Good Talk by Mira Jacob – 400 pages
Book Blurb:
βWho taught Michael Jackson to dance?βΒ
βIs that how people really walk on the moon?β
βIs it bad to be brown?βΒ
βAre white people afraid of brown people?β
Like many six-year-olds, Mira Jacobβs half-Jewish, half-Indian son, Z, has questions about everything. At first they are innocuous enough, but as tensions from the 2016 election spread from the media into his own family, they become much, much more complicated. Trying to answer him honestly, Mira has to think back to where sheβs gotten her own answers: her most formative conversations about race, color, sexuality, and, of course, love.Β
βHow brown is too brown?β
βCan Indians be racist?β
βWhat does real love between really different people look like?β
Written with humor and vulnerability, this deeply relatable graphic memoir is a love letter to the art of conversationβand to the hope that hovers in our most difficult questions.
My Review: 4.5 stars
Good Talk is a memoir that was crafted in conversations, think Persepolis, that covers todays issues regarding race and our splintered political climate. This book is a beautiful love letter to Jacobβs son about growing up with mixed race parents. Itβs about the authorβs immigrant parents and her own American citizenship as she was born in Albuquerque. This scrutinizes how immigrants and their American born children and grandchildren are being affected during Trump’s term and in today’s political climate.Β
The graphics are amazing; they draw you into her story almost as much as the words do. Thereβs so much love in this book and the humor is abundant. From scenes about the arranged dates she goes on, her sonβs wide-eyed, innocent questions, her mother-in-lawβs friends who think sheβs the hired help, to the fractured relationships she has due to political differences, this book covers the naked and raw emotions of being in her shoes.
Donβt freak-out at the length of this book. Some of the pages only have five words on it. You can easily read this book in under two hours. Highly recommend for something totally different for all sides of the political arena. However, if youβre someone who wonβt read or listen with an open mind about the authorβs beliefs, please donβt read this. And kindly note, I say the aforementioned for all books that have a particular partisan leaning, no matter the side.
Quotes I liked:
M: Oh, my g-d. Youβre insane.
J: No, Iβm the son of a Jewish mother
M: What does that mean?
J: It means Iβm good at disappointing people.