Writer and Artist: Rawand Issa
In this graphic memoir, creator Rawand Issa describes her childhood in El Jiyeh, a seaside town in Lebanon. She and her family were effectively shut off from her fondest, earliest memories when private resorts cut off access to what was once a public beach.
There's no shortage of stories about how much Lebanon has changed in recent decades. Civil wars and military occupations by both Syria and Israel have devastated a once beautiful country. Issa's tale is unusual for the fact that it mostly ignores the violence, focusing instead on how privatization and politics combined to separate the town's local population from an ocean that defined its culture for generations.
The book is neither long nor densely worded. I read it in a single sitting - maybe half an hour. The artwork is rather boxy, though boldly colored. Inside the Giant Fish (Jonah's whale is the metaphor here) makes a simple point quite elegantly. Solid work.
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