A Jew in Communist Prague: Rebellion (Jew in Communist Prague)

Rating:
Summary: third volume; one of the greatest ever.....
Review: "A JEW IN COMMUNIST PRAGUE" VOL. 1-3 TPs by Vittorio Giardino. Insuperable, lofty, & a darn unfaltering imagining of a Jewish boy reckoning's, a coming-of-age signification of a comicbook..... in 1950's Communist Prague. A powerful writing, roundly flawless, a guaranteed masterpiece, plus with an eye-filling art. For pertinent browsers-- zealots or neophytes alike.

Vol. 1, the story, obliges within the nimbus of 1950 Prague, Czechoslovakia. Jonas Finkel, the protagonist & the son of a bourgeois. His father, Dr. Finkel is forthwith apprehended & vanishes for no clear cause at all. The Communism order of a government in Prague nonchalantly renounces all prerogatives going for the Finkels such as freezing their assets, prying their ways, & depriving Jonas of abiding schooling & as well his mother, of procuring estimable jobs instead of odd manual labor, due to hardship they see sans her husband.


Vol. 2 carries on, as Jonas reaches his teen years. His father was arrested for "anti-socialist activities" (counter-revolutionary activities & espionage) from those bygone days of war. Void of realized education & government repression, Jonas unshakeably plods from one menial job to another until he finally found his pinings -- a nigh, lasting pursuit in a small, neighborhood bookstore. On that point, abling found his moment to express his dissidence-- in a way by joining a recalcitrant group of teens who stealthily congregate at Petrin Park to sing & recite forbidden texts. Amid the crowd is a blonde with a blue-eyed girl names Tatiana, who at first sight titillates Jonas' heart.

Vol. 3 gravely picks-up the paces & shines its beacon on the literary movement of which Jonas has gallivated to, with the government on their heels chasing the shadows to ferret them out. Meanwhile, Jonas learns his bookstore owner is deeply in mire in one himself & Jonas has to bravely exacts great peril to aid his wishes.

A Jew in Communist Prague-- for me, is a certified one of the bestest graphic novels mustered up & Vittorio Giardino, a snap as one of the arch graphic novelists ever traipses, fornent 2 of my most cherished writers-- the peerless Stan Lee & the conversant J.M. DeMatteis.

It is blasphemous not to adore the artwork for its lone beauty, meticulous panels & perfect presentation. And the colors are sprawl in light, pastel combinations that rebound easy to ones eyes.

A CAVEAT EMPTOR. It contains explicit sexual contents in vol. 2 & has a mild, very short burst of sexual connotation on vol. 3. Still, an appropriate book for young adults upward.

These 3 volumes each sizes at 8.5"width X 11"lenght in format, softcover yet satiably sewn & sturdy, have 48 pages of contents for each vol. 1 & 2, while have 56 pages for vol. 3.

A quick brush to anti-semitism. To my surprise, there is no cue or whatsoever of anti-semitic. Perhaps it is in the murkiest details & in fleeting nuances, & I am not well-versed enough to place.

This title was at first figured gleefully a quartet-to-be, but the supposed "concluding" installment did not came out. Still, it can be considered a good enough "finished product" by the 3 volumes themselves.

These others are also the same good readings. "No Pasaran" vol. 1-2 TPs by Vittorio Giardino; "To the Heart of the Storm" TP by Will Eisner; "the Fixer" HC by Joe Sacco; "Book of Jack by Denis Pierre-Filippi; & "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" vol. 1-4 TPs by Andy Seto.

A must own gem & a stellar to place atop anyone's shelf.

HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION !!!


P.S. -- Vol. 1 subtitles "LOSS OF INNOCENCE" (for eg., "A Jew in Communist Prague: Loss of Innoncence" ). Vol. 2 subtitles "ADOLESCENCE", while vol. 3 is "REBELLION", just to evade confusion.


Rating:
Summary: jew in communist prague:rebellion
Review: the art is forceful, somewhat stylized. Faces and personalities are delineated with simple precision. The adaptions the characters make to live under a dictatorship while remaining human and intelligent give the reader hope for our civilization. As soon as you finish you turn to the front and start reading it again!

Rating:
Summary: Good, but too short as usual
Review: This third installment (following Loss of Innocence and Adolescence) of Italian cartoonist Giardino's graphic novel series about a Jewish boy growing up in Communist Prague concentrates on the developing relationship between title character Jonas and fellow teen Tatiana Gostrov. Of course, since he's the son of a political prisoner and she's the daughter of a Soviet diplomat, they are forced to see each other in secret. Meanwhile, the bookseller for whom Jonas works is coming under increasing scrutiny by the secret police. Over the course of the short (56 page) book, Jonas moves from outsider in his group of intellectual teenage friends, to a leader of them. As with the other books, the story is drawn in the lovely realistic style I tend to associate with European cartoonists, and colored with an appropriately subdued palate of grays and browns. And, as with the other books, it's all too brief-one day this series will be assembled an excellent single volume.