Beyrouth La trilogie

Beyrouth: La trilogie #1-3

by Barrack Rima

Après Beyrouth en 1995 et Beyrouth Bye Bye en 2015, Barrack Rima pose de nouveau, dans Beyrouth Rewind (2017), un regard acerbe et sensible sur la capitale libanaise, quittée à l'âge de vingt ans. Vingt ans également séparent la création de ces trois ouvrages, qui paraissent aujourd'hui en un seul volume. Avec cette trilogie, Rima nous invite à le suivre dans le labyrinthe de sa mémoire et de sa ville, rongée par les promoteurs immobiliers, envahie par les déchets et leur puanteur, où les chauffeurs de taxi côtoient tortues ninja et crocodiles, exilés et réfugiés, où règnent miséreux et débrouillards, mais aussi l'argent roi, le béton, la corruption et la censure. Des mouvements de contestation des années 60 à ceux d'aujourd'hui, des idéaux qui animaient autrefois la jeunesse au désenchantement présent, Rima propose un retour intime sur l'histoire récente du Liban et nous interpelle : que sont devenus nos rêves, nos espérances et nos révoltes ?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, History, Nonfiction, Middle East, Politics, Lebanon

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Michi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up this gem without even knowing at a French Korean fusion bakery cafe!

This book is way too underrated and underappreciated. Think Alison Bechdel type graphic novel but with the theme of refugees, displaced people, wartimes humanity, etc. enhanced by political pressures and questions of identities.

Barrack's writing evokes emotions to enhance the grey areas that exist in a time of dichotomic beliefs; and forces readers to see refugees and displaced people as people with feelings both negative and positive, instead of victims or survivors. The arts is hauntingly beautiful! At times, it gives me goosebumps visualizing just how people must have felt living with or fleeing from a threat. Overall, she forces the readers to think critically about the consequences of post-modern wars and colonialism, to see it firsthand, and to realize people who have to go through it have voices that we do not often hear.

My favorite symbolism is the way Barrack drew her mother in a dress with the Palestinian flag on it to wrap up the story, a direct line to her roots, her activism, and a call to action. Free Palestine!

[Steph Percival · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Through conflict, one discovers that love is the only way out of war and power”. This graphic novel is Barrack Zailaa Rima’s attempt at moving through the conflicting emotions she has about the city back to a place of love for a city that has gone through so many struggles and is itself trying to find its way past war and power. So much is conveyed in these images in so few words it’s remarkable.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this off my Fall 2024 galley list bc the DRC was expiring soon (*eyeroll* at having to use Bluefire for this one) and because I figured it would have relevance to current events. Which it does.

The three pieces of Beirut are a bit more episodic/fragmentary than I prefer and I did have to do some Googling because I wasn't very familiar with some aspects of the history of Lebanon and Beirut in particular (see also: the garbage crisis, which plays a significant role in the second section). But it is such an interesting look at how cities "reinvent" themselves versus the living memories of the people who live there or those who leave and return.

Of note, the introduction by the translators makes the distinction that the author now uses she/elle pronouns but the text of the previously published work uses "he" and that has not been altered for this new edition.

[Halina Hetman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Через альтернативний комікс, без чіткого сюжету, але з повторюваними персонажами, автор ілюструє естетику й думки своїх подорожей до Бейруту, змальовує революції, історичні події, сміттєву кризу, агресивну забудову, проблеми біженців, тощо. Видання складається з трьох частин, що були намальовані в різні роки, й по яким видно прогрес автора як художника. Для мене цей комікс був занадто "інді".

[C. Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the author and publisher for an ARC of this graphic novel.

'Beirut' serves as a timely, beautiful portrait of Lebanon through a unique lense. I felt almost inadequate to provide a dignified review, coming from a privileged life in Canada under very different circumstances than those presented here. There is love, loss, and at its core a humanity that most north american may verbally acknowledge but never connect with.

The art is excellent, serving this episodic story perfectly and displaying a stark visual contrast that jumps to the reader's eyes.

This is a fantastic novel, and one that I would highly recommend to anybody interested in world events or curious about the humanity beyond their own neighborhood.

4.5/5 stars

[Caleb Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though we are moving forward in time, the resurgence of times past continues to appear in the present. This is a book of resistance and tells the story of the refugee: the survivors and the lost. Looking back from the 50s/60s to the 2010s, we continue to run on the treadmill of global and existential dread, as conflict and power consumes our world. Dreamy, yet haunting, this book is so relevant to our current affairs and in understanding the history of how our world continues to function.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Page sequences staying with me: how someone tries to impress their interest by reaching up at the moon. Even on the ladder on the tallest of roofs it is impossible. How one pinches the sky and doesn’t it seem the sky is right there? And people youngering (yes I know that isn’t a real word) to be themselves as they talk of their own past for a surreal take.

[Hazal Mestci · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a visual memoir, a type of city portrait and political reflection. 2015 garbage crisis was my favorite part.

I liked it but overall felt the storyline was missing some depth. It feels short at times even though its a collection of three separate works spanning two decades. If its a memoir, it needs more personal stories. If its a documentary, it needs more historical context.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a difficult read. I didn't like this much. It felt a bit disjointed and off.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a phenomenal piece of art about what has happened in Beirut.
My first visit was to a jewel of a restored city in 2003 or 2004. It was a rhapsody.
Later it gradually began to fray. The garbage crisis was incomprehensible.
And the last communication I had from my Lebanese friend Gabe Gebara, whose brother Raymond Gebara was a renowned Lebanese playwright there, was this, in late 2023:
“The Situation in Lebanon is dramatic . Hunger is settling in. Those who manage to survive rely on families living abroad. I really don’t see a reasonable solution any time soon. Stay in touch. Am trying to reach my sister who lives outside Beirut.
Gabriel”

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel was something of an impulse purchase for me, as I was drawn in by Barrack Zailaa Rima's evocative black-and-white line work and the potentially interesting subject matter. However, the three short pieces that make up this collection all assume a significant level of familiarity with the history of Beirut and Lebanon, and for a general reader like me, much of it is impenetrable without more context.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an important story, but one I had difficulty following, more than likely because I did not have a lot of familiarity with the region's history going in.

[Hal Schrieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

collected over two decades, this series of visits to Beirut are memorialized by episodic encounters with the city: its mountains of trash, its new, tall buildings constructed in the wake of the 2006 war, an elderly Jewish resident who refuses to leave for Israel--pop stars, peddlers of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and more. An extended interview with the author's mother reveals memories of a past political youth movement full of hope for a future after colonialism, when socialism would be realized and patriarchy would crumble. In the present, things are less hopeful: privatized parks and new gleaming buildings speak of a city without history. Glimpsed in fractions, in glances, this translation from French/Arabic is useful for American or Canadian readers just starting to catch up on what has been happening in Lebanon as Beirut comes under new attack from Israel.

[Miguel Reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely lovely tale of Beirut's history told through the author's dream-like memories. This painted the same feeling I have for my home cities in the Philippines - the tension between past and present, how one defines the other, how both helpless and cynical I've felt at both internal and external pressures shaping my environment. Sent me down a couple of rabbit holes about particular crises (garbage crisis for example). Art style is a stark, high contrast, play between total blackness and negative space. Don't miss this read!

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting memoir of fragments, spanning multiple decades and multiple visits to Lebanon. I probably failed the author here, because to me, despite some very interesting moments, it didn't amount to very much in the end. I suppose the lack of focus and cohesion was the point, but I felt like I didn't spend enough time with any one person in the story to really feel anything.

I'll probably give it another try again some day when I'm in a different headspace and we shall see.

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

This trilogy of stories about Beirut makes no sense without knowing the history of the city in great detail. If it had footnotes, they'd be as long as the actual book itself. The storytelling is extremely fragmented, really just little snippets. The first story was written 20 years before the other two and it shows. The artwork is rudimentary and the lettering is atrocious.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surreal and provocative; Barrack Rima (BR) takes us to Beirut to look at the 'layers' of misery that have accumulated over the years. BR uses the lack of infrastructure as a metaphor for how many times the people have suffered; a once vibrant culture having to deal with 'trash strikes' even as the powerful make money off the suffering of wave after wave of refugees. Highest recommendation.

[Sardonyx]

I struggled to follow what was going on in it because I lack the back knowledge. I appreciate what I did pick up though. I went down some Wikipedia rabbit holes after reading about some of the people and events that were mentioned.

[Aquamarine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get it. Read it.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and sympathetic biography of a city.

[Nadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why I put off reading this one for so long. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[A Yusuf · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this was a little too postmodern for me, and flew right over my head.

[Sofía · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, as expected. Rima makes you feel like you are there.

[Michaël Dupont · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voyage onirique dans l'histoire de Beyrouth, les rêves et les désillusions d'une population. Les poubelles de tout ordre jonchent les pages : les decharges sauvages, les politiciens,... Lecture courte parsemée de références historiques à approfondir par soi-même, hors du livre.

[Obeida Takriti · Rating 4 out of 5]

انعكاس لعلاقتنا مع الوطن..

[Flavia · Rating 3 out of 5]

tre e mezzo