Joe Kubert
Fax from Sarajevo (1996)
Author: Joe Kubert
Genre: Graphic novel (non-fiction)
Plot Summary:
This graphic novel details the account of artist Ervin Rustemagic who was trapped during the Serbian seige of Sarajevo. The only way Ervin could keep in touch with the outside world was to send faxes to various people he knew. Joe Kubert is an American friend of Ervin's and he received faxes, which he turned into this book. Ervin worked for a comic book publishing company in Sarajevo and when the bombings started, he was told that there was no way to get
out of Sarajevo. He and his family (his wife Edina and two children, Maja and Edvin) were forced to stay in war-torn Sarajevo as the Serbs continued to attack the city. Snipers made the streets unsafe and shooters were given a bonus for shooting children. Ervin kept trying to get his family out of Sarajevo as the violence increased. He contacted anyone he knew inside and outside of Sarajevo who might be able to help. Finally, he was able to obtain journalist accreditation and got out of Sarajevo to the resort town of Porec. While in Porec, he was able to get himself Slovenian citizenship, which made his family elligible to leave Sarajevo. In 1997, this book won an Eisner Award for best new graphic album and it won a Harvey Award for best graphic album of original work.
Geographical Setting: Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Time Period: 1992-1993, Serbian seige of Sarajevo
Appeal Characteristics:
The book has a very dark and gritty tone. The art depicts many scenes of violence and brings the audience into the conflict. The art is more realistic than cartoonish. Another appeal element may be the subject matter. The book is non-fiction, so it provides an opportunity to learn about history and the genocide that took place in Sarajevo. It's based on the author's vicarious experiences through his friend who was living in Sarajevo, which gives the book
a more personal feel. Many of the faxes that the author received from Ervin are included. Another appeal element is the biographical nature of the book. It gives the book strong characters that readers may identify with. Ervin is a very touching character- a man willing to do anything to get his family out of the war. His family also comes alive in the book, as well as the doctors in the hospital that help Ervin with transportation, and Ervin's cigarette-smoking partner.
Read-alikes: Readers interested in the subject of the Bosnian war might also like The Fixer and Safe Area Gorazde, both by Joe Sacco. Both are
graphic novels. The Fixer is the story of a man in Sarajevo who was a "fixer"- for a certain sum he would lead journalists to the grittiest news stories. Safe Area Gorazde is Sacco's journalistic account of his visits to the "safe area" of Gorazde during 1995 and 1996, where he documented the desolation of the city. Readers who wish to learn more about the Bosnian war and Sarajevo in particular might try Sarajevo Days, Sarajevo Nights by Elma Softic. This non-fiction book is the personal account of Softic who lived through the war in Sarajevo. Another such book is Zlata's Diary by
Zlata Filipovic, which is another personal account of the war in Sarajevo. Zlata's Diary is aimed at young adults and so might appeal more to this age group than to adult readers. Readers who like the gritty tone of Fax from Sarajevo may also like other graphic albums by Joe Kubert. Try Yossel by Joe Kubert- a historical fiction depicting a boy in Warsaw during WWII. This book is loosely autobiographical, as Kubert explores what might have been if his family had not been able to emigrate to the United States in 1926. Fans of the personal account and strong characters may enjoy Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman. This is the story of Spiegelman's father who was a WWII concentration camp survivor. Another book to recommend for its strong characters and (auto)biographical approach is Persepolis and Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi. These books are autobiographical accounts of Satrapi's childhood in Iran during and after the Iranian Revolution and then her life in Europe after Iran gets too dangerous. Although the tone of Satrapi's books is a good deal lighter than Fax from Sarajevo, the personal account of a changing, sometimes violent country may appeal to readers.
Red Flags: Art depicts graphic violence- shootings, bombings, injured and dying people. Very intense.
Yossel: April 19, 1943 (2003)
Author: Joe Kubert
Genre: Graphic Novel (Historical)
Plot Summary:
Yossel is an incredibly moving Holocaust story of desperation and suffering, fortified on either end by inspiring account of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Kubert has created a sort of fictional memoir, or alternate-history of his family, imagining what might have happened had his parents been unable to emigrate to the U.S. from Yzeran, Poland in 1926 when Kubert was only two months old. The resulting book is, in the author's own words, "a work of fiction, based on a nightmare that was fact". At the start of WWII, Yossel is a normal Polish teen with a gift for drawing. When the German army siezes his town, the family loses everything and is forced into the Warsaw ghettos. Despite desperate circumstances, Yossel continues drawing, and his artistic talents are noticed and curry favor with the Nazi police. When his family is ultimately sent to the concentration camps, Yossel is spared. In the ghetto he meets the leader of an underground Jewish resistance movement named Mordecai. One night, Yossel encounters a concentration camp escapee, and is horrified to hear stories of crematoriums and unimaginable brutality. This prompts the resistance fighters to action, stockpiling weapons for a final confrontation. In the moment of showdown against their formidable enemies, the courageous group unleashes their rage in an unexpected fury of open warfare, determined above all to "die like human beings". Told with dignity and artistic inspiration, this unusual story bears witness to the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust.
Geographical Setting: Poland
Time Period: 1943
Appeal Characteristics:
The illustrations retain their original form as simple pencil renderings, having never been inked or colored. The rough drawings retain a sense of urgency and nihilism that perfectly matches the timbre of the story. This style of art also adds a sense of authenticity as many of the drawings are supposed to be either images in Yossel's mind, or drawn by his hand. The pages are a dense paper washed in gray with drawings in dark pencil; minimalistic word boxes replace the usual bubbles or circles. The story itself is fascinating and inspiring, despite the ultimate futility of the uprising. The Eisner-award winner nominee (2004) will find fans with those interested in the history of WWII or the Holocaust. The author/illustrator is acclaimed in the GN world as one of the first and finest GN writers, as well as founder of the first accredited school devoted to cartoon art graphics (The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Arts, Inc.).
Read-alikes: There are a few other graphic novels that also deal with the Holocaust and/or WWII. Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer for his nonfiction accounts of his parents' Holocaust survival in Maus (1973) and Maus II (1991). In these books, Spiegelman interviews his father and intersperses those Holocaust memories with glimpses of the after-effects of war on their current lives and relationships. Barefoot Gen Volume One: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima (1987) by Keiji Nakazawa is a manga title written from the point of view of the artist as a boy in Japan during WWII and the bombing of Hiroshima. Many themes, including the psychological effects of war, are similar to those explored in Maus. Auschwitz (2003) by Pascal Croci is yet another GN dealing straightforwardly with themes of the Holocaust, how one couple deals with the loss of their child in the camps, and the lifelong torment that haunts survivors. For a GN title dealing with the Holocaust from a different angle, try Daniel Half Human: And the Good Nazi (2004) by David Chotjewitz. Dealing with many themes including friendship, Hitler's rise to power in WWII, and Kristallnacht, this book is about a 1930s German youth who discovers his mother is Jewish just as he is clamoring to join Hitler Youth. Also, check out the 12-volume Adolf series by Osamu Tezuka, beginning with Adolf Volume One: A Tale of Twentieth Century (1996). This series, the last major work of the author, follows the disparate lives of three different Adolfs (the Nazi leader, a Jewish boy in Japan, and a half-Japanese/half-German boy) living during the time of WWII. For books about Holocaust survivors NOT written in GN format, try Night (1960) by Elie Wiesel, which is a chilling chronicle of the author's experiences as a 15 year old boy during WWII, when his entire family was deported to Auschwitz. This slim memoir will take you to the edge of humanity as Wiesel recounts his incredible experiences and ponders the meaning of his unlikely survival in the face of such inconceivable horror and death. For those interested specifically in the Warsaw Uprising of 1943, try Mila 18 (1983) by Leon Uris, which is a historical novel based on the Warsaw ghetto uprising of 1943 and the Jewish struggle for survival, named after the address of the Jewish resistance headquarters. Finally, for those who want to check out other works by Kubert, try Fax from Sarajevo: a Story of Survival (1996). A serious GN on par with Spiegelman's Maus, this title deals with the brutality of war as experienced by a real family that became trapped in Sarajevo in 1992 at the beginning of a devastating three-year siege mounted by the Bosnian Serb army.
Red Flags: Horrifying images and descriptions of violence and genocide
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