Name: Soviet daughter
ISBN: 9781621069690

Julia Alekseyeva

"The story in comics of Lola, the author's great-grandmother, who lived an adventurous life as a feminist, secret service agent, military nurse, and Jewish refugee in the soviet Ukraine. The story is interweaved with the author's political and romantic coming-of-age a century later in present-day Chicago"--

a graphic revolution

Soviet daughter

Maggie Gordon

Soviet Daughter is a compelling biography of a young Jewish woman who grew up in Russian during the early part of the century. It's always fascinating to see examples of women living independently in the past when that is not a narrative that gets much attention in our history lessons. Lola was the eldest daughter of a large family, and one of the few to survive the war and pogroms of the era. She married more than once, had boyfriends, raised a daughter on her own, and worked all throughout her adult life (and much of what we would consider her youth as well). 

There are two points of weakness in this collection. The author adds in pieces of her own story in between chapters of her grandmother's life, but her moments are less interesting. There are some moments worth thinking about, but not enough reflection to actually make them work. 

Additionally, the art and the printing are a bit weak. Sometimes it's hard to tell which exactly is going wrong, but the pages are sometimes quite muddy and hard to make out.

Soviet daughter a graphic revolution

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