Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey
By:
Trade Paperback
Personal identity and national politics combine in this memoir of the author’s struggle to find herself in a rapidly changing Turkey of the 1980s and ’90s. Full-color illustrations.
ISBN: 9780374316983
JLG Release: Feb 2016
Sensitive Areas:
Sexual Content: Mild Sexual Content/Themes, Violence: Mild Violence, Violence: Graphic Descriptions
Topics:
Ö,zge Samanci (1975- )
, Graphic novels
, Autobiography
, Turkey
, History of Turkey, 1960
, Turkish artists
, The 1960s
Awards & Honors
2016 Cybils Finalist, Young Adult Graphic Novels
Praise & Reviews
Starred or favorable reviews have been received from these periodicals:
Booklist, The Horn Book Magazine, The Horn Book Guide^, Kirkus Reviews*, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal*
School Library Journal
[STARRED REVIEW]
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 re [STARRED REVIEW]
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
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 re [STARRED REVIEW]
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
Horn Book
With an inventively varied deployment of art, text, and design elements, this
graphic memoir chronicles the coming of age of a girl and her country, Turkey.
Özge is starting school in the early 1980s as the book opens, just after the coup
that would place the country under a military dictatorship. But don’t look here for
a tale of With an inventively varied deployment of art, text, and design elements, this
graphic memoir chronicles the coming of age of a girl and her country, Turkey.
Özge is starting school in the early 1980s as the book opens, just after the coup
that would place the country under a military dictatorship. But don’t look here for
a tale of repression—from the start, Özge is sturdy and dramatic and impulsive,
and a sharp if self-centered observer of the world writ both large (all those images
of Atatürk everywhere) and small (a beloved pink ruler). While primarily relying
on small ink sketches, three or four to a page, to tell her story through high school
and beyond, Samancı provides graphic surprise on nearly every spread, constantly
finding new ways to connect each moment to the next, such as the sequence that
leads Özge’s teacher to take that ruler to whack not just Özge’s hand but that of
every child in the class. (The crime? Talking about the demonstration of government
censorship on television the night before.) The tone is pervasively ironic and
sophisticated, but the book is never bitter, and the whole thing is a demonstration
of what Özge, consistently inconsistent in her vocational goals, only realizes in the
last pages: that she was meant to be an artist. roger sutton
The Horn Book Guide Review:
This graphic memoir chronicles the coming of age of a girl and her country, Turkey. Özge is starting school in the early 1980s, just after the coup that would place the country under a military dictatorship. She’s a sharp observer of the world, writ both large and small. While primarily relying on small ink sketches, Samancı provides graphic surprise on nearly every spread.
Book Details
ISBN
9780374316983
First Release
February 2016
Genre
Nonfic
Dewey Classification
Trim Size
7" x 8 1/4"
Page Count
200
Accelerated Reader
N/AScholastic Reading Counts
Level 5.3; Points: 6;
Lexile
N/AFormat
Print Book
Edition
Paperback
Publisher
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Potentially Sensitive Areas
Sexual Content: Mild Sexual Content/Themes, Violence: Mild Violence, Violence: Graphic Descriptions
Topics
Ö,zge Samanci (1975- ), Graphic novels, Autobiography, Turkey, History of Turkey, 1960, Turkish artists, The 1960s,
