A sometimes-affecting remembrance about the wages of opposing evil hampered by uneven execution.
In this graphic memoir, Saviano chronicles how a book he wrote about organized crime forced him into hiding.
In 2006, author Saviano published Gomorrah, an account of the violent war between Camorra Mafia clans in Casal di Principe, Italy. He intended his illumination of organized crime, “a dictatorship within a democracy,” as a “journalistic novel” inspired by writers like Albert Camus and Truman Capote. The book achieved great success and its author, considerable notoriety, but it also transformed his life in much darker ways. He faced intimidation and death threats by criminal elements who were offended by his exposé, and he was forced into police protection. Stringent security protocols were put into place; they were meant to only last weeks but instead went on for an interminable 15 years. Eventually, the author left his homeland for the United States to teach at New York University and was assigned a new identity for his protection. In harrowing detail, Saviano details the various plots to assassinate him that were uncovered and the increasing psychological effects of his forced isolation. In place of literary celebrity, he was saddled with “absolute solitude and plaguing bureaucratic complexity.” Every aspect of his quotidian existence became a challenge, from taking walks and dating to seeking medical assistance. It was a torturous predicament poignantly captured in these pages: “It’s like living in an aquarium: everyone is looking at me. And I look back, but from behind glass. I hold my breath and I keep thinking that as long as the things I want to do outnumber the things I’m not allowed to, I can handle it. Who knows if it’s true.” However, the tone of Saviano’s book can be cloyingly theatrical at times (“You bastards, I’m still alive!”). One sees a similar heavy-handedness in Hanuka’s overwrought illustrations—mostly grayscale with pops of color—that accompany the story. Still, this is a powerful tale of moral corruption and the cost of one’s resistance to it.
A sometimes-affecting remembrance about the wages of opposing evil hampered by uneven execution.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68415-442-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Archaia
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A heartwarming journey that, yes, goes boldly where few men have gone before.
The role of a lifetime: an actor as activist.
Takei famously came out of the closet at age 68, in 2005. Ever since, the actor has been working passionately as an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and social justice. In this sprightly and affecting graphic memoir, Takei guides readers on the winding path that led to his activism—and tells how he became an actor, known the world over for his portrayal of Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek franchise. Takei recounts his Japanese American family’s post–Pearl Harbor imprisonment in internment camps in Arkansas and California. “We were punished for looking different,” he says. “Then came this growing realization that I had another difference”—he was attracted to other boys. “I felt so alone,” he says in text accompanying a poignant illustration of him with his hands in his pockets, a despairing look on his face. Thankfully, Buddhism helped the youth; his temple taught him about acceptance—“maybe my feelings were a natural part of me.” His desire to fight injustice began early, when, as a teenager, he picked strawberries and challenged fellow Japanese Americans not to exploit Mexican workers. Takei studied architecture at UC Berkeley, but his “secret aspiration” to be an actor soon became a reality: He landed a voice-over gig that paved the way for a bright future. For decades, he lived a double life, afraid of others’ finding out that he was gay (which could have ended his career). His fear, though, didn’t stop him from championing causes—in addition to serving on the board of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, he volunteered for politicians, including Tom Bradley, who, as mayor of Los Angeles, named Takei to a public transportation board. The helmsman of the USS Enterprise, it turns out, helped the City of Angels get a subway system.
A heartwarming journey that, yes, goes boldly where few men have gone before.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781603095747
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
An accessible, informative journey through complex issues during turbulent times.
Immersion journalism in the form of a graphic narrative following a Syrian family on their immigration to America.
Originally published as a 22-part series in the New York Times that garnered a Pulitzer for editorial cartooning, the story of the Aldabaan family—first in exile in Jordan and then in New Haven, Connecticut—holds together well as a full-length book. Halpern and Sloan, who spent more than three years with the Aldabaans, movingly explore the family’s significant obstacles, paying special attention to teenage son Naji, whose desire for the ideal of the American dream was the strongest. While not minimizing the harshness of the repression that led them to journey to the U.S.—or the challenges they encountered after they arrived—the focus on the day-by-day adjustment of a typical teenager makes the narrative refreshingly tangible and free of political polemic. Still, the family arrived at New York’s JFK airport during extraordinarily political times: Nov. 8, 2016, the day that Donald Trump was elected. The plan had been for the entire extended family to move, but some had traveled while others awaited approval, a process that was hampered by Trump’s travel ban. The Aldabaans encountered the daunting odds that many immigrants face: find shelter and employment, become self-sustaining quickly, learn English, and adjust to a new culture and climate (Naji learned to shovel snow, which he had never seen). They also received anonymous death threats, and Naji wanted to buy a gun for protection. He asked himself, “Was this the great future you were talking about back in Jordan?” Yet with the assistance of selfless volunteers and a community of fellow immigrants, the Aldabaans persevered. The epilogue provides explanatory context and where-are-they-now accounts, and Sloan’s streamlined, uncluttered illustrations nicely complement the text, consistently emphasizing the humanity of each person.
An accessible, informative journey through complex issues during turbulent times.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-30559-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Metropolitan/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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