quite significantly, and I would've loved to hear his thoughts on it.
Overall, though, every vignette was striking, especially the childhood stories, and I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone interested. I can't say the graphic novel affected me a ton because it went quite fast as all graphic novels do, despite being text-heavy, but I would love to read it again & slower and feel like that could change. I know that for now, the image of the walls listening to them is going to stick with me for a long time.
Anyway-- like I said, Worm was such a stunning read. The art style is so sharp & wonderful, and Rodriguez moves between color palettes so perfectly in time with the stories told in each vignette.
It was so interesting to be able to see the Cuban Revolution and its aftermath from the perspective of someone who experienced it so vividly, and through the candid eyes of a child [there's a poem in that phrase]. Conversation around non-capitalist governments that have managed to exist are often quite un-nuanced, but I found it particularly interesting that when he referred to the issues with Cuba's communist party, it was not communism that was the problem, but the fact that it wasn't really communism at all-- just dictatorship and totalitarianism.
Rodriguez's comparisons between Trump and Castro were incredibly poignant, but I would've loved to see some reflection as Cuba changed and grew in the later years of his life, even if he didn't know much directly about it. Of course, it's continued to have its problems, but has grown, changed, and adapted quite significantly, and I would've loved to hear his thoughts on it.
Overall, though, every vignette was striking, especially the childhood stories, and I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone interested. I can't say the graphic novel affected me a ton because it went quite fast as all graphic novels do, despite being text-heavy, but I would love to read it again & slower and feel like that could change. I know that for now, the image of the walls listening to them is going to stick with me for a long time.