Alissa TorresCritiques

OK graphic novel about a pregnant girl who's financee died on his second day of work at the World Trade Center on 9-11, and all the obstacles she went through to get some real help with her situation. He was from South America, so it made things harder. Well done book. Nice art.

A classic example of the difference between an interesting life and an interesting story. The illustrations are lovely, but they don't make up for (or transform) a disjointed narrative that never figures out what to say. (Other than "That was a horrible year.") I feel terrible for Torres, but this book doesn't turn her grief into anything more than grief.

This is a memoir by a young woman, 7 months pregnant, whose husband died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. She talks of the lack of information, the kindly support turning eventually into resentment, the red tape, and the press.
Torres says that she thought her story needed to be a graphic book because the tragedy was so much about images. It's beautifully told, and the art work is lovely.

This is a graphic novel about a woman who's husband died in the World Trade Center on 9/11--particularly tragic because she was 7 1/2 months pregnant at the time and his first day of work there was 9/10. I expected this to be a story about her love for her husband and how she managed to live her life with her son after the tragedy, but I was a little disappointed. Mostly this focused instead on how hard she had to work to get any aid from charities and how the charities were constantly ripping her off.

I liked how the author showed the wrinkles in what I had assumed was a clean story of American overabundance in grief and sympathy. I appreciated how Torres showed that difficult interactions with the Red Cross, volunteers, and even friends--who were jealous of her "tragedy payments"--contributed to her grief, and made her feel more alone. Particularly in a disaster that affected so many Americans, directly and indirectly.

This great graphic autobiography transcends anything you'd expect to do with 9/11. That tragedy has been picked apart and mythologized so much, it is easy to forget that the struggles that those directly affected faced were much less extreme than what most media coverage has focused on (Terrorism! Anti-Americanism! Jihad!) Whew! Run-on!

In showing how the widows of 9/11 faced mundane, tedious struggles (battling with Red Cross and the US Government for compensation, avoiding media exploitation, single motherhood), they are allowed to be human instead of martyrs for us to project meaning onto. American Widow is the most poignant and least cynical first-person account of 9/11 I've seen anywhere. For that matter, it is one of the best memoirs on widowhood I've read.

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.½

I really wanted to love this - I really, really did. And some parts are great and poignant, especially those that deal with her personal relationship 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.

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

In 2001, Alissa Torres was pregnant with her first child. On September 10, her husband Eddie started work at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center. On September 11, Alissa became a pregnant widow when Eddie, trapped on the 85th floor, leaped to his death before the tower fell.

In this poignant and affecting graphic novel memoir, Alissa chronicles her first year as one of the 9/11 widows, including the birth of their child two months after his death. She discusses her desperate search to find Eddie after the attacks; the crushing grief of realizing that he was dead after all; the often horrifying and confusing encounters with inept aid workers, well-meaning friends, and angry strangers; and her on-going fight to actually receive her share of the Victim Compensation fund, a lengthy and harrowing process that forced her to relive her grief over and over again while gaining no ground.

Sungyoon Choi’s illustrations are simple and straightforward, using only black, white, and blue to convey Alissa’s journey while taking nothing away from the rawness of Alissa’s emotions and sense of loss. The books opens and closes with a featureless blue field, bringing Alissa’s story full-circle from the cloudless blue sky of the morning she lost everything to the vivid blue ocean in which she floats one year later, remembering.


“American Widow” is touching and affecting, almost unbearably painful at times. It succeeds in bringing a national tragedy back down to the level of the personal and allowing those who didn’t lose anyone to understand the pain of those who did.½

American Widow was my first graphic novel. The illustrations didn't move me, except for one: The one of Eddie Torres sitting with his packed suitcase, alone and constantly waiting. That image was very powerful.

The story itself was written in a way--fractured, disjointed(which is how information was coming in that horrible day and for days and days after)--that I could feel Alissa's alienation and disconnect from life around her. Struggling to just wake up and go on with the business of living. Pregnant, needing help; yet somewhat embarrassed to take it. Fighting to prove her husband existed and was employed by the company, moving her way through the red tape and corruption, the laziness and indifference. Every once in a while, finding that shining person who would be her lifeline and would get her through for another day, and another and another.

I think the very nature of a graphic novel lent itself well to the telling of this tragic moment in history. Any hang-ups with that are the reader's, not the author's as I do think you have to approach graphic novels with a whole new, open mind-set about the experience. I will read this one again in the future; I think I will appreciate it more a second time through.

I would recommend the story; I would recommend this graphic novel especially to those who've never picked one up, much less given the medium any credit as a legitimate format. Learn something new; learn a new way. American Widow will help you do that.

This graphic novel memoir follows a 9-11 widow to the first anniversary. The drawings are beautiful and tell the story so eloquently that the writing is almost not necessary. That said, the way Torres tells her story is through and heartbreaking.½

Seven years ago today, life as we knew it ended. The world stopped & for a few days, the entire country was one.

Seven years ago today, Alissa Torres became an American Widow.

On September 11, 2001, Eddie Torres left his seven months pregnant wife, Alissa, to go to work. It was his second day on the job at his dream job. He has just been hired as a currency broker by Cantor Fitzgerald.

We all know what happens next. The world stopped. And Eddie Torres chose to jump out of the window, rather than face the terrors that awaited him in the burning Towers.

American Widow is Alissa's story of what happened after Tuesday. It is her story of life as a widow. It is her story of wading through the bureaucracy. Her story of trying to get Eddie's family here for the funeral after his remains were identified on September 23rd. Her story of giving birth to their son three weeks early. American Widow is Alissa's story of survival.

Alissa Torres has done the unconventional thing and has told her story in the Graphic Novel form. I do not normally read Graphic Novels. In fact, this was the first one I have ever read. And to put graphics to Alissa's story was pure genius. The emotional impact of the pictures with the words packs a punch that takes you back to that day, when the entire Nation was crying.

As a nation, we will always remember September 11, 2001. As the years pass, the pain eases just a little. Seven years later, three hour anniversary specials on every network, with the world watching, whittles down to just a few minutes on the morning news programs. And to me, THAT breaks my heart.

I ask you to take time today to remember those who lost their lives that day. And to remember all those that have lost their lives fighting the War on Terror. I ask you to think of all of those American Widows & Widowers who have to relive it all today. And everyday, actually.

Once you have read the book, you can go here, http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/features/americanwidow/?s=0 to share your thoughts and to read what others have to say about American Widow.

Eddie Torres had only been employed at the WTC for one day when the events of 9/11 occurred. This graphic novel recounts Alissa Torres first year of widowhood, the birth of her child, and the difficulty of being a "9/11" widow.

Lacking a narrative focus, this book is more like a collection of set pieces that provide a window into the Torres' life. While this may be an accurate depiction of Alissa Torres' mental state in the year following her husband's death, it does not make for a compelling read. The disjointed nature of the work alientates us from the emotions on display. While Choi is a masterful artist, and the book is beautifully drawn, the shifts in time and focus keep the reader from fully engaging.½

American Widow is a graphic memoir revealing the story of Alissa Torres who was left widowed at seven months pregnant by the tragedy of 9/11.

The story includes that fateful day up to the one-year anniversary with alternating flash backs including scenes of Eddie at 10-years old, his life before meeting Alissa and their courtship, marriage and pregnancy. In chapter one alone, my arms were covered with goose bumps. 9/11 was just Eddie’s second day at his new job with Cantor Fitzgerald. Included is Alissa’s deeply frustrating struggle with several assistance agencies and the government plus you see how different friends and family react to her circumstances.

The story exposed shows us just a glimmer of what surviving family members endured that I would have never imagined. When Alissa’s private thoughts are shared you get a sense of how difficult and confusing this time in her life was and you can’t help but be affected by this deeply personal story.

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.