jobnik! by Miriam Libicki. Published 2008 by real gone girls studio. Graphica.
I seem to be spending a lot of my reading time in Israel these days!
I picked up jobnik! quite a while ago; I'm always attracted to graphic novels set in Israel for some reason and I found Miriam Libicki's memoir of her Israel Defense Force service at my local comics shop. I love this particular store because they always stock interesting small-press graphica and comics I can't find at other bookstores, and jobnik! appealed to my interest in graphica by women as well.
Miriam is an American Jew who moved to Israel in her late teens and joined the army, but military life is tough on her. Written diary-style in detailed and captivating pencil drawings, the reader follows Miriam's time as a secretary in the IDF; her depression has disqualified her for combat and she's serving as a jobnik, an IDF soldier on office duties. We see her relationships with fellow soldiers, her visits home, time spent with friends, and her interior struggles with depression and sexual relationships. Unfortunately she has a pattern of getting involved with men who take advantage of her and treat her badly.
She also struggles with her religious identity and sense of belonging. She comes from an observant household but finds herself on the outs often, trying to adhere to modesty rules and establish boundaries with men. This, as you maybe can tell, she has little success with. She doesn't offer any insight into the reasons for her evident lack of self-worth but she seems to find a place for herself in the army, and some things to value and friends to care about. I liked Miriam and rooted for her but I was frustrated by her poor
self-esteem and patterns of poor choices. I was gratified to see her
grow some during the course of the book though.
I think what I enjoyed most about jobnik! was Libicki's art. There's just something very arresting for me about pencil-drawn panels and art; it feels more immediate to me than inked pictures, like you can really see the artist's hand at work. Her art reminded me of Nicolai Maslov's staggering Siberia, also entirely pencil-drawn. Libicki creates some very atmospheric scenes of the outdoors; the night sky depicted cover of the book in particular is staggering in its pencil version about a third of the way into the book.
jobnik! is moving and interesting as a coming-of-age story but I think most of its appeal will be to readers who are interested in Israel and depictions of life in the IDF. Throughout the book and playing like background music to Miriam's personal trials
is the Al Aqsa uprising and other political and military troubles
associated with the occupation, and the stress of army life weighs
heavily on her. Not being intimately familiar with the events to which
she refers, it was a little difficult for me to get involved emotionally
in that aspect of her story, but I think readers more fluent in Israeli
current events would get more out of it.
Rating: BACKLIST
FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.
2 comments:
I'm not familiar with those events either so I probably won't hunt this book down. If it falls in my lap, I'll give it a try.
I work with someone who was in the army in Israel and he has told me many stories that are so interesting. I think I'd enjoy hearing a woman's perspective.
Post a Comment