Literally Graphic reviewed Fatherland by Nina Bunjevac
Review of 'Fatherland' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
An interesting contrast to what we Westerners might think of as a typical story book immigration experience. Fatherland is the true (and often convoluted) story of Nina's family's journey back and forth between Canada and Yugoslavia. Giving a personal face to a side of life post WWII that I was pretty interested in learning about.
The art style of this comic is pretty brutal, and not in a violent or graphic way, just in its stark dramatic cross hatching lines. Everything feels like it has a warped grid over it, and sometimes that was kind of distracting. It took a while for me to really get used to it and I'm still not overly fond of Nina Bunjevac's style - that said, it did feel like it matched the tone and subject matter rather well and Bunjevac is clearly a very talented artist, so how much can I really complain?
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An interesting contrast to what we Westerners might think of as a typical story book immigration experience. Fatherland is the true (and often convoluted) story of Nina's family's journey back and forth between Canada and Yugoslavia. Giving a personal face to a side of life post WWII that I was pretty interested in learning about.
The art style of this comic is pretty brutal, and not in a violent or graphic way, just in its stark dramatic cross hatching lines. Everything feels like it has a warped grid over it, and sometimes that was kind of distracting. It took a while for me to really get used to it and I'm still not overly fond of Nina Bunjevac's style - that said, it did feel like it matched the tone and subject matter rather well and Bunjevac is clearly a very talented artist, so how much can I really complain?
As far as the story goes, it certainly felt a little bit off kilter at times. Bunjevac's story jumps from her life to far back family history to recent history to the history of the Serbs and the Croats - in general, I don't recall if this was the exact sequence. By the end I'm pretty sure that the focus of this book was supposed to be her father (cover art duh) but I'm not exactly sure what the point was I guess. Maybe I'm just too used to having people try and manipulate me through media but I would have appreciated some larger point to come out by the end.