The Property

by Rutu Modan, Jessica Cohen (Translator)

After the death of her son, Regina Segal takes her granddaughter Mica to Warsaw, hoping to reclaim a family property lost during the Second World War. As they get to know modern Warsaw, Regina is forced to recall difficult things about her past, and Mica begins to wonder if maybe their reasons for coming aren’t a little different than what her grandmother led her to believe.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Jewish, Family

222 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Rutu Modan was born in Tel-Aviv in 1966. In 1992 she graduated cum laude from the illustration program at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. Shortly after graduating, she began regularly writing and illustrating comic strips and stories for Israel's leading daily newspapers, as well as editing the Israeli edition of MAD magazine with Yirmi Pinkus. Together, they founded Actus Tragicus, an internationally acclaimed collective and independent publishing house for alternative comic artists, in 1995. The following year she collaborated with Israeli author Etgar Keret on her first graphic novel, Nobody Said it Was Going to Be Fun, an Israeli bestseller. Rutu has worked as an illustrator for magazines and books in Israel and abroad, with illustrations published in The New York Times, New Yorker and Le Monde, among many other renowned publications.

She has received much recognition for her work, including four Best Illustrated Children's Book Awards from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The Israel Ministry of Culture named Rutu Modan the Young Artist of the Year in 1997, and she was one of the contributors to the Eisner-Nominated Actus Tragicus anthology Jet Lag in 1999. In 2001 she won the Andersen Award for Illustration from the International Board on Books for Young People in Basel, Switzerland, and was nominated for the Ignatz Award for Best Story and Promising New Talent for her story "Bygone" in Flipper, Vol. 2 (Actus Tragicus / Top Shelf.) She has been a chosen artist of the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation since 2005, and in 2006 she was nominated for the Angoulême Festival's Goccini Award, granted to a scriptwriter whose past year's work deserves special praise.

Reviews

[Greta G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Home to the largest population of Jews in Europe before the war (about 3.300.000, of which an estimated 90% were killed in the Holocaust), Poland has more property that was stolen during the war and nationalized in its aftermath than any other nation. Yet Poland is the only country in Europe that has not passed legislation to compensate owners for properties seized under Nazi and communist rule. Several efforts to pass regulations since the fall of the communist regime have failed, mainly because the compensation could total billions of euros. In addition to the Holocaust victims, tens of thousands of other Poles could also make claims on property.
Right now, those seeking restitution can claim their properties only by initiating difficult and expensive private lawsuits.
Poland is now considering restitution legislation but its onerous requirements would exclude virtually all Holocaust survivors.
Poland’s lack of a comprehensive legal framework for resolving the land ownership issues also lies at the root of the human and social cost of reprivatization cases (https://www.ft.com/content/3f1f6972-4...).

In The Property, the acclaimed Israeli author and artist Rutu Modan turns the legal issue of restitution of land ownership into a light, tender and humane story.
After the dead of her adult son, an old woman travels from Israel to Warsaw with her granddaughter, to reclaim the family property lost during the Holocaust.
I’m reluctant to reveal any more of the story, because the many surprising developments were mainly the reason why this story was so absorbing to read.
However, being knowledgeable about the problem of restitution legislation in Poland, will most certainly contribute to a better understanding and appreciation of this heartfelt story.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! It left me in tears at the end. But I especially love it when a book surprises me and I would never have predicted even at three quarters of the way through it that it would end as it did. Well, some of it is not surprising, but some of it definitely is. By the author/artist of Exit Wounds, which I also liked, but I like this even more. Same beautiful art, an even richer story. Maybe it won't be too much of a spoiler to say that it is a romance which didn't look like that at all from the start. Mica and her Grandma come from Israel to Warsaw to see about some property that may or may not be family owned there... they are helped by a guy who happens to be a comic book artist who is interested in Grandma's story and. . . Mica. An annoying guy from Israel also plays into it, an old guy from Warsaw... and it has some humor in it that is sometimes warm and sometimes just downright funny. It took me some time to get into it, but trust me, the story has legs, and sweetness.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mica and her Grandmother, Regina, fly to Warsaw from Israel to check on some property that may still be in the family. Regina hasn't returned to Poland since WWII began, decades ago. But once they get to Warsaw, Mica's grandmother keeps giving her the runaround about the property. Over the course of the book, we discover the secrets Regina is hiding, Mica begins a new relationship and a friend of the family makes a nuisance of himself. No one is exactly what they seem. The book is filled with humor, romance, loss, and pathos. The art is Hergé-esque, with little dots for eyes reminiscent of Tintin. Modan puts a lot into the characters. Their relationships feel real. All in all, a fantastic read.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rutu Modan’s second graphic novel, The Property, is her best book yet and one of the best comics of the year. Mica Segal and her grandmother Regina head from Israel to Warsaw to reclaim family property that was lost in World War 2. But as Mica soon realises, her grandmother has other reasons for returning to her former home that has to do with her grandmother’s recently deceased son, Reuben, and a life left behind long ago.

Modan takes an already interesting story from the beginning and slowly peels away the layers as it goes to reveal an even more startling story underneath, so I don’t want to talk too much about the book’s contents - part of its compelling hold on the reader is the way the story swerves from one direction to a completely different one. There are subtle clues along the way as characters behave strangely though it’s still surprising once we discover what it’s really about and very moving as well.

At the heart of what makes this story so involving are the relationships, especially Mica and Regina’s. There’s a genuine closeness between the two that’s very real, portrayed convincingly by Modan in small scenes like Mica helping her elderly grandmother shower and dress, or the two arguing (mostly because Regina’s overwhelmed by the real reason she’s in Warsaw and can’t tell Mica) and Regina not speaking to Mica, childishly, despite being several decades older (and therefore wiser?). Regina is a sometimes difficult woman to like but she’s multi-faceted, complex and real, as is Mica.

Regina and Roman’s relationship too is maybe the most memorable in the book. Roman is a big part of the real story of the book so I won’t say too much about him but Modan masterfully builds up their scenes together, so that when we reach the story’s end the two have a silent scene with a simple hand gesture that’s so romantic. It’s a rare book that makes me cry but I did shed a tear when I read that and it’s to Modan’s credit that the scene doesn’t come off as overly sentimental or schmaltzy but just sweet.

And while Modan convincingly shows us pre-existing relationships, she’s able to create a new one between Mica and a Polish tour guide called Tomasz who begin a romantic relationship over the course of the week. They meet naturally, they talk naturally, there’s a spark, it develops - it never feels rushed or false and is eminently human, a remarkably difficult feat to pull off in just over 200 pages. You believe these two people are falling in love and Modan makes it seem so effortless - the mark of a gifted storyteller. The scene where Mica - a very strong female character like Regina - lets her guard down and opens up to Tomasz when she feels her grandmother’s about to die is really beautifully written, all the beats are there.

Modan’s art has improved a lot since Exit Wounds, her first book. Which isn’t to say the art in that book was bad, but comparing the two books, her work in Exit Wounds looks a more stiff than in The Property. And it’s hasn’t even changed all that much here - the figures look similar, the style is still Hergé-esque, cartoonish (ie. dots for eyes) but humanistic figures, clear line - but the facial expressions are much more emotive which makes a huge difference, especially in a very emotional book like this. Plus I loved her landscape drawings - when Regina and Roman go to the Fotoplastikon (kind of like a slide-show museum) to look at pictures of Warsaw before the war, there are some utterly gorgeous pictures, one of which, the lake drawing, adorns the interior covers.

I’ve never been to Warsaw but you get a really good sense of it from this book. Not just the streets and exterior architecture but the restaurant inside the flat was strongly atmospheric - you could almost smell the hot potatoes being cooked! - and that scene in cemetery that closes the book on Zaduski was wonderfully colourful despite the drabness of the peoples’ heavy clothes (you can see part of that scene on the cover).

The spectre of World War 2 hovers over the book - it’s the reason why they made the trip, a lot of the Polish characters’ lives revolve around the history of the ghettoes and the Nazis still, and how the war continues to echo through the years, affecting new generations. The opening scene on the plane to Warsaw shows a group of rowdy schoolkids being kids on a school trip, yelling, messing around, and one of the last scenes in the book is the flight back where those same kids are sat quietly in their seats, sat in their seats silently, sad, earnest expressions on their faces from what they learned of their ancestors’ fate in WW2.

But really this is a book of lost love, of lives lived and lost, of consequences that span a lifetime, of survival, and of the inherent complexity of human relationships. It’s also an amazing story that’ll entertain you from the first page to the last as well as educate and move you in the way only great books can. The Property is a great book and one of the best you’ll read this year - don’t miss it, it’s an absolute treat from a terrific artist and brilliant storyteller.

[Sv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tadı damağımda kaldı. Kurgusu, çizimleri, renkleri, karakterleri, diyalogları... Her şeyiyle şahaneydi. Yer yer güldürdü, yer yer şaşırttı, yeri geldi üzdü. Ve Doğan Şima çevirmiş her zaman ki gibi. O kadar güzel yerleşmiş ki o kalıplar, espriler yanlış olsa bile Doğan Şima nasıl uygun gördüyse öyle olsun. Kesinlikle tavsiye ediyorum.

[Seth T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romance has always played a large part in my life and been of tremendous importance to me—primarily perhaps because I engage it so vicariously. Romance and romantic ideals have always held themselves at a bit of an arm’s length from both my experiences and my way of expressing my love for others.



I didn’t find myself at last involved in a reciprocated romantic relationship until I was twenty-three. I had my first crush when I was six, when I realized that I (in some sense) wanted desperately to take part in the boy-girl lego. Problematically, I was a) almost incurably shy and b) surrounded by love stories. Songs, cinema, novels. The majority all pointed to the exhilarating wonder of falling in love. This constant reminder of what I was missing out on combined with my inability to form social connections with anyone I was remotely interested in. The result was a me who pined incessantly.[1] After a while, and until I grew out of my devastatingly shy faze, my only means to experience Love was through stories, by insinuating myself vicariously into their texture and tapestry.

Tragic, I know. And probably a too-common tale for nerds and geeks.[2]



So that was the bedrock for my fascination with love stories. When I was young and untried, I adored the easy polish of guileless boy-gets-girl stories like Secret Admirer, Empire Records, and Can’t Hardly Wait. As I grew up (finally), my appreciation tacked toward more intricate and perhaps realistic relationships. By the time Before Sunset rolled around in 2004, I was fully primed for its cocktail of love, bitterness, longing, and irresolution.

I had seen its predecessor, Before Sunrise, several years earlier—a classic boy-meets-girl-on-a-train-from-Budapest[3] romance that ends in ambiguity. The film closes in hope and longing; Jesse and Celine meet on a train, wander the streets of Vienna, fall in love a bit, and then go their separate ways. The film’s characters were my age in 1995 when the story took place. I too had wandered old European cities with a girl. I too had experienced the kind of loss and sustained hope that Jesse and Celine would have by the second film.



Before Sunset, filmed nine years after Before Sunrise, reunites Jesse and Celine by some whim of destiny and examines what the passage of time can do to a couple in love with no hope of ever seeing each other again. The Before cycle of films is probably my favourite cinematic series by a fair margin, and Before Sunset is my favourite installment. Also by a fair margin. The film hit me where I was at—in a spiritual sense rather in any sort of literal way (my own life and choices did not mirror either of the principle characters). Linklater and his actors explored the depth of suffering and longing that drives people through the distances that separate them. Jesse and Celine could not shake the haunting of their affection for each other but had no reason to believe they could ever find each other again. I felt similarly about a couple women from my own personal history—each of whom I bore abiding affection haunted by irresolution. Both of Linklater’s characters tied themselves to relationships that were stand-ins for what they really wanted. I had done similarly, thinking (often mistakenly) that something was better than nothing. And these two cinematic former lovers, when they meet again for ninety minutes on screen, are filled with exactly all the passion and fury and insecurity and woundedness and longing that you would expect. It’s all at once a lovely and heartbreaking thing. A monument to the heart-shattering power of the human affection for another person.


[I too react this way every time a Yellow Pages book lands on my porch. Astonishment that these still exist.]

Ruto Modan’s The Property, for all the many things it is, most interested me in its exploration of both of the earlier Before movies’ themes through its two female protagonists, grandmother Regina and granddaughter Mica. Modan almost certainly does not actively seek to explore the two films—she may not even be aware of them—but the nature of her characters and their stories puts the Linklater films strongly in mind. The titular property is never quite MacGuffin, but it may be close enough. Whatever the case, the property in question gets twenty-something Mica to visit Warsaw with her grandmother, where she meets a young man. A probably nice young man. The property also gets almost-ninety-year-old Regina to visit the city for the first time since fleeing (while pregnant) under the shadow of the Reich. It’s a visit haunted by memories of the lover she left behind. The property does have its place in both motivating story elements and drawing things to their open-ended conclusion, but this is a story of persons interlocking and intertwining rather than any sort of real-estate thriller.

And while Modan crafts an entirely enjoyable story for the younger Mica, it’s in Regina’s life and reaction to Warsaw that The Property was most fascinating to me. Jesse and Celine probe their frustrations and disappointments in Before Sunset, considering what might have been and how time both dissolves what was and erects new burdens (as well as mythologies)—but they’re still young and only what, thirty-one? Regina interacts similarly in her own homecoming—only where Jesse and Celine have decades of potential joys and mistakes ahead of them, Regina at nearly ninety has little time left. She may be spry enough to travel, but illness lurks and too often our elderly are taken by nothing more powerful than the common flu.[4] And that pointed fragility makes a vast difference in the way one will regard their dreams and their future.


[The circle of life, really. You die, are buried,
and become the bed on which new life is conceived!]

The two stories, the film and this book, are made different by the weight of years. In Before Sunset Celine says, “Memories are wonderful things, if you don’t have to deal with the past.” She hints at a kind of truth there, but she doesn’t know the full mass of her ideas. At thirty-one, she’s still just a kid. What does she know of the pain of memory, right? Regina, though? Nearing ninety, she’s lived sixty-nine whole years of everything having gone deeply wrong. She’s returning to Warsaw, but not to a happy ending. She’s too old for that kind of bald-faced romance. The city, for all its changes, is filled with memories. Plenty of good ones, plenty of lovely ones, plenty of pleasant and even exultant ones—but every one of those memories is nestled in a blanket of woes. Maybe their light can shine again, but maybe the magnified loss will swallow everything whole instead.

Almost (almost) as much as The Property is Regina’s story, it’s Mica’s as well. While Regina’s is some sort of distant, smokey reflection of Before Sunset, Mica’s adventure looks a bit more like the earlier Before Sunrise. While about her business, Mica meets Tomasz, a Ukrainian man serving as a guide to Polish Jews returning to visit the important sites in Warsaw. There is that rapid-fire dance of flirtation, the give-and-take between strangers who test and adventure, never quite knowing their boundaries. The stepping-on of feelings and the making of amends. It’s all rather charming—and almost as if solidifying the Sunrise/Sunset comparison, Modan takes pains to tie Mica’s romance in 2008 to Regina’s in the '30s.

The Property weaves its several stories together beautifully, with each meandering freely into another. The project might be ambitious but it’s accomplished so gracefully that one might easily forget that Modan has fabricated her tale. The Property bears none of the contrived earmarks of the common complicatedly plotted narrative and instead reads as a series of events that actually happened—in that meandering sort of molasses that moves and spins the real world.



I first encountered Modan’s work in Exit Wounds several years ago. I found the art style lovely and spare but the book left little effect on me. I remember little from it and cannot even remember the sex of its protagonist. The Property, on the other hand, has me arrested. Modan’s illustrations are similarly simple (making it somewhat difficult to pin down Mica’s age), but the work as a whole evokes a sense of beauty I don’t remember from the earlier book. The colouring is gorgeous and some of the scenes will likely stay with me as on-hand examples of what a good story looks like. Additionally, Modan does this cool little bit with Tomasz, who’s writing a graphic novel about the Polish Uprising. His art is beautifully sketched, with a detail intentionally absented from the rest of the story. It reminded me of that episode of Gumby when they find a television and Pokey points out the live-action program playing and exclaims, “Get this, animated people!”[5] It’s a small thing but it adds to the charm of the book and might give us a better clue as to what Mica “really” looks like.



We all contribute something extra to whichever books we consume. Experiences, biases, allusions. I cannot read The Property without bringing to mind Linklater’s films. The two stories inform each other. Regina’s and Mica’s stories will always reflect Jesse’s and Celine’s—and vice versa. The connection is inescapable now that it’s there. But for me at least, that’s a good thing. Even as the two creations inform each other, they also serve to elevate each other. And that a work as strong and powerfully devised as Modan’s The Property could be elevated at all is incredible to consider. I would recommend this book as one of the best of the year for pretty much anyone over seventh grade. A fantastic, serious, lively work—one that looks for the human heart and finds it in one of the last places we might expect to find it: in human characters.
_______

[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad.]
_______

Footnotes
1) Here is my boy-girl history up until I was twenty-three, the highlights:

• First grade. Wondered what it would be like to kiss Christine. She was cute.

• Second grade. Laurel was also cute. Feeling conflicted.

• Third grade. A new student, Erin. No longer conflicted. Erin Erin Erin.

• Fourth grade. Girl sneaks up behind me, covers my eyes, “Guess who?” “I think you’re Heidi because your hands are all rough.” It was Erin. I had never felt Heidi’s hands but guessed they were hers because they didn’t feel warm and soft and I didn’t care for Heidi and imagined her hands would therefore be unpleasing. Pretty much never spoke to Erin again until our ten-year highschool reunion.

• Fifth grade. Erin.

• Sixth grade. Erin. I have talked to her twice? Get voted Best Eyes. Erin gets voted Best Eyes. We take picture together, arms around each other. I leave room for the Holy Spirit between us. The Holy Spirit and an Indian elephant.


• Seventh grade. Kristin insinuates herself into my hopes. I promise myself I will ask her out by year’s end. Every night I go to sleep promising myself, “Tomorrow.”

• Eighth grade. Kristin. I have not talked to her once. I do finally ask her to sign my yearbook.

• Ninth grade. Amanda from church group sits on my lap in one of those lame bandeau bikinis at summer camp. Am a smitten kitten. Kristin while at school, Amanda outside of school. Never speak again to either.

• Tenth grade. Kristin. Haven’t seen Amanda in a year. Still holding out hope.

• Rest of highschool. A cocktail of Tracy, Kristin, Mara, Corrine, and others. Any one of which I would happily devote the entire rest of my existence for. In theory.

• Age nineteen. Pining for Tracy. Talking to Tory. Talking’s a step in a direction. Willing to settle for less than Tracy (sorry Tory). Still cannot broach boy-girl subject. Mortified and lonely.

• Twenty. Amber? I don’t even remember. Her mom hated me. I think she knew I liked her. Probably because I was a full-on creeper who had no idea how to be a normal person.

• Twenty-one. More of the same. Petrification.

• Twenty-two. Meet Ellen. Senior in high school. So in love. Arrange to hang out with her and friends constantly. In a devastating blow, her best friend asks me to prom and I’m too socially impaired to demur. 1) I’m too old for prom, 2) her friend crushes on me big time, 3) Ellen helps her get ready and I’m just in love with her the whole time and kind of ignoring my prom date. I’m on my first date ever and just mad that I’m with this person I’m on a date with. I’m the worst person alive.

• Twenty-three. I tell Ellen how I feel and nearly throw up doing so. I want to die, but it works out okay and we date, get engaged, and fall apart a few years later. Now you know why I looked to love stories for my romantic thrills. I’m so glad twenty-three was two decades ago.

2) I built model rockets as a kid, watched Robotech, read AD&D choose-your-own adventures, lived and breathed The Uncanny X-Men, and listened to Weird Al and Neil Young (and then Christian metal bands, the kind of metal allowed by my mother). You figure out how well I probably fit in with my peers at the time.

3) Speaking of, I highly recommend this gorgeous series of timelapses from Budapest, probably my favourite European city: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbbkj...

4) An abiding and important theme throughout is Warsaw-as-cemetery. It’s on the book’s cover. It’s mentioned in the opening pages, and the climax takes place in the grand and sprawling cemetery.

5) Gumby: Season 2, Episode 50: "Lawn Party" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W03FL...

[Stacey | prettybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love coming across books I didn't know about yet end up loving, but it rarely happens. The Property is the tale of Regina Segal and her granddaughter Mica, who return to Warsaw to get back the family home that was lost during the Second World War. The Property is an emotional tale of heritage and family secrets, but with a sense of humour too. I picked it up because I'm intrigued by World War II stories but I got much more: an emotional graphic novel that I continued to think about long after I put it down.

I also reviewed this book over on Pretty Books.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Translated from the Hebrew and Polish by Jessica Cohen

In this graphic novel, Mica accompanies her proud and proper grandmother from Tel Aviv to Warsaw to reclaim the deed to an apartment building their family was forced to abandon in World War II. Family secrets unveil over their time in Warsaw, as new relationships blossom.

Modan's illustrations are colorful and clear. I read her earlier graphic novel, Exit Wounds, many years ago and was glad to see her art and storytelling again. This was a great read, and a solid introduction to the storytelling style for someone wanting to get in to graphic novels.

[Shankar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful graphic novel about how properties were lost by during the war in Poland and claiming them back was such a difficult thing.

The visuals are very touching and they speak as much as reading a book.

[Zedsdead · Rating 3 out of 5]

An old Jewish woman travels with her granddaughter from Israel to Warsaw, ostensibly to recover an apartment lost to the Nazi invasion in WW2. But she has secrets. Over the course of a week we learn what really happened decades earlier and how that will impact her family.

There’s much to admire here. There are so many amazingly human moments in The Property. The characterizations are remarkable, each one feels so real.

I just didn’t like any of them. With only one exception the characters are petty and irrational, sneaky and manipulative. Generally annoying. I was interested in the cleverly unspooling family history, the minor mysteries being revealed. But I didn’t care about the people driving the story and found myself looking forward to being quit of them.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute, and very much not what I was expecting.

A little bit of modern day post-WWII historical fiction animated by a quirky cast of diverse and compelling multi-generational characters wrapped up in A Comedy of Errors ... or something like that.

I'm glad I found, tried, and read it.

[Fulya · Rating 4 out of 5]

İsrail’den Polonya’ya uzanan, görünürde bir mülkün peşinden gidilen ama gerçekte acı bir sırrın ve buluşmanın anlatıldığı güzel bir çizgi roman. İkinci Dünya Savaşı sırasında Polonya’da da büyük çapta bir Yahudi soykırımı ve tehciri olduğunu bilmiyordum. İnsanlar sevdiklerini kaybetmelerinin yanı sıra mülklerini de kaybetmişler. Bunu da haklı olarak her sene mezarlıklarda ritüellerle anıyorlar. Varşova’nın o kasvetli havası içime işledi. Bir babanne ve bir torunun nesiller arası farktan kaynaklanan aşka bakış açıları ne kadar da tanıdık geldi. Babanne Regina oğlunu kaybettikten sonra kökleri ve eski aşkı için yaptığı yolculuğun sonunda torununa diyor ki: “Acısı hâlâ taze ama şimdi başka şeylerle de karıştı”. Babamın sene-i devriyesi yaklaşırken bu söz beni çok sarstı. Evet, acısı hâlâ taze ama şimdi başka şeylerle de karıştı…

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Todo un carácter la abuelita protagonista de esta historia.

[Elizabeth A · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this graphic novel Regina Segal, a Polish Jew who now lives in Israel, takes her granddaughter Mica to Warsaw to reclaim family property lost during World War 2.

How well do we know our parents or grandparents? How about our family secrets? This story is not what is seems on the surface. There is the publicly declared mission that Mica believes they are on, and then there is the private mission that Grandmama is on.

I really liked the art in this book, and appreciated the humorous touches to what could have been a very dark story. I also liked the exploration of how the past affects the present, and I developed quite a soft spot for Grandmama Regina. However, Mica is not well developed, and the romance angle simply did not make any sense, and actually detracted from the story. I understand that this is an autobiographical story, so while the romance might have actually occurred, I think the author missed a chance to explore why it had any significance to this particular story.

In spite of its shortcomings I liked this graphic novel and will read other works by the author.

[Melissa Chung · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars! I really liked this one. It's got heart.

The Property is about a grandma (Regina) and a granddaughter (Mica) they travel from Israel to Poland. According to the grandmother's lawyer from twenty years ago...Regina has inherited a piece of property that was her parents. Mica has gone with her grandmother on this journey to help out. Unbeknownst to them a family friend has also "tagged" along to keep an eye on the whole endeavor. He is secretly working with someone *wink wink*. Regina starts acting funny as soon as they arrive at Hotel Krol in Warsaw. She becomes secretive and decides she doesn't want to go through with the property thing and wants to go home. As the grandma knows the whole story and is keeping it from her granddaughter...Mica has to go the long way to get to the bottom of the mystery. All the while Yagodnik the family friend is still snooping around keeping an eye on the women and whether or not they are getting the property.

The story is about a mysterious love. A secret property and a very confused granddaughter. It was heartwarming and sad and wonderful and funny. I really enjoyed it.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had just checked this book out of the library today because I was a little intrigued and once I picked it up I could not put it back down. I'd say I read it in about 45 minutes total so I could soak in all the information and details. I absolutely loved it from beginning to end from Regina's wit and don't give a dang attitude at the airport to the end of the book when you see the similarity between her and her granddaughter on the plane ride home. It was truly a nice read.

[Berna Labourdette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otra historietista que me gusta mucho y que tiene un estilo gráfico muy personal, me sorprende con esta historia de secretos familiares luego de la Segunda Guerra y la Shoah. Con pocos, pero entrañables personajes Modan ocupa una excusa como volver a la antigua patria, buscando un hogar para hablar de otras cosas como el amor, el cambio y la muerte. Muy bella. 

[Saboteadora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este cómic se lee muy rápido y es muy entretenido. La historia de la propiedad solo resultó ser la excusa para una historia algo más profunda sobre la vida de su protagonista. Me habría gustado que la abuela terminara el cómic de otra forma (de la forma en que se lo sugiere el señor que vive en el piso 😉). Pero así también está bien.

[〰️Beth〰️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting graphic novel about the property rights of Jewish families after WWII. The story follows a grandmother and her granddaughter as they go in search of the property.

[Joanna Slow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Komiksy, czy mówiąc ładniej powieści graficzne, to nie do końca moja bajka. Na Rutu Modan i jej zbiór opowiadań „Jamilti i inne opowiadania” trafiłam dzięki poleceniu Uli Rybickiej z „Żydoteki”.
No i zauroczyła mnie i kreska rysowniczki i niezwykłość kilku z opowiedzianych w tamtym zbiorze historii. Ciekawość, jak Modan wypadnie w długiej formie, doprowadziła mnie do „Zaduszek” i wniosku, że jest tu dużo więcej niż interesująca i zgrabnie skonstruowana historia. Zachwyciły mnie przede wszystkim postaci, to jak umiejętnie Modan nadaje im głębię. Już od pierwszych stron wiedziałam, jakie są obie główne bohaterki i relacja między nimi. To dowód na to jak dużo można powiedzieć bez użycia jednego przymiotnika. Zachwyca też Warszawa, na kartach „Zaduszek” i to jak zgrabnie Modan radzi sobie z przełamywaniem stereotypów dotyczących polsko-żydowskich relacji. Otwieram się z wiekiem 😜

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you read a book and you love it to death but you can't even begin to find the words to describe what you liked about it because it pushed so many of your buttons at once that the whole experience was just too engrossing and overwhelming to analyze.

[jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps 4.5 stars if I’m being extra picky, but I just sat down to read a bit and got totally swept away. Felt a little emotional turning the last page too!

[John Blacksad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herge (Tenten)vari çizimlerini çok beğendim. Özellikle havalimanı, uçak içi gibi kalabalık karelerde detayları uzun uzun inceledim.

Sade bir hikayesi var. Holokost gibi olmasa da bizim coğrafyamız bazı acılara, zorunlu göçlere, terklere, mübadelelere alışkın. Köklerinin, hatıralarının, hatta “mülk”lerinin, neyin varsa ardında bıraktığın (olmayasıca) zamanlar hep olmuş. Çizgi romanı okurken yıllar önce yaptığım bir Kapadokya bölgesi ziyareti aklıma geldi. Gün içinde gezilerimizde sürekli aynı üç kişiyle karşılaşıyorduk. Yanlarında da rehberleri. Bu üçlünün rehberi benim eşlikçim ile tanıştığından bir noktada iletişim kurduk. Biri çok yaşlı, diğer orta yaşlı, bir diğeri ise buraya sürüklendiği çok belli olan, biraz sıkılmış futbol üniformalı bir çocuk, üç erkekten oluşuyordu ekip. Üç erkek üç nesillermiş. En yaşlıları henüz çok küçükken mübadele ile bölgeden göç ettirilmiş. Yaşlı amca, oğlu ve torununa köklerini, geçmişini göstermeye getirmiş. Bedeni yorgun yaşlı amcanın gözlerinin parladığını, çocuk gibi heyecanlı olduğunu çok iyi hatırlıyorum. Zihninde kalan az sayıda Türkçe kelimeyi kullanmaya çalışması, bizimle iletişim kurma çabası.

Kitaptan anladığımız, Varşova’da bu iş bir sektör haline gelmiş. Holokost mağdurları ve nesillerinin ziyaretleri bir turizm potansiyeli oluşturmuş.

Nesiller geçtikçe acılar, hikayeler seyreliyor. Kökler kuruyor. Bazen yaşlılar ketum bazen gençler ilgisiz. Ama şuna üzülüyorum. İstatistik olarak yaşanılan her yıl insanı ölüme yaklaştırıyor. Ne kadar çoksa o kadar yakın. Bir noktada bazı yakınlarınca duygularından, yaşadıklarından, aşklarından, huylarından soyulup “vadesi dolması beklenen” bir canlı organizma haline geliyorlar. Miras önünde engel bir kitle. Oysa ruhlar hiç yaşlanmazlar.

Sinir bozucu bir mizah unsuru olarak resmedilmiş enişte karakteri (örneklerini çevrenizde gördüğünüze emin gibiyim ^^) ve sevdiği hala (sanki teyze olarak çevirilmiş. Bu anne ve baba kardeşlerini farklı isimlendirme daha ziyade bize has olduğundan “aunt” çevirisine kurban gitmiş olabilir) yukarıda bahsettiğim ekolün temsilcileri. Hayatta kalmak, özgür olmak, sevmek ve sevilmek kaybedilmediğinde kıymeti anlaşılmıyor, normalleşiyor. İnsanlar yine mal mülk güç peşinde koşuyorlar ve kısır döngü başa dönüyor.

Kitaptaki (gerçekçi) dolaylılık beni yordu. Ama böyledir bazen en yakınına en basit şeyi söyletmez insanın nefsi. Babaanne, torun, yaşlı eski sevgili birbirlerine yeterince dürüst ve açık değil. Keşke daha net ifade edilse duygular. Hikayeye katkısı meçhul “Varşovada rehberler teklif ediyormuş ağbi” kıvamındaki, hollywood romantik komedi formüllü bölümlerin de içeriğe ve inandırıcılığa katkısı ne oldu, bilemedim. Ortalama üstü bir grafik roman, keyifli bir seyirlik.

[Hollowspine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of a family secret, kept so long, that everyone has a different notion of the truth. Many strange, sometimes funny, somewhat heart-breaking, situations occur due to the secrets kept by Mica's grandmother when they return after generations to Warsaw, supposedly to reclaim their lost property.

As the story unfolds readers are able to piece together the hidden truth, and then wait to see whether or not Mica is able to piece together the story that her grandmother, Regina, obviously wants to remain hidden.

While all that is going on they also must deal with Regina's son in law, who is certain that Regina will give any property rights to Mica instead of his family and so tries to keep a close eye on the pair to stake his own claim.

The story is funny, sad and complicated and definitely compelling. The art lends itself perfectly to the tones, expressions are especially well done, the surprise on Regina's face when she was caught in a lie, the heartbreak when her secret signal was not returned.

A beautiful story paired with beautiful artwork. Fans of Persepolis (which is mentioned) would appreciate this story.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my god, did this graphic novel make me cry and laugh. Really, really well-done story by Israeli artist Modan, about a young woman and her grandmother going to Warsaw to find out about a property her grandmother's family owned before the war. There is also some romance, an annoyingly boorish acquaintance, and a very sly sense of humor. I wish I still taught Jewish-themed comic book classes so I could force people to read this.

[Nnedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the setting, the art, the politics, and the story and characters were intriguing. I'll read anything Rutu writes. I've already read Exit Wounds. On to her compilation, Jamilti and Other Stories.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mica takes her grandmother, a Jew who escaped the Holocaust in Poland by a few years, back to Warsaw to look into some property she left behind. But Regina has a a big secret. Complicated and beautiful story! Modan's pacing and structure has come a long way!

[Jefi Sevilay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fabian Toulme'nin o enfes tadını hiçbir çizgi romanda bulamıyorum. Bunun da ne hikayesini ne çizimlerini beğendim. İçimde hiçbir his uyandırmadı. Karakterleri de olayı da detaylandıramadı. Üzgünüm ama beğenmedim.

[Juancar · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia está bien, sencilla y rápida..
Lástima que me haya tocado en este momento en el que el pueblo judío , que no sana de las heridas de la segunda guerra, se empeñe ahora en repetir la historia invirtiendo los papeles.
Free Palestine !!

[Hannah Garden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impeccable.