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A review by theomnivorescientist
Primo Levi by Alessandro Ranghiasci, Matteo Mastragostino
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Primo Levi
By Matteo Mastragostino, Illustrated by Alessandro Ranghiasci, Translated by Alberto Toscano
Between the Lines
ISBN: 9781771135221
136 pages
**This is an ARC provided by NetGalley for book reviews. Available for purchase on March 22nd, 2021.**
A group of school children wait in their classroom to meet a war hero. One of the kids says to the other that he might be a superman. Their teacher says the man used to go to school here and he has come to tell them a story. The children are excited and eager but when they see an old bespectacled man enter the classroom they are surprised. A war hero? Him? He wasn’t the superman they were expecting. That man is Primo Levi (1919–1987). And he tells all of us the story of his life. The story of how he was captured by the Nazis, sent to Auschwitz, faced the heinous brutalities of the German captors, and how lucky he was to be rescued by the Russian troops.
The graphic novel Primo Levi was originally published in Italian in 2017 by Becco Giallo publications. Thanks to Between the Lines publications, now we have the English translation by Alberto Toscano. Script written by Matteo Mastragostino and harrowing sketches by Alessandro Ranghiasci, the graphic narrative is a short yet impactful story about Levi’s life and the importance of keeping the truth of the Holocaust alive by weaving the children’s innocent questions through the story.
Levi recounts how his chemistry education played a crucial role in his survival. He was given a position in the chemical laboratory. He had the company of Alberto Dalla Volta(1921–1945) at Auschwitz who was his best friend. While Alberto did not survive the camp, Levi would write about his friend’s strength and compassion years later in his books. Lorenzo Perrone(1904–1952) and Lello Perugia(1919–2010) were two other friends who helped Levi at the camp with food, clothes, company and the comfort of speaking in their common tongue. The conversations are written in German sometimes which creates a state of disorientation for the reader who doesn’t understand the tongue. Levi explains to the children that not knowing and understanding German led to the isolation of many Italians. They were alone and could not make others understand themselves making them weak eventually causing their deaths.
Levi recounts how his chemistry education played a crucial role in his survival. He was given a position in the chemical laboratory. He had the company of Alberto Dalla Volta(1921–1945) at Auschwitz who was his best friend. While Alberto did not survive the camp, Levi would write about his friend’s strength and compassion years later in his books. Lorenzo Perrone(1904–1952) and Lello Perugia(1919–2010) were two other friends who helped Levi at the camp with food, clothes, company and the comfort of speaking in their common tongue. The conversations are written in German sometimes which creates a state of disorientation for the reader who doesn’t understand the tongue. Levi explains to the children that not knowing and understanding German led to the isolation of many Italians. They were alone and could not make others understand themselves making them weak eventually causing their deaths.
The helplessness of the captured people in their claustrophobic encampments and their mental and physical suffering is shown by the use of harsh, erratic, and dense line hatchings. The artist is successful is emoting the blackness of the souls using the volume and density of his hatching lines. They add depth to the darkness like a bottomless pit.
A short graphic narrative has left me quite thoughtful last evening. Quoting Levi will be an apt way to express how deeply moved I was after finishing the book.
A short graphic narrative has left me quite thoughtful last evening. Quoting Levi will be an apt way to express how deeply moved I was after finishing the book.
“Auschwitz is outside of us, but it is all around us, in the air. The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers and it would be foolish to deny it. Rejection of human solidarity, obtuse and cynical indifference to the suffering of others, abdication of the intellect and of moral sense to the principle of authority, and above all, at the root of everything, a sweeping tide of cowardice, a colossal cowardice which masks itself as warring virtue, love of country and faith in an idea.”
― Primo Levi, The Black Hole of Auschwitz