Kivu

author: Jean Van Hamme
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/05/17
shelves: graphic-novels
review:
'Kivu' by Jean Van Hamme with art by Christophe Simon is a story filled with corruption and violence, and is based on true events happening in our world today in the places where the rare earth we need for our devices comes from.

In Kivu, corrupt officials bribe each other and look the other way to get the things needed to build phones and computers. The people in this country are killed and mutilated along the way. A doctor working there does work to heal the damage.

In this story, a young naive man, named Stephane, is sent to Kivu with a pile of money and some strict instructions. When he lands in the country, he meets a young girl that soldiers want to question. She and her brother murdered a man in self-defense, but that's not how the government sees it. Stephane steps in and risks his own life to save this young girl and what remains of her family.

There are some brutal and sick people in the world. People who will torture and rape and mutilate. Much of that is talked about in this book, but, thankfully, not illustrated. The story feels a bit like a history lesson disguised as a graphic novel. The story moves along, but there is a lot of infodumping along the way. I'm not sure there is a better way to tell this story, and I did like it. I like that there are a couple characters from real life in the story.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe 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://bit.ly/2EgPL5c