Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Palestina: En la Franja de Gaza by Joe Sacco

18 reviews

eeriekeri's review against another edition

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4.75


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robinks's review against another edition

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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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beanmilkcantread's review against another edition

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4.5


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moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective

4.5

Palestine by Joe Sacco is a comic/graphic nonfiction work of journalism that documents his travels through Palestine in the early/mid 1990's. Alongside his own experiences, he tells the stories of many Palestinians that he interviewed. He is invited into many houses for tea and food while hearing stories of brutal imprisonment, death of children, political divides within the community, and much more. 

This work will certainly put the Palestinian struggle into perpective if you are unfamiliar. It also makes the crimes against humanity we are witnessing being livestreamed online even more horrific. For example: hospitals are being bombed now with doctors and patients inside, parallel is the story of a boy (15) who had already been shot by a soldier and sent to the hospital only to be beaten inside the hospital by soldier (his arm broken alongside the arm of a member of hospital staff who tried defending him). The horrors we are seeing now have a long history and this comic shows many small snapshots within that history.

Throughout the story of Sacco's time in Palestine, we see some of his thoughts and at times he outright discusses some of his biases. This was a self-aware framing that is supposed to (I think) show us some of the problems with the Western gaze. Even as I understood it, I still found some of it annoying in the moment. As I reflect on it, I do think that parts of this message are quite important in the context of journalism (particularly as we see how much western news has covered Palestine recently). I still have mixed feelings, but ultimately it's small parts that I have conflicted feelings about. 

Overall, this was an intense collection of experiences and an important read. I'd definitely recommend it to people who are unfamiliar and wanting to learn more about Palestine. It is western journalism that is self-critical and even if the jurry is out on my full opinion of exactly how he did that framing, I'm glad that it was there. 

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brookey8888's review against another edition

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I’m choosing not to rate this because I don’t think it would be fair. I did learn a lot and I liked hearing about Palestinian stories and what these people went and are still going through. That being said this was told in such a confusing way to me. I also did not like the art style either. These things made it harder for me to understand and learn about some of the things mentioned. I do think this was well done, but maybe pick something else up. 

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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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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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danaslitlist's review against another edition

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4.0

A solid introduction to the everyday life of Palestinians under their occupiers! I think this a great foundational text for people just starting to unpack the layers upon layers of history and oppression. 

It’s not a full five stars solely because Sacco feels the need to talk about women in a really degrading and inappropriate way at times that was totally not necessary and felt gross.

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mscalls's review against another edition

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3.0


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