Henni

author: Miss Lasko-Gross

name: Wayne

average rating: 3.52

book published: 2015

rating: 3

read at: 2015/02/03

date added: 2015/02/03

shelves: graphic-novels

review:

'Henni' is a strange story of anthropomorphic cat-like creatures living in a world of dominant religion and power. I liked the story initially, but it was so continuously heavy-handed that it wore on me.



Henni is a young girl (cat?) living in a village with her family. When her father questions things, he has his ears clipped off and he is banished. As Henni heads towards the day when her husband is chosen for her, she begins to question her society more and more. Eventually she runs away.



She finds herself in a new city, with a new set of rules that are about as strict as the city she comes from. She is equally as questioning here. Eventually, she attempts to escape from this city. Will she be successful, and will she ever find happiness?



I get that there are severely oppressive societies on our planet, and I get that you might not want to point fingers so you would substitute a race or religion for an animal character. This was done incredibly effectively in Art Spiegelman's 'Maus' graphic novels. The art here is completely gorgeous, but the story is so harsh that I found myself in a weird place. Enjoying the art, but hating the circumstances the character was in. The book also ends in a thoughtful place which felt a bit dissatisfying, but the overall message is so heavy and oppressive that I felt a bit like Henni might have with all those elders and wise people pointing fingers and shouting at her. So this gets a 4 for art, but a 2 for story.



I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Z2 Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.





via Wayne's bookshelf: read http://ift.tt/1yEpTnX