187. American Widow

American Widow by Alissa Torres
Art by Choi

Pages: 209
Finished: Dec. 12, 2008
First Published: Sept, 2008
Genre: Graphic Novel, Memoir
Rating: 3/5
Reason for Reading: Received a Review Copy from the publisher.

First sentence:

The World Trade Center was just hit by a plane! Turn on your TV!

Comments: This is the author's memoir of the tragedy of her life, becoming a widow on 9/11. Her husband was on his second day at his new job above the 85th floor and she was pregnant with their first child. The book jumps from moment to moment as she learns of his death, hopes that he is alive and missing, finding out he was a jumper, joins victim groups, goes through the bureaucracy of the charity help organizations and remembers past moment with her husband.

The book lacks a cohesive narrative jumping from one event to another and sometimes just showing the author's grief and emotions rather than telling a story. Of course, this is a depressing and sad story and it is hard to 'review' the story of someone's grief. The author's emotion and pain is clearly at the centre of this book rather than a story with a plot or characterization. For those interested in the after effects of 9/11 on the families left behind by those who were killed this sad, tragic tale of a woman who survives her grief and starts a new life for her baby, this book will certainly appeal.