trop_de_livres 's review for:

Heimat: A German Family Album by Nora Krug

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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I have never read a graphic novel that has affected me as this one has. It opened/broke/helped heal my heart and deepened my understanding of human nature. 

Nora Krug, a German emigré to the US, uses the form of mixed media graphic novel to tell the story of her search for the truth of her family’s possible roles in WW2.

This work of art is like a scrapbook, with Krug’s own beautiful writing and impactful illustrations mixed with memorabilia, documents and other ephemera. 

I hesitate to describe the format in any more detail, because discovering how Krug uses visuals and text is part of the journey (I went in knowing nothing). 

There is an underlying poetry; Krug uses German objects/words as a framework in the different sections and these become multi-layered concepts during her journey. The concept of Heimat is at the heart. Homeland. Like the best poetry it is deceptively simple at first but works on many levels. 

This novel resonated with me in many ways. Being an emigré, doing genealogical research to try to understand the past, family secrets buried for years. A reckoning with one’s homeland’s history. 

Absolutely amazing book and I will seek out everything Nora Krug creates.