Book Review: Che: A Revolutionary Life (Graphic Biography)

Image: The cover of the book is a splotchy brown and tan background. "Che" is written accross the top in very large, red, capital letters that fade at the bottom. Che Guevara is drawn in black and white from the neck up and ears forward. He has a beard, a beret, and is taking a drag off of a cigar held in his hand while looking down. Under the title and across the top of his head says, "A Revolutionary Life" in white capital letters and under that, in front of his face on the left side of the cover, states (A Graphic Biography, Jon Lee Anderson & Jose Hernandez."

I won this via goodreads giveaways and it is labeled as an "advance uncorrected proof."

Let me begin by stating that the art in this book is fantastic across the board. José Hernández produced some of the best art I've seen in comics/graphic novels. This is what carried the book for the most part. Hernandez's name should be the first author.

I also want to start by saying my beliefs are anti-authoritarian and extremely left wing. So, please do not take my criticisms to be coming from a place of being anti-communism. Anti-authoritarian communism is pretty close to where I am at.

The main reason for my rating this book as mediocre is that Anderson's writing just wasn't there. I do want to give him credit- a graphic biography is a really cool idea and one difficult to execute. So, perhaps this just isn't his field. I have not read any other biographies of Che to compare, so I am unsure of how accurate this is. I can say that it seems like Anderson thought writing for comics or writing dialogue was just a shorter form version of writing an article for the New Yorker. It's common for comic writers not to be seen as legitimate. But, this book is an example of writing that is not good for comics. The dialogue is very bland outside direct quotes and the thing that carries us through the story is the artwork. I know that Anderson wrote a respected biography of Che and perhaps it just did not translate to this medium.

I also took issue with Anderson's introduction. It would be extremely important, if he is still able, to rewrite the introduction. If Anderson wants to appeal to a large audience, especially audiences that would be most interested in this kind of book, he needs to not alienate most of those younger than him. The introduction reads as if he no longer believes violent revolution exists because of iphones and the internet. The "kids these days" approach to dismissing the criticisms and concerns about Guevara's violence and oppressive ideals made him seem like a lousy historian. He brings up Guevara's homophobia in the introduction, then never touches on it in the text.

There are many issues with dismissing homophobia and complaining of identity politics. First off, gay people have been part of revolutions forever. They are often erased just like people of other oppressed groups. Secondly, this should be obvious, putting gay people into camps is egregiously disgusting. I assume that this is due to war and radical movements both being an extension of broader culture. The machismo and hatred of homosexuality, gender nonconformity, and the feminine existed before Guevara came to Cuba and before Castro. Nonetheless, oppressive, homophobic, misogynistic behavior that was part of Castro and Guevara's revolution. In the book, Castro states, "The revolution is not carried out with saints, Ernesto. It's made by real people." This is absolutely true and important to remember, especially in perfectionist call-out culture. But, it is also true that it took active, deliberate, planned efforts to round up gay people and put them into labor camps. That's a bit different than having some character flaws. I really looked forward to this being explored in the book but it was not even mentioned. The idea that kids these days put identity ahead of the revolution completely erases all of the people whose daily struggles with brocialists fit into how they were treated and heard during revolutions.

On to the content, I did enjoy the book while reading it and eventually settled into it well. It did teach me a little about Latin American leftist revolutions and gave me some history on the key players. I am unsurprised that Guevara was a brocialist. Pretty much all men who self appoint as leaders of "the revolution" are. I very much admire how Castro, Guevara, and co refused to submit to the United States. But, Guevara's behavior often seemed less idealistic and more self centered. His early journals (not included in the book) show racism against Black African people. His later trip to help "liberate" them is marred with criticisms of the people with little to no interest in learning from them. Ableism is part of every revolution, but if you want another example of self centeredness, it is "If I can climb the stairs, with asthma, why can't everyone else?" The book portrays his as a absent father and husband who blames "the revolution" for his mistreatment of his families and neglect of his responsibilities. He seemed to see women's only purpose as child creators and rearers. Many of these things are common, normal mistakes of young revolutionary men throughout history (and today.*) But, I would have appreciated if this book touched on the nuances more. I can tell it tried to, but it did not get there for me. I have asked myself if it was simply my dislike of the character they wrote about or if it was the writing. I believe it was a bit of both.


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*This is not to let them off the hook and there are plenty of exceptions.

Also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Schadenfreude: The Joy of Another's Misfortune

Image:  The cover of the book is bright yellow and in the center is a small illustration of a banana peel on the ground. The title of the book spans the top center of the cover in capitalized black serif font letters. The author's name is at the bottom of the cover in the same lettering. In lowercase letters below her name it says, "Author of The Book of Human Emotions."

Content Warning: This review includes mention (but no gratuitous descriptions or analyses) of sexual violence.

I don't know exactly what I expected going into Tiffany Watt Smith's "SHADENFREUDE: The Joy of Another's Misfortune." I think perhaps since I have a bit of a psychology background, I expected an interesting but somewhat dry psychological analysis of the phenomenon. This book was far more than that. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of this little text and laughed out loud at many of the anecdotes and analyses. Perhaps that says more about me than it does about the book.

Smith uses psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, sociology, gender studies, pop culture, and other vehicles to examine the subject in very entertaining ways. She visits experts and gets their take, often detailing entertaining or moving conversations. She packs quite a lot into a small space from celebrating sports injuries to fmylife.com to #metoo and more. The book is broken up into different kinds of schadenfreude and different times that it presents itself. The beginning of each of these sections has three or so anecdotes of schadenfreude happening- most (or perhaps all) of which describe or mirror real life events. Gems like: 

...at a family lunch, your parents mention how lovely your brother's children are, and it absolutely definitely sounds like they're really saying  that your brother's kids are nicer than your kids, and then your brother's kid comes in sobbing with chocolate smeared all over his face, and screams: "Grandma's a fucking bitch!"

When a married anti-LGBT senator is caught having sex with a man in his office.

And, I would like to add two that I thought of repeatedly throughout the book that were not included, perhaps because it is about to get real dark in here: 

When Daniel Holtzclaw- police officer and serial rapist mainly targeting Black women- was in tears after being found guilty of multiple rapes and sexual assaults, with a recommended sentence of 263 years, ON HIS BIRTHDAY. 

When white supremacist/alt-right/nazi Richard Spencer was punched in the face during a news interview.

Both of these instances brought people out of the woodwork who claimed they normally don't celebrate pain and violence, but would make an exception in these cases. I have to agree. And some great memes came out of them.

There were some anecdotes Smith included I did not find funny. But, most of them at least made me smirk. It was an interesting experience as I often see myself as less inclined towards schadenfreude than average. Having read this book, I now believe that is not true, especially regarding schadenfreude that offers some form of poetic justice. The book helped me better understand and accept this rather than beating me down as bad for feeling it. Smith truly shows how schadenfreude is woven throughout all of our interactions and how it can serve certain social purposes. I knew a little bit about schadenfreude going in. I did not know that there is a separate word for it in a great many other languages, showing it spreads across locations and cultures.

While there is variance between individuals in just how far they will go with their schadenfreude, a unifying theme is often a feeling that the person or people had it coming. The authors seems to differentiate between sadism and schadenfreude, the former being more of a description of enjoying (and often causing) suffering in general. Misogynists, racists, corrupt politicians, and others bring obvious schadenfreude, but there is also a reality that people who are smug, lack humility, or just have an easier more privileged life also invoke joy in others when they suffer. Smith examines these phenomena both generally and personally being candid and honest about her own feelings and experiences. As she tied up the book she mentions, "I had hoped for a happy ending. Something like... I am, in short, a better person. But you already know that's not true," I laughed out loud. Yet, she follows this with some pretty brilliant life advice regarding dealing with when we find ourselves the target of schadenfreude, especially from people close to us:

If you are the victim of someone else's schadenfreude, you are seen as a worthy opponent. You have- or had, but don't worry, you'll get it again- something they want. Think back to those times when you have enjoyed their losses. Unless you very much deserve your misery, (in which case, take a long hard look at yourself,) their glee will tell you a lot about how you've made them feel.This really gave me a lot to chew on regarding schadenfreude (that isn't as clear cut as white supremacists deserving a punch to the face) in both directions. If you aren't quite able to see yourself as someone who finds joy in the misery of others at times, pick up this book and you'll find you are just as petty as the rest of us. And that's ok.

This review was also posted to goodreads.

Book Review - Firsts: Coming of Age Stories by People with Disabilities

Image: The cover of the book is a surrealist landscape with a blue cloudy sky dotted with two blue and black butterflies which are also scattered throughout the rest of the scene. Two green globe-like hills make up the background. An elongated tan and dark brown checkerboard weaves like a road through the center with brown ground underneath it. Several playing cards and white and black chess pieces are scattered around. In the upper right corner is part of a green tree or bush with globe-like bunches of leaves and the bottom right corner is an obscured tan house with a reddish brown roof and an arrow snaking out of the front. The title of the book is at the center in white script font and in smaller letters on the bottom reads "edited by Belo Miguel Cipriani."

Review also available on goodreads.

Up until now, the vast majority of books I have won on goodreads giveaways have been mediocre to poor. There are plenty I don't win that a later read and love, but for some reason, I have bad luck with the ones I do win. I am pleased to write that with Belo Miguel Cipriani's book "Firsts: Coming of Age Stories by People with Disabilities," this was not the case. This collection of essays was an excellent read, not to mention a decent representation of the wide variety of people with disabilities.

Firsts surprised me off the bat when I read the introduction from the author who is a Blind gay man of color. Mainstream disability narratives are often dominated by white, heterosexual, and other non-marginalized voices, leaving out a huge amount of disabled voices with a variety of perspectives to offer outside the norm. Given my rough history with goodreads giveaways, I expected just that. I was so happy to continue reading and discover so many queer disabled stories in the book. Several gay and bisexual authors contributed and it was excellent to see my communities represented in this way. Cipriani was also not the only author of color.

This book also showcased a wide variety of disabilities. We get to hear from Blind folks, those with PTSD, part time and full time wheelchair users, those with severe tinnitus and hearing loss, people on the Autism spectrum, and others. It was again, a pleasant surprise to see such a wide variety of perspectives included in this book when all too often, many disability stories center on one type of disability. This has functional relevance at times such as a campaign focusing on a specific disability, but in others, such as disability accommodations and events, the lack of diverse representation is often a problem.

Even though this book hit on many unheard demographic experiences, that is not the only reason I liked it and gave it 5 stars. Most of the essays are well written and accessible and the book is well edited. The essays capture the experiences at a reading level accessible to many. The title says that they are "coming of age" stories but I would say that is not accurate. Some stories are coming of age but many others are experiences from people already well into adulthood. The stories range from heartbreaking to sentimental. One story, in which a wheelchair user details his first experience with a gay hookup website ripped out my heart. Each narrator has their own unique voice and perspectives on living with disabilities.

I can definitely feel confident recommending this book, knowing it represents a wider variety of voices than many disability stories and anthologies do. And, it's just plain entertaining.