American Widow by Alissa Torres (2008) Alissa Torres is able to write with such emotional impact as she is writing about something she lived through. Sungyoon Choi’s illustrations depict a sombre mood through very little use of colour. ( )

On 9/11, Torres was in her third trimester of pregnancy, and her husband had just started working in the Twin Towers the day before. This comic-book memoir tells of her relationship with her husband, Eddie, his death on 9/11 and its aftermath. It touches occasionally on the nation and world at large, but focuses mostly on Torres story, which bring the event into painful, individual detail. Most moving to me was the shift from the outpouring of goodwill and rage, to the backlash and pulling away of both friends and institutions. The black, white and blue illustrations by Sungyoon Choi are simple yet evocative. They’re a good complement for Torres’ text, which I appreciated for its honesty, ambivalence, and ultimately, its hope. ( )

I really wanted to love this - I really, really did. And some parts are great and poignant, especially those that deal with her personal relations ship with her son and husband. Unfortunately, the story that I assumed would be dealing with her grief and coming to terms with the awful events of 9/11, mainly becomes a story about the intricacies of how to apply for financial aid and how mixed messages and bureaucracy made the applications very difficult. There are some parts that are heart-wrenching, but there are others that makes the book seem mainly like Ms. Torres' getting back at the "machine" that made her run from agency to agency in order to get her reimbursements. Had the story been a more personal one, this may have become a prime contender for the 9/11 legacy, but unfortunately it falls a bit short.

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Great graphics- sad story. Don't read on public transport. ( )

This is the author's memoir of the tragedy of her life, becoming a widow on 9/11. Her husband was on his second day at his new job above the 85th floor and she was pregnant with their first child. The book jumps from moment to moment as she learns of his death, hopes that he is alive and missing, finding out he was a jumper, joins victim groups, goes through the bureaucracy of the charity help organizations and remembers past moment with her husband.

The book lacks a cohesive narrative jumping from one event to another and sometimes just showing the author's grief and emotions rather than telling a story. Of course, this is a depressing and sad story and it is hard to 'review' the story of someone's grief. The author's emotion and pain is clearly at the centre of this book rather than a story with a plot or characterization. For those interested in the after effects of 9/11 on the families left behind by those who were killed this sad, tragic tale of a woman who survives her grief and starts a new life for her baby, this book will certainly appeal. ( )