Kay Sohini鈥檚 move from to New York was an escape, rebirth and reunion all wrapped in one, leaving behind an abusive relationship and broken family to start anew in the melting-pot city that already felt like an old friend because it's where her heroes penned their most famous works.
Sohini鈥檚 debut book, 鈥淭his Beautiful, Ridiculous City,鈥� is an ode to the place that shaped and saved her. The graphic memoir shows as a muse, a mystical place where the lore of the city is perhaps as powerful as the place itself, if not more potent. The rotoscope-style illustrations have a broad, largely warm and slightly pastel palette. Sohini plays with form by overlaying rectangles or swirls to direct attention and add motion to the full-page illustrations.
Unlike your traditional comics, very few pages are split into panels, and even then it鈥檚 typically bisected or trisected, leaving plenty of room for rich details both in art and text.
The story starts with a brief overview of New York鈥檚 magnetism, and through its attributes we learn about the narrator. Then it delves into the recent history of India to provide context for the cultural and socioeconomic circumstances during Sohini鈥檚 childhood. Under sweeping reforms by , who would go on to become one of India鈥檚 longest-serving prime ministers, Sohini's family sent her to a Catholic, English-speaking school to get ahead in a capitalist and Western-dominated world. She reads F. Scott Fitzgerald and Alison Bechdel while Bollywood shifts into an era of balancing East and West, old and new.
With the foundation solidly set, the memoir gets more personal, looking at a death that shook the family and an abusive relationship that nearly killed Sohini.
Rarely have I seen someone capture a feeling so well 鈥� in text or visuals 鈥� as Sohini does with New York鈥檚 beauty, and in building out the emotional landscape for each part of her life through her masterful command of form, flow and color.
鈥淭his Beautiful, Ridiculous City鈥� is like an appetizer; it鈥檚 bite-sized, delicious, intriguing, and leaves you wanting more 鈥� apt because of all the scrumptious foods from Sohini鈥檚 childhood, and from explorations of New York鈥檚 globally representative array of cuisines that had my stomach growling throughout. While the novel felt somewhat condensed, it delivered exactly what it promised 鈥� a look into one woman鈥檚 life, centering around the city that saved her 鈥� with influential imagery serving as an emotional guide throughout.
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AP book reviews:
Donna Edwards, The Associated Press
