American Widow by Alissa Torres... A Review

"American Widow is my graphic novel memoir about life after my husband died at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001."... Alissa Torres

I can't imagine what it felt like to lose someone on 9/11. Listening to the radio... watching the videos play out on television... waiting for someone to come home... searching hospitals... waiting for the phone to ring... 9 years ago Alissa Torres was 7 1/2 months pregnant living in NYC. Her husband, Eddie Torres, started his new job at Cantor Fitzgerald on Sept. 10th, 2001. The Cantor Fitzgerald offices were located in the North Tower of the World Trade Center... American Widow is her story. It is the terror, the frustration, the utter chaos Alissa had to live through. If mere words can make you come to realize what it was like to lose someone on 9/11, then the words (and images) in American Widow accomplish that.

9/11 still echoes the horrors of the terrorism that took the lives of the men and women that day. Alissa Torres is one of those victims of the aftermath. On that day, Sept. 11th, 2001, her life changed forever. American Widow tells the story of Alissa Torres & Eddie Torres in the form of a graphic novel. And it is a wonderful example of the power of a graphic novel. American Widow is drawn in black & white with aqua tinting by artist Sungyoon Choi, whose expressive images drive home the powerful story. Alissa doesn't pull any punches either, as she navigates the bureaucracy, people and the media to try and get through her grief and be able to support her family.

The book opens with the events of 9/11, but in flashbacks that flow seamlessly throughout the book, we get to know Alissa & Eddie... how they met & fell in love, the life they started together and even the life before they met. We learn about Eddie's immigrant status, how he worked multiple jobs to support himself and send money back to his family. And how he worked hard enough to climb the corporate ladder to become a currency broker. It really makes the loss of Eddie in Alissa's life all the more poignant, because you've virtually experienced their life together. It also makes you think, the same way Alissa did, "What if?" What if Eddie didn't go to work that morning... What if he never got fired from his other job... What if, what if, what if?

When American Widow was published, people wanted to know, "Why a graphic novel?!" Her inspiration for turning her story into a graphic novel came from a statement she made one day...

"My life is like a comic book!"

Alissa then read Art Spiegelman's Maus, David Chelsea in Love by David Chelsea, who she met through a friend and who recommended Scott McCloud’s book, Understanding Comics. In an interview with GraphicNovelReporter, Alissa Torres says...

"McCloud’s work gave me greater understanding and sensitivity of the genre as I went on to read more first-person works: Lynda Barry’s 100 Demons, Joe Sacco’s Palestine, and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. These graphic novels gave an immediacy and intimacy to the stories they told. These books, along with Maus, were proof to me of the beautiful, accessible, and moving outcomes that were possible from the genre."

American Widow is a moving story, one that was important for Alissa Torres to write, but also an important story for other people to read. Even if you've never picked up a graphic novel before, now is the time...

*P.S. I read American Widow as part of The Graphic Novels Challenge 2010! Click on The Graphic Novels Challenge link to see what other graphic novels I read this year!

The Sunday Salon... "Books with Buzz"

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake...

This Sunday Salon I'm back with Books with Buzz! Since tuesday I've been Under The Dome with Stephen King, and am happy to say that I'm really enjoying it! I haven't read King for a very long time, but Under The Dome sounded like a great story- a whole town suddenly isolated by an invisible dome... how this effects the people (and animals) around the town and how chaos has a funny way of building up like a smoldering fire is all part of the plot. It's a brick of a book-almost 1100 pages, so even though I can't seem to put it down I think you'll have to waita couple of weeks for a review. But keep your eyes out for that review... In the meantime, let's take a look at a few books that haven't gotten mega press releases and that we should take a look at...

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington... In the plague-wracked and devil-haunted darkness of Medieval Europe, an elite few enjoy opulent lives while the majority eke out a miserable existence in abject poverty. Hungry creatures stalk the deep woods and desolate mountains, and both sea and sky teem with unspeakable horrors. For those ill-fated masses not born into wealth, life is but a vicious trial to be endured before the end of days. Hegel and Manfried Grossbart couldn't

give a toss. Being of low birth means little, after all, when the riches of the mighty wait just inside the next crypt. The grave-robbing twins know enough about crusading to realise that if one is to make a living from the dead, what better destination than the fabled tomb-cities of Egypt? But the Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy ... This book will be available in stores this coming tuesday, Nov.16th. I've read a lot of positive chatter about this book from those lucky people who got a copy before its official release. Although I also have read that there is some graphic violence (hey it's the middle ages...) and some strong language, especially felt at the beginning while you're getting use to the story. The writing is suppose to be wonderful & clever- capturing the essence of those plague filled times- and the violence begins to takes a back seat to the story. I love the middle ages and I'm going to definitely take a serious look at this book for the TBR pile. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan... one of the first young adult novels centered around the terror attacks of 9/11. On that fateful day, three teens lives are changed forever. As each gets to know the other, their moments become intertwined with each other’s in a way that leads to new understandings, new friendships, and new levels of awareness for the world around them and the people close by, both emotionally and physically. Gripping, moving, and utterly realistic, Love is the Higher Law manages to bring the events surrounding this catastrophic date to a heartbreakingly human level. And yet Levithan leaves readers with a feeling of hope and redemption, as his characters slowly learn to move forward with their lives, despite being changed forever. Katherine from Bunch of Grapes, tells us why this book is different from other 9/11 books, "we’re watching teenagers and because they are teens, they are crazy, pendulum-swinging, emotional roller coasters. They are in turn angry, idealistic, scared, tragic, uncomfortable, joyous, you name it… Every emotion is confused, raw and to the nth degree. They place drastic importance on their first date after 9/11, their first concert after 9/11. In most adult novels, they would get toned down, but because they are teens, it is allowed here. And this is the secret… we were all like that in those weeks, no matter our ages." This book has gotten lots of positive buzz and it's going in my TBR pile... This book is Kindle Ready!

Louisa May Alcott, The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen... Harriet Reisen writes in her book, "the real Louisa was just as intelligent, hot-tempered, rebellious and ambitious as her fictional counterpart. But the true story of Alcott’s life is both more tragic and more triumphant than anything she cooked up for her favorite little woman." Marion Elisabeth Rodgers of The Washington Times calls Harriet Reisen "a master storyteller" and about The Woman Behind LW she says, "Chapters are never formulaic. With compassion and insight, she propels readers on to the next adventure, sacrifice, tragedy and triumph.” Biographies can be dry sometimes, facts & dates with little life, but Harriet Reisen's book sounds like a refreshing read, and there's a lot of great talk about it! As a little girl who loved Little Women, I am looking forward to reading about the woman who created a story so rich in character that it's still a wonderful read 140 years after being first published! Have you read Little Women? You can get a Kindle version of Little Women for $1.59 HERE, or an ePub, mobipocket/Kindle or PDF version of the Gutenberg project book Free from Feedbooks HERE. (Wish this was Kindle Ready, but it's not!)

That about does it for this weeks Sunday Salon and Books with Buzz. Hope you found something interesting to crack the spine! What are YOU reading this week? What books did you find interesting as you were wondering the bookstore or library? Share your finds here!

Happy reading... Suzanne