Book Review: Displacement: A Travelogue

                                                                                   BOOK INFORMATION:                                                                  

In her graphic memoirs, New York Times-best selling cartoonist Lucy Knisley paints a warts-and-all portrait of contemporary, twentysomething womanhood, like writer Lena Dunham (Girls). In the next installment of her graphic travelogue series, Displacement, Knisley volunteers to watch over her ailing grandparents on a cruise. 

(The book s watercolors evoke the ocean that surrounds them.) In a book that is part graphic memoir, part travelogue, and part family history, Knisley not only tries to connect with her grandparents, but to reconcile their younger and older selves. 

She is aided in her quest by her grandfather s WWII memoir, which is excerpted. Readers will identify with Knisley s frustration, her fears, her compassion, and her attempts to come to terms with mortality, as she copes with the stress of travel complicated by her grandparents frailty."

Check out the book here: Link to Amazon.

                                                                        MY THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK                                                              

This book reminded me of the last few years with my grandma and grandpa. It was really bittersweet to see another declining situation. My grandmother had dementia that turned into Alzheimer's so seeing here grandmothers reactions brought back some painful times. With all that said I am happy I read this comic. 

Displacement follows a cruise she agrees to take with her ninety-year-old parents, which are slowly declining in their health. I thought it was such an incredibly selfless act to do so. Unfortunately, she misunderstood how much work caring for them was, and the whole time she just seems miserable and tired. She reflects on mortality, aging, grumpiness, and also family in this comic collection. 

What I loved about this is that Knisley brings along her Grandfathers World War II memoir that he wrote about his service. This is something I wish I had from my grandfather's service so this part was the most interesting to me. Some of these pieces were hard to read but gave you a reason for his grouchiness and strong personality. He was a very good man according to the pages of that memoir.

The art in this book is so well done. It is so vibrant and beautiful. You can tell great craft and time was taken in creating this book and it really shows. I would describe the art as illustrated comic-book style. It was light and fun! 

I picked this up on a quim from the library and I am so glad I did. I hope you like it as much as I did.