“Belonging”

[Alisha Schulz]

What strikes me the most from Belonging is the almost “let-down” position Nora repeatedly finds herself in. I could feel that emotion every time she described the situation arise. What I mean by this is the idea that she finds herself time and time again being faced with questions she cannot answer about a family she doesn’t quite know with a history she is unfamiliar with. When introduced to others, especially in America, the automatic assumption is that she must have a juicy, troubled, dramatic family history. Yet she finds herself letting those asking down because she feels the opposite-she has a family and its history that are unspoken and unknown to her. I imagine that to become an incredibly anxious expectation to carry-the knowledge that people will continue to ask, and you will continue to be unable to reply suitably.

I found the format of the novel to be both beautiful and intriguing while also a bit distracting. This is a novel I need to take my time to digest because there are such finite details on every page. I found myself getting caught up in the story, thus skipping images—then the opposite-struck by the images, scanning the text. I am intrigued by the scrapbook-esque quality versus a comic strip.

The idea of Heimat was interesting to me as well. Throughout the graphic novel, I felt her desire for knowledge. Knowledge that would possibly give her comfort, inner stability, a sense of belonging. It became apparent that she was reaching and reaching, stretching to grasp something continually just out of reach. Belonging did a good job conveying that feeling-that yearn.

[Bridgett Paddock]

Alisha,
I thought this was one of the most interesting s graphic. I ELA I have seen/read. I loved the incorporation of primary source documents: letters, images, etc. it is a book that begs to be closely read.

[Author]

Posts