Martin Lemelman

A graphic autobiography. The drawings were evocative and interesting. The book however was sad and depressing. Martin Lemelman had a very unfortunate childhood. Even after making it through WWII without being killed not many things go right for him or his family. He settles in NYC in an area that got wave after wave of immigrants. His wave of Jewish Holocaust survivors leave for the suburbs but his father owned a little candy store named Teddy's. There are
no customers but that doesn't stop people from trying to rob them. He is rather blatantly anti-the-next immigrant wave Black, Latino. He is not a brave man. His family doesn't help him become brave. He does manage to become an artist.But the story of this man doesn't really go anywhere. It just ends. It is a shame that he didn't grow up in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Not that candy stores did well but at least the people were not abused. During the 50s and the 60s candy stores and luncheonettes were fixtures on the corners of our avenues and we all went there to get penny candy, buy a newspaper or grab a burger and an egg-cream. The joys of Brooklyn life do not come through in this misery of a book.… (mais)

This is an autobiographical graphic novel that my grandmother wanted to read years ago, and I finally got around to reading it as well. My grandmother was born in Brooklyn, and the author was also born and grew up in Brooklyn in the 50s and 60s. I can't say that this book was perfect. There was a lot of content that is uncomfortable, and toward the end it gets pretty racist toward the non-Jewish minorities who are moving into Lemelman's neighborhood, but what I did really enjoy about this book was how recognizable so many of the things that my grandmother told me about her childhood were presented on the page. I really saw myself and my family on a lot of the pages here, and I connected to those particular aspects.… (mais)