Just spoke on the phone with Blue Me Bleu Festival in Montreal about Miriam, checked my email et voila! A rave starred review from the upcoming March issue of Booklist for her new book LETTING IT GO.
STARRED REVIEW. Drawn & Quarterly, hardcover, $24.95. (9781770461031). 741.5.
Katin, a Holocaust survivor who told the harrowing story of her family’s survival in her 2006 graphic memoir, We Are on Our Own, carries an understandable prejudice against all things German; so when her son Ilan announced that he was moving to Berlin to live with his girlfriend there, it set off a visceral, panicked reaction that she recounts in this wise and funny work. With wry self-awareness and sardonic humor, Katin depicts her reluctant, resentful efforts to deal with her son’s decision as she makes a pair of visits to the city, one to visit Ilan and another to attend an art show featuring her comics work (as her ever patient musician husband observes, “If Barenboim can be there, so can you”). She even learns the German word for her struggle: vergangenheitsbewältigung—coming to terms with the past. Katin eschews the use of panel borders for her gorgeously expressive color-pencil drawings, giving the narrative an irresistible flow. As well-told as it was, much of the power of We Are on Our Own came from its inherently dramatic story; this more nuanced and inward-looking tale is an even greater testament to Katin’s remarkable storytelling abilities.— Gordon Flagg
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