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A review by readwithneleh
Palimpsest by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom
5.0
This graphic memoir is an honest look into an adoptee’s difficult journey of finding their birth parents. Lisa Woo-Rim Sjöblom, adopted into a Swedish family, has always wondered about her parents, her heritage and her home country of South Korea. And as she begins her search for her birth parents, she is met with lies and deceit at every turn from the institutions that were set up to help her.
As Sjöblom compresses her trauma into muted artwork and succinct text, she manages to pack each illustration and word with all of her frustration, confusion and grief. It is powerful, enlightening, and beautiful. Before this book, I was completely ignorant about the dark side of international adoption — the illegal selling and taking of children, the fabrication of documents and the conspiracy to cover up any illegal activity. While this book does bring to light the struggles of an adoptee, it is a deeply personal account of Sjöblom’s experience which makes this painful to read, but also extremely rewarding.
As Sjöblom compresses her trauma into muted artwork and succinct text, she manages to pack each illustration and word with all of her frustration, confusion and grief. It is powerful, enlightening, and beautiful. Before this book, I was completely ignorant about the dark side of international adoption — the illegal selling and taking of children, the fabrication of documents and the conspiracy to cover up any illegal activity. While this book does bring to light the struggles of an adoptee, it is a deeply personal account of Sjöblom’s experience which makes this painful to read, but also extremely rewarding.