Ann Marie Fleming

Window Horses by Ann Marie Fleming is a beautiful adaptation of the animated film. While the film works better this book is still a simple yet moving tribute to family in all its forms.

In such a short work we see how so many things can both bring us together and drive us apart. No single area, whether it be relationship dynamics or political and religious upheaval, can be viewed and understood in isolation. That is why the worst examples of these are always kept in as much isolation as possible. Religions insisting on domination and isolation from others, despots insisting there be little to no outside communications, abusive partners isolating partners from family and friends.

Explanations here are never straightforward and simple. Governments, religious leaders, and family members all play roles in Rosie's view of the world at large and of her broken family in particular. As she discovers family is a much larger and more inclusive term than often understood, and that people are rarely exactly what they seem, for better and worse, she learns that neither her world nor her dreams have to be limited.

Beautifully told with simple drawings that keep the emphasis on the dynamics of human interactions as well as our overwhelming commonality with one another. I would recommend to any reader who likes poetry and believes that poetry, writ large, can bring us together.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.… (plus d'informations)

Now I have to see the movie!

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss.)

https://youtu.be/Viiui3v-ncg

Window Horses is the graphic novelization of a 2016 animated film of the same name, written by Ann Marie Fleming and starring Sandra Oh (with what I can only assume is a brief cameo by Ellen Page, at least judging from the book). The story's protagonist is a young biracial woman named Rosie Ming. Born to a Chinese-Canadian mother and an Iranian refugee father, Rosie was left in the care of her maternal grandparents after her father abandoned his family and her mother died in a tragic accident.

http://www.easyvegan.info/img/window-horses-02.jpg

Fast food worker by day, Francophile by - who are we kidding, 24/7 - Rosie keeps her poetry a secret. That is, until she's invited to a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran. Having self-published but one book of poetry, Rosie has no idea how the festival's organizers discovered her. Though she's nervous to travel to her father's homeland - she's never even been outside of Canada, for pete's sake - and is plagued by imposter syndrome, Rosie knows that this is an opportunity she simply can't pass up. Little does she know how truly life-changing the trip will be.

Window Horses is a sweet and heartfelt story: about the bonds of family and community, the stupid and even selfish things we sometimes do for love, and the power of words and poetry, with a little bit of a history/civics lesson thrown in, to boot. The art - primarily done by Kevin Langdale, with poems illustrated by a variety of other artists - is stunning. I especially loved how the breadth of different contributors and styles played off the poetry, adding extra depth and nuance.

The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way? Dietmar, or rather Mehrnaz's insistence that he's only rude to Rosie because "that is the way some young men are...," you know, when they like a girl. Boys will be boys and all that nonsense. Blecht.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2019/02/19/window-horses-by-ann-marie-fleming/… (plus d'informations)