Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Palestine by Joe Sacco

8 reviews

robinks's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

A powerful collection of images and information about the occupation of Palestine. The comics cover a wide range of intersectional topics. Sacco also writes about and acknowledges his privileges in being able to travel safely and have comforts in Gaza. It is wild but also unsurprising that this was drawn based on experience in the early 1990s, and 30 years later, it still rings true based on news from journalists in Palestine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Confinement, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racism, Ableism, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Torture, Colonisation, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Homophobia, Bullying, Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Deportation, and Excrement

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Animal death, Fatphobia, and War

beanmilkcantread's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Genocide, Torture, Gore, Gaslighting, Cursing, War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Hate crime, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Confinement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Child death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Deportation, and Blood

meganpbell's review

dark informative tense medium-paced

4.5

Eyewitness journalism meets comics in this landmark work of graphic nonfiction, based on over a hundred interviews in Gaza and the West Bank during the author’s visit in the 1990s. This book is intense, ugly, heartbreaking, and remains unfortunately not only relevant but urgent. The author comes across as pretty unlikeable—but you have to respect his transparency. I read this on the recommendation of Jewish author Sim Kern.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Colonisation, Violence, Torture, Sexism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Murder, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Confinement, Classism, and Child death

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Absolutely devastating. I’d been wanting to read this for ages - I love Joe Sacco - and with the fighting between Hamas and Israel in Gaza right now, it seemed the perfect time to learn some history. This was written in 1992-1993. Nothing has changed except the area is even more densely packed. 

Without citing specific examples, I’ll just say the situation is horrific, it has been horrific since 1948, it will always be horrific, and I see no hope whatsoever. 

This book should be required reading for everyone - EVERYONE - right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, War, Blood, Bullying, Deportation, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

katharina90's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Informative, heartbreaking and infuriating. The author's deadpan commentary provides the occasional comic relief. 

This non-fiction comic is roughly 30 years old but sadly it's as relevant as ever (even though some of the language hasn't aged well). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Police brutality, Violence, Gun violence, and Torture

Moderate: Antisemitism, Child death, Sexism, Ableism, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Fatphobia

parenthesis_enjoyer's review

challenging dark informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, War, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Antisemitism, Chronic illness, Ableism, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol and Rape

carleesi's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

2.0

The stories in this book are incredibly important but good god I hate the author.

He is so misogynistic. The way he speaks about women is disgusting, and he even ends the measly chapter he writes about women (that’s right, they get a separate chapter because they’re obviously not part of the whole story) with a sexist joke. He acknowledges his sexism and delivers it anyway. He constantly comments on women’s appearances as if that is a sign of whether they deserve respect or attention and he is so dismissive of the women he speaks to. He even admits that he doesn’t see the Palestinian women as people, and is shocked when a Palestinian woman actually speaks to him (so shocked that her dialogue gets a super respectful “blah blah blah”).

He is clearly on the side of Palestine and I really appreciate having access to Palestinian perspectives but he is also super islamophobic sometimes. He critiques the anti-semitism of the Palestinians he talks to, but then jokes about terrorism and repeatedly questions women about their head coverings in a way that’s at best condescending and at worst outright offensive.

He simultaneously positions himself as “in the story” and “above the story”. Like he tells about people begging him for help, crying, pleading, and then makes a flippant comment about forgetting their name or trying to keep the conversation upbeat. He complains about the over enthusiastic hospitality but takes food and shelter from refugees.

To go into this community and take the stories from people for his comic to succeed (as he repeatedly says) and then portray that it was beyond him to offer help… it’s sickening. His blasé attitude towards the stories he shares is enraging. His treatment of people is nothing short of unethical and his view of himself is so beyond inflated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Confinement, and Police brutality

Moderate: Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Sexism, and Ableism

mscalls's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia