Reviews

Regards from Serbia: A Cartoonist's Diary of a Crisis in Serbia by Aleksandar Zograf

alisonburnis's review

dark reflective tense slow-paced

3.75

A memoir in comic form, spanning from the early 1990s through to the mid 2000s, Zograf covers the Yugoslav Wars from his hometown in Serbia, via comic and text. This book contains different strips and series he did during this time, as well as a set of emails he sent to friends outside the country to assure them that he and his wife were still okay. The collection ends with his reaction to the death of Slobodan Milošević, the president of Serbia during this time period. 

I didn’t know much about the Yugoslav Wars, and this personal account helped fill them out, as well as provide a personal lens in real time. Zograf’s work was done as he was experiencing the wars and bombing, the isolation and danger. The art is frantic and dark to reflect this, almost…spiky? Spiky is how I describe much of what I felt during the early stages of COVID and this felt the same way. 

konbie's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

leontyna's review

challenging reflective slow-paced

3.0