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Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey
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About Dare To Disappoint: Growing Up In Turkey
Product description Growing up on the Aegean Coast, Ozge loved the sea and imagined a life of adventure while her parents and society demanded predictability. Her dad expected Ozge, like her sister, to become an engineer. She tried to hear her own voice over his and the religious and militaristic tensions of Turkey and the conflicts between secularism and fundamentalism. Could she be a scuba diver like Jacques Cousteau? A stage actress? Would it be possible to please everyone including herself?In her unpredictable and funny graphic memoir, Ozge recounts her story using inventive collages, weaving together images of the sea, politics, science, and friendship. From School Library Journal Gr 6 Up—Samanci's graphic novel memoir is a humorous and moving portrayal of coming-of-age in Turkey in the turbulent 1980s. The story makes the political personal in ways that are perfectly accessible to young teens. Samanci's narrative is peppered with engaging details of her childhood experiences, including her relationships with her parents, uncle, and sister; the grueling educational system; and the difficult reality of growing up female in a politically and religiously polarized society. Throughout it all, Samanci struggles with her conflicting desires for success, happiness, and, above all, the approval of her critical father. The style of cartoon illustration combined with mixed media is used to great effect. In several places, the author employs rubber stamps to create pictures of people and concepts that were important to her when she was a child. The muted color scheme and stark backgrounds evoke the political and cultural tone of Turkish society. While there is some violence, it is used sparingly and is presented as an integral part of the narrative. VERDICT In the growing body of graphic novel memoirs, this one is a standout.—Maggi Rohde, Ann Arbor Public Schools, MI Review "Humor and youthful angst lighten this graphic memoir of life in a country pulled strongly in different directions by conflicts between Western and conservative Muslim values. (...) A bright, perceptive bildungsroman with a distinctive setting." -Kirkus Magazine"Every page has been expertly designed, creating a thoroughly satisfying aesthetic experience (...)" - A.V. Club "Her art is an intriguing mix of doodle-like line drawings and mixed-media compositions made of paper, rocks, stamps, and more to build a picture of a world where the politics might seem unfamiliar but the family dynamics and personal relationships are universally recognizable." -Bookreview "Samanci's caricatures of herself and the people around her, often drawn wide-eyed with surprise, make the sporadic episodes of political strife and urban violence oddly incongruous. But they're a crucial component of the story, one that resounds with honesty and humor." - Publishers Weekly "Like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and James Kochalka's American Elf , Dare to Disappoint frames the epic through the intimate, offering a sterling experience of startling vulnerability and lasting impression." -Paste Magazine"She’s a gifted cartoonist with an innate sense of pacing and a seemingly inexhaustible well of ideas for presenting information—the book bursts with maps, diagrams, pasted-in leaves, doodles, and ink stamps. It’s remarkably energetic on the page, and combined with Samanci’s appealing, reflective voice, offers a perfectly satisfying memoir reading experience: not just the story of someone’s life, but the chance to see the world through someone else’s eyes." - Slate "(...) will surely be one of the books that we'll be talking about in many a year-end list. Samanci's assured command of the medium is present (...) and brings to mind other sequential art redefining cartoonists like Emily Carroll and Jillian Tamaki. This is one to be on the look-out for." - The Beat: The News Blog of Comics Culture "As she recounts her event-filled, danger-filled childhood, Samanci manages to convey
