Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Zenobia

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Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Zenobia by Morten Dürr

6 reviews

alexutzu's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I picked this book as part of a reading challenge and it was a very quick read, mostly through images. It's a simple book, but it just stays with you for a while due to its ideas, as the cultural aspect blends with the tragedy of war (specifically through a child's eyes).

😍 The good:
The story is very meaningful even though most of it is just image-based. The art is rather simplistic, but it fits with the story line and uses different colours for different moments.

😅 The not-so-good:
Not much to complain about, but the book was rather short and simple, so it did not get to delve much into the story background, the characters and such.

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pine_barren's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

I have some reservations about this graphic novel. It feels exploitative to me that the author and illustrator are profiting from an incredibly violent story that is completely outside their own lived experience and partially fueled by their country's (in)action. "Raising awareness" only goes so far and if you are making money off of raising awareness on an issue that does not directly impact you... well that's kinda gross.

It also bothered me that there was no context provided on the war in Syria in the form of an Author's Note or Appendix. Especially since this book's target audience is children, many of whom may not have previous knowledge about the war in Syria going into reading.

Yes, the artwork and coloring are stunning. And yes, the limited text is very effective at tapping into the reader's emotion. My questions are more about who is telling this story and why?

*Side Note: I don't think that authors/illustrators are required to only write/draw stories or characters that align with their lived experience. I'm more interested in how power moves/shifts through the storyteller and their relationship with the subject(s).*

Content Warnings