Much like I Remember Beirut, this is a graphic novel memoir of Abirached's childhood during the civil war in Lebanon. But it approaches the idea from a different perspective. I Remember Beirut was a scattered, but effective, glimpse at a difficult life through details only. A Game for Swallows is a single day in depth, which allows for more perspective, more storytelling, and more character growth. Both books are equally absorbing, and together give a much fuller idea of the life that Abirached

A night of bombing in Baghdad and all the neighbors meet up in the safest house of the building. And we learn their stories.The book is actually very "light", seen from the perspective of a child. The drawing is very good. I just wish I learned something more about the war. I know nothing and the book didn't say much, just the personal stories and some information about the situation at that time.

Ordinary life in war-torn Beirut. Given the subject matter and the art style, comparisons to Marjane Satrapi's work are inevitable. Abirached's figures are more stylized and her page compositions are more design-y. It's beautiful to look at, but heart-rending to read. Just the notion that life under such conditions could be "ordinary" and "routine" ... For such a slender book, it packs a powerful punch.

The illustrations in this graphic novel are all in black and white, intense, no shades of gray, emphasizing the gravity of the situation a handful of people in an apartment building in Beirut, Lebanon, find themselves in as they wait for the snipers to stop shooting. Zeina and her little brother wait for their parents to return from a trip across town to visit their grandmother. The entire story takes place in the space of a day and night. The author bases this on her own experiences as a child

The story takes place during a few hours one evening when the bombing intensifies and the kids are waiting for their parents to return from their grandma's house. The houses are separated by strategically placed containers and barricades to deflect a sharp shooter's view as people need to travel from one side to the other of the artificial divide. As the children wait in the small hallway of their first-floor apartment, neighbors drop in on them, not only because the children are alone, but also...

Based on Lebanese (1975-90) civil war, this nonfiction comic offers a view in the mutual support system that people build up among themselves during war. The work is not as sharp as Marjane's Persepolis or Joe Sacco's Palestine. But I love the beautiful illustrations in rich black and white.

I think it's hard to find stories about war that are appropriate for kids. This graphic novel does a good job at showing exactly what living in a war torn country can be like.

It was ok. The book is a memoir about being a kid during the Lebanese civil war but, not a lot actually happens. I guess I have read quite a few graphic memoirs now and this one doesn't have a lot of substance or feeling? The illustrations are quite similar to Persepolis.

Really resonated as we're isolating as a community during a pandemic that everything can always be so much worse. I liked that everything took place on one night, adding even more tension and helping the reader understand the realities of living in a city in civil war. The only problem with this concept is that we don't learn much about the community other than quick snapshots. The art is gorgeous, intricate and expressive. Would be a good jumping off place for teens/adults learning about this c...

I liked the graphic work more than the narrative itself. She uses repetition of a motive to build beautiful black and white patterns and tessellation like drawings that fill in whole pages, which makes her work very distinguishable from Satrapi’s (the comparison is inevitable). In Abirached I specially enjoyed the perspective of domestic intimacy and the focus on the small little things that allow us to remain civilised even in the most uncivilised of all times, like during a war.

In the same way that Persepolis touched many hearts and informed many minds about parts of the Middle East, this stunning graphic novel describes the lives of ordinary men, women, and children in war-torn Beirut, Lebanon, in 1984. Drawing from her own experience as a child, the author/illustrator describes an event that typifies how her parents and neighbors endured those challenging times when even a visit to someone a couple of streets away could result in death from a sniper. When her parents...

"A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return" didn't do much for me. It tells the story of two children spending the night in their foyer while their parents are stuck just blocks away behind the east/west barricade. Neighbors stop by, some worrying ensues, we get a backstory or two, then the graphic novel ends.Let's talk about the elephant in the room: the artistic similarities here between this graphic novel and Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis" graphic novels. Zeina Abirached owes a lot to

A Game for Swallows was my first foray into a graphic texts. The subject matter seemed incongruous with the format, yet now that I’ve experienced it, I can’t imagine a better way of approaching it. The artwork is sufficiently innocent, providing a stark contrast (just as stark as the black and white pages) to the wartime setting. The author doesn’t shy away from what is going on outside the apartment and never lets you forget what is happening, but just as the characters (and I do mean character...

A Game for Swallows is an absolute treasure of love, resilience, and bravery. Set in 1984 East Beirut, the story centers around Zeina, a six-year-old girl during the civil war. She and her younger brother's parents have gone out to visit her grandmother. But, amongst the bombing and shelling, when they don't come home as expected, the circle of friends and family rally around supporting each other. It is a sensitive, intimate look into the impact of war on people and how they manage stressful si...

So beautiful and sad.

This graphic novel is the story of two young children who live with their parents in an apartment in Lebanon in 1984 during the civil war which has been going on for 9 years. They live in the foyer of their apartment because it is the place that is the safest should a bomb hit their building, and each night, as the bombings begin, their neighbors gather in their apartment for safety. The story starts on a night when their parents have not made it home from their Grandmother's house that is mere

I read this book as part of theFrom and About Asia Reading Project.Born in 1981, 6 years into the Lebanese Civil War, war became a norm in Zeina’s childhood. The life of her family and hers changed according to the progress of the war. They took shelter in their house, which eventually became a small room, and spend their days and nights there, along with their neighbors.Beirut, the capital of Lebanon was cut into two sides during the war, the East Christians side, and the West Muslim sides. It’...

In war-torn Beirut, two children await the return of their parents, who left earlier in the day to visit the kids’ grandmother in an adjacent neighborhood. Set in 1984 and based on the life story of the author, this story feels like a more concise relative of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. The tale takes place almost completely during one night. We learn about Lebanon and the conflict there through the stories of the children’s neighbors, who gather in the family apartment as shells blast the st...

A Game for Swallows is a graphic memoir of life in Lebanon during their civil war in the '80's. Zeina and her family live in an apartment building that is situated right next to the dividing line. One night, Zeina's parents leave home to check on family members across town, risking their lives to pass through various security checkpoints and sniper territory. While the parents are out, the neighbors drop in to check on Zeina and her little brother. As time passes, more and more of the apartment'...

I read the follow-up to this, "I Remember Beirut", first and enjoyed that much better. This is a single episode of a family and group of friends experiencing a bombing during the Lebanese Civil War. The story isn't political or religious. We just sit in a room with the people as they wait out the bombing and fear for two children's parents who were visiting down the street before the bombs started. An autobiographical story but I didn't find any connection with anyone and mostly found the tale u...