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A review by jola_g
Getto by Jean-David Morvan, Séverine Tréfouël, David Evrard
4.0
Irena Sendler was a Polish woman who saved 2,500 Jewish children from Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War. How plain this sentence sounds compared to what she actually did.
Jean-David Morvan, a French comics author, read an article about Irena Sendler. It inspired him to write a three volume comic, based on her biography. A team joined him: Séverine Tréfouël, David Evrard and Walter. They all deserve standing ovation. You can see that first they felt the story deep in their hearts and then put it on paper.
When you write a book about a person like Irena Sendler, it is probably easy to fall into the trap of hagiography and present her as totally speckless and celestial. Fortunately, Sendler depicted by French authors, is very human, wearing her funny hat, fighting with doubts. Saving Jews was regarded a serious crime by the Nazi and being detected would have been equal to death sentence. Not only for Irena Sendler, but also for people who helped her, so you can imagine how difficult her decisions were.
It takes a lot of sensitivity and tact to explore a traumatic subject with warmth and a bit of delicate humour. This book has it all. Chubby Irena sometimes made me think of Moominmamma. There is a little adorable hero not mentioned even once either in speech bubbles or in narrator’s comments: a little white dog. He makes the story even more touching.
Unfortunately, I can’t applaud the Polish editor, Timof i cisi wspólnicy. The translation sounds weird at times and, to my dismay, there is a typo on the back cover. Unfortunately, the note about ‘Irena’ on their website is a mess too. I hope the second and third volume, which I look forward to, will be edited with more respect for readers.
‘Irena’ is recommended for children but I would be cautious. The torture scene still haunts me. I think the minimum age is 14-16, depending on emotional maturity.
It seems that the words ‘ghetto’ and ‘comic’ are like antonyms but Jean-David Morvan, Séverine Tréfouël, David Evrard and Walter proved that a graphic novel can tackle even the most emotionally wrenching topics. I think nothing requires as much tact and subtlety as describing death of a child and the way it’s shown in ‘Irena’ truly moved me.
Jean-David Morvan, a French comics author, read an article about Irena Sendler. It inspired him to write a three volume comic, based on her biography. A team joined him: Séverine Tréfouël, David Evrard and Walter. They all deserve standing ovation. You can see that first they felt the story deep in their hearts and then put it on paper.
When you write a book about a person like Irena Sendler, it is probably easy to fall into the trap of hagiography and present her as totally speckless and celestial. Fortunately, Sendler depicted by French authors, is very human, wearing her funny hat, fighting with doubts. Saving Jews was regarded a serious crime by the Nazi and being detected would have been equal to death sentence. Not only for Irena Sendler, but also for people who helped her, so you can imagine how difficult her decisions were.
It takes a lot of sensitivity and tact to explore a traumatic subject with warmth and a bit of delicate humour. This book has it all. Chubby Irena sometimes made me think of Moominmamma. There is a little adorable hero not mentioned even once either in speech bubbles or in narrator’s comments: a little white dog. He makes the story even more touching.
Unfortunately, I can’t applaud the Polish editor, Timof i cisi wspólnicy. The translation sounds weird at times and, to my dismay, there is a typo on the back cover. Unfortunately, the note about ‘Irena’ on their website is a mess too. I hope the second and third volume, which I look forward to, will be edited with more respect for readers.
‘Irena’ is recommended for children but I would be cautious. The torture scene still haunts me. I think the minimum age is 14-16, depending on emotional maturity.
It seems that the words ‘ghetto’ and ‘comic’ are like antonyms but Jean-David Morvan, Séverine Tréfouël, David Evrard and Walter proved that a graphic novel can tackle even the most emotionally wrenching topics. I think nothing requires as much tact and subtlety as describing death of a child and the way it’s shown in ‘Irena’ truly moved me.