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A review by chessakat
Susanna Moodie: Roughing It in the Bush by Willow Dawson, Carol Shields, Selena Goulding, Patrick Crowe
5.0
I loved this! I had never heard of Susanna Moodie before coming across this book in the NetGalley bookshelves for Comics & Graphic Novels - but I'm so glad I found her! This is a fascinating slice of life on a subject I know literally nothing about - the settling of Canada. Susanna grew up fairly well-off in England, but by the time her and her many sisters were of age, their wealth had declined to the point that all the sisters took to writing for a living. After meeting her future husband at a party, they decide their best course of action was to go abroad and settle in Canada. But they were led to believe the land they were moving to was *much* further along in its settlement. This is the story of coming to terms with reality crashing headlong into mistaken expectations.
It is extremely well done. The art really lends itself to revealing the emotions - the loneliness, despair, exhaustion from hard labor - so much is conveyed in one panel. Even though there are many grim moments in the story, you still come away with a sense that this was a woman with a lot of pluck - she put one foot in front of the other and got what needed doing DONE and kept her family alive despite all odds.
I'm feeling particularly grateful for my warm house with food in the pantry after reading this bite of graphic history.
Recommended highly to anyone who enjoys a story of a woman with grit, who is curious about settling the Canadian "bush" in the early 1800s, or who just enjoys history via graphic novel.
It is extremely well done. The art really lends itself to revealing the emotions - the loneliness, despair, exhaustion from hard labor - so much is conveyed in one panel. Even though there are many grim moments in the story, you still come away with a sense that this was a woman with a lot of pluck - she put one foot in front of the other and got what needed doing DONE and kept her family alive despite all odds.
I'm feeling particularly grateful for my warm house with food in the pantry after reading this bite of graphic history.
Recommended highly to anyone who enjoys a story of a woman with grit, who is curious about settling the Canadian "bush" in the early 1800s, or who just enjoys history via graphic novel.