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Kendra Boileau

Autore di COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthology

1 opera 49 membri 4 recensioni

Opere di Kendra Boileau

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Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
 
Segnalato
fernandie | 3 altre recensioni | Sep 15, 2022 |
Covid Chronicles is an anthology of short comic strips by 65 cartoonists about the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is serious material and sometimes seemed to be too dark for my taste. However, it is important to have this snapshot of life in this pandemic for future generations. We read about working from home frivolity, teaching kids at home, relatives dying, empty grocery shelves and lots of drawings of people dead in their beds. The only other comic anthology that I can remember being similar to Covid Chronicles is A Fire Story edited by Brian Fies. It was also hard to read. A Fire Story was an anthology of comic strips about the Northern California wildfires in 2017. Both books are filled with overwhelming negative emotions that the reader needs to take a breather while reading them.… (altro)
 
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Violette62 | 3 altre recensioni | Mar 5, 2022 |
I know some people try to put the COVID-19 in a closed little compartment in their brain as much as possible, but for anyone who wants to read more about how others are getting through these trying times, this collection of short fiction and nonfiction comics is a pretty good place to start. With over 70 contributors, there is quite a wide range of diversity in people and experiences.

Among other things, there are comic diaries, a firsthand account of a COVID-19 survivors, a history of pandemics, and a review of world leaders' handling of the crisis. The pieces about powwow dancing and a funeral director really stood out for me, but there are plenty of good ones to choose from and hardly any clunkers at all, which is quite a feat when you are filling over 250 pages.

Graphic Mundi is a new imprint that is going to be publishing the type of books that have previously been published in the Graphic Medicine series. If you've enjoyed those books in the past, you'll want to watch for this imprint in the future.

One caveat: I get a little paranoid when I see that the creators have donated their work to the anthology and the publisher is donating "a portion of the proceeds" -- an unspecified "portion" -- to a charity. I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the people involved here, but it always gets my hackles up regardless.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
villemezbrown | 3 altre recensioni | Mar 10, 2021 |
(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss. Trigger warning for illness, death, and crimes against humanity.)

I must have been in an especially masochistic mood when I requested this title on Edelweiss: after all, we're still in the midst of a pandemic and, while an end is in sight (thanks to Pfizer, Moderna, and the Black women and POC organizers who delivered a win to Biden!), we're still looking at another six months+ of isolation, not to mention the ripple effects of systemic racism, unemployment, mass evictions and homelessness, scarcity of health care and the increasing number of uninsured, and the ever-widening wealth gap.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/50772748632/in/dateposted-public/

As I write this, Dems in the House are holding a vote on a standalone bill to give qualifying Americans one-time stimulus checks of $2000 (eight months having passed since the first round of $1200 checks), and reports that the TSA screened 2.3 million passengers over the Christmas weekend is a harbinger of the misery still yet to come.

So yeah, reading an anthology of comics about a pandemic while you're still living through it? Maybe not my wisest mental health choice.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/50771884163/in/dateposted-public/

For this reason, COVID CHRONICLES is a hard one to rate. Like many anthologies, it's a bit of a mixed bag: some of the artwork, stories, and ideas resonated with me more than others. Its greatest strength is its breadth and diversity of perspectives, including its focus not just on the micro but also the macro. While the collection includes plenty of personal stories - memoirs, narratives based on true stories, and fictional accounts - some of the authors pull their lenses back, for example, comparing different countries' pandemic responses, or placing the COVID-19 pandemic in a historic context. (S.I. Rosenbaum and Arigon Starr's poingant piece on "How to Have a Powwow in a Pandemic" comes to mind.")

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/50771884108/in/dateposted-public/

Nearly all of the stories are nonfiction(ish), which is why the lone SF tale really jumped out at me ("Same," written by Jazmine Joyner). It also tickles me that I can spot John Jennings's artwork from the first panel!

I tend to base around 50% of a book's rating on how it made me feel. On the one hand, COVID CHRONICLES gave me a sense of belonging and connectedness; it made me feel a little less alone. (As a single person who's been riding this thing out solo, with only a flagging senior dog and an a-hole cat for company, it's been rough.) But it's also depressing AF and triggered more than one breakdown.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smiteme/50772748637/in/dateposted-public/

While COVID CHRONICLES is certainly an important historical artifact, it comes with a pretty big content warning, especially if you're struggling as it is.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
smiteme | 3 altre recensioni | Dec 28, 2020 |

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Opere
1
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49
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Voto
3.8
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4
ISBN
2