Review: Gender Is Really Strange by Teddy G. Goetz

Gender Is Really Strange by Teddy G. Goetz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was a really creative way to present non-fiction topics.  This is the first book I've read in the Really Strange Series, but the concept is fascinating.  It takes everyday topics that we talk about or should be talking about and puts them into graphic novel format backed up with factual information.   The format makes the information approachable and easy to digest.

This installment focuses on gender obviously, and addresses when the concept of gender norms were accepted by society and presents and interesting points for nature vs nurture.   I enjoyed the various facts presented around science, various cultures, and society with relation to gender.  I learned quite a bit from this small book.

I really enjoyed the art in the book and would have loved more pages.  There is only so much that can be delivered in around 40 pages and I would have happily consumed more.  I'm a data person so I would have loved more charts, figures, and data.   You can tell from the citations/endnotes that a ton of research went into the creation of this novel, I  would have loved to see more of it come to life on the pages.

The creators did a great job in portraying that gender is complex and strange when you think about it.

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Review: The Kite Runner Graphic Novel by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner Graphic Novel by Khaled Hosseini
Illustrated by Fabio Celoni and Mirka Andolfo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this was excellent.  This is not your typical "comic" book.  I say that because my son asked me why I was reading a comic book when he saw my kindle  lying on the table yesterday, then proceeded to tell me about a comic he read at school.  The content is very adult and not whimsical at all if you don't know what this story is about.  It is very heavy and serious.

I am participating in a reading challenge and one of the prompts is "A book with pictures."  While browsing my library's digital media collection for graphic novels this popped up, and as I've been meaning to read this for quite some time and it was available I grabbed it. I'm so glad I did. I think the illustrations portrayed what the words would have, had you read the novel, which I'll be doing soon. My library is having a book sale that started the other day, so I picked up the full novel as I was so drawn in by this telling. This story is so heartbreaking. It tells the story of Hassan and Amir and the struggles they faced. The story takes place in Afghanistan prior to the Russian occupation and then afterwards when the Taliban takes up residence.  I think alot of the terrible things that happen to them are compressed in this version, but that's what you get in this format.  I'm hoping to get more out of the full novel because as soon as you start to get into the story it changes.  It was a very quick read, so for challenge purposes or book-a-thon reading I'd highly recommend it.

I did have a hard time keeping track of which character was which throughout the story. Some of the characters look very similar in their rendering, while others are very distinct. Later in the book it is a bit easier to tell them apart because only one specific character is present in the storyline.

Overall, my heart broke several times during the story, and it has inspired me to read the full novel and delve more into the world of graphic novels.


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