This graphic novel of a refugee’s desperate journey to free himself from the corrupt and hopeless existence of his hometown is not based on a true story and surprisingly this makes for a stronger work. I think this is because we don’t need to question the extremity and validity of what he experiences in his escape. As fiction we can instead imagine and know such hardships exist; we are not drawn into a ‘did this really happen?’ ‘is he exaggerating events for effect’ discussion, which might dilute the compassion felt for these people whose lives are such a bleak struggle. Instead, our focus is on what it should be on: namely that somewhere out there, people like Alpha who want to provide for their families find it impossible to do so in their native country and face difficult choices between oppressed status quo’s or perilous quests to the Western world - complete with encounters of extortion, fear, abuse, disease, humiliation, captivity; slim chances of success and often fatal results in failure. Refugees give everything for such a small reward and it is poignantly captured in this short and stylishly illustrated graphic novel. ( )

The story was very compelling but it took me some time to adjust to the artwork. ( )

Powerful and heart breaking graphic novel that follows a migrant as he tries to escape Africa for Europe. Stark lines, simple pictures bely the harshness of the world and the almost impossibility of his quest. ( )

ALPHA: Abidjan to Paris by Bessora is a heart-wrenching graphic novel tracing a migrant’s experience from Africa to Europe.

The stark, simple illustrations and informal typography reflect the painful plight of a West African refugee struggling to reach Paris. In hopes of connecting with his wife and child, this poor cabinetmaker sells everything and navigates the underworld of fake passports, refugee camps, and smugglers in hopes of a better life. The author’s first-person perspective places readers at the center of this troubling, yet realistic story.

Librarians will find young adults drawn to this powerful graphic novel. Use the book as an opportunity to talk with youth about the work of Amnesty International. Connect readers to works of nonfiction and websites focusing on the challenges of the migrant crisis.

Published by Bellevue Literary Press. ARC courtesy of the publisher and LibraryThing Early Reviewers. ( )

For the second time this week, I find myself feeling bad about not really liking a graphic novel centered on a very timely and important subject. Last time it was the Syrian Civil War in Freedom Hospital: A Syrian Story, this time it is the African refugee crisis.

This book does have a harrowing tale to tell of how Alpha makes his way from Cote d'Ivoire across the Sahara Desert to the coast of Morocco where he hopes to cross the sea to Spain and eventually Paris. The whole way he searches for traces of his wife and child who made the same journey a short while before him. He makes allies among his fellow refugees, trying to build a group of people he can trust in a world populated by those who would take advantage or endanger him or, worst of all, send him back to the land he fled.

Unfortunately, I had major problems with the execution of this graphic novel. Starting with the fact, that it is not so much a graphic novel as an illustrated story or a slight variation on a children's picture book. Most pages consist of two rectangular panels, each with a large block of text below.

The pictures are a pretty ugly mix of what looks like magic markers and watercolors. The color palette mostly ranges from black to gray, with occasional pops of color on people's clothes. Noses tend to be black blobs in the centers of faces that are either white or washed in gray, which sort of gives a lot of the characters the appearance of rather creepy circus clowns.

And the narrator speaks in a really awkward way throughout the book with lots of sentence fragments or short simplistic sentences. I cannot tell if this technique is supposed to represent a lack of intellect/education, a struggle to speak in a language that is not native to him, or a really bad job on the part of the translator.

Finally, the story seems to arbitrarily stop in the middle of the quest (short of Paris, despite the subtitle), with a single page of "epilogue" serving as a hasty outline of the rest of the story that the creators seemed too lazy or pressed for time to tell in full.

Oh, and to be really petty, a helpful map of the area in question was buried at the back of the book instead of being placed at the front where it would have been more useful.

I admire the aim of this book, but the end product was a chore to finish and left me feeling cheated or tricked. ( )