Macedonia

Let's start with the positive: cultural awareness presented in graphic novel form? Neat. Okay, negative time: #19 on the list at StuffWhitePeopleLike.Com is Travelling, specifically, to Europe so they can one-up their non-travelled buddies. This book is the epitome of that: the storyline of this graphic novel centers around Heather, a young college student, preparing to write her undergrad...more

Let's start with the positive: cultural awareness presented in graphic novel form? Neat. Okay, negative time: #19 on the list at StuffWhitePeopleLike.Com is Travelling, specifically, to Europe so they can one-up their non-travelled buddies. This book is the epitome of that: the storyline of this graphic novel centers around Heather, a young college student, preparing to write her undergrad thesis. So she travels to Macedonia, meets a bunch of people, conducts interviews with foreign officials... and that's ALL she does. There's no rise or fall in the plot line, save for when she gets ripped off by the manager of the hotel she is residing at. (The shame!) What's worse is the book ends with an epilogue which is her thesis. I'm quite dissapointed at this, millions of college kids get ready to write their thesis every year - I don't think Heather really changed or did that much throughout her time in Macedonia to warrant it the basis for a graphic novel. A total bore-fest.   hide

This is Harvey interpreting, with cartoonist Piskor, the journals of Ms. Robison, a Berkeley student who travels within Macedonia to prove a point. Though the narrative is over-wordy, meandering, the point is valuable: Macedonia dropped from headlines because they avoided Balkan war; howzthat? Harvey uses the experience of a Berkeley student to portray conflict resolution through a real place. ...more

This is Harvey interpreting, with cartoonist Piskor, the journals of Ms. Robison, a Berkeley student who travels within Macedonia to prove a point. Though the narrative is over-wordy, meandering, the point is valuable: Macedonia dropped from headlines because they avoided Balkan war; howzthat? Harvey uses the experience of a Berkeley student to portray conflict resolution through a real place. He's responding to Joe Sacco's reportage in comics; though Sacco does this better, Harvey is swell, always readable.    hide