Macedonia (Paperback)

~ (Author), Heather Roberson (Author), Ed Piskor (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Challenged by a good argument with a political-science professor, peace-studies undergrad Roberson went to Macedonia, the small Balkan country that has avoided war despite suffering stresses very similar to those of tumultuous Kosovo. She met and talked with academics, government and NGO officials, and ordinary citizens, trying to find out how Macedonia remained at peace. She came back with no firm answers, though she had discovered several earnest efforts devoted to resolving conflict and promoting national solidarity. She also heard disparagement of those attempts on all sides and plenty of prejudice against one another among ethnic Macedonians, Albanians, and Turks. She hung out with Western-educated natives and other young foreigners as intrigued by the country as she, and came back loving Macedonian hospitality and good-fellowship. Fortunately, she told her story to nonfiction comics author Pekar, who skillfully prepared the book's text and basic layout. Unfortunately, artist Piskor isn't as skillful. The figuration is stiff, perspective is often uncertain, and Piskor seems never to have been inside an airliner or a taxi. Intrinsically interesting content and excellent panel-by-panel planning are the book's saving strengths. Olson, Ray
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Product Description

“Pekar has proven that comics can address the ambiguities of daily living, that like the finest fiction, they can hold a mirror up to life.”
–The New York Times

For years Heather Roberson, a passionate peace activist, has argued that war can always be avoided. But she has repeatedly faced counterarguments that fighting is an inescapable consequence of world conflicts. Indeed, Heather finds proving her point to be a little tricky without examples to bolster her case. So she does something a little crazy: She sets out for far-off Macedonia, a landlocked country north of Greece and west of Bulgaria, to explore a region that has edged–repeatedly–close to the brink of violence, only to refrain.

In the process–and as vividly portrayed by the talented duo of Harvey Pekar and Ed Piskor–Heather is tangled in red tape, ripped off by cabdrivers and hotel clerks, hit on by creepy guys, secretly photographed, and mistaken for a spy. She also creates unlikely friendships, learns that getting lost means seeing something new, and makes some startling discoveries. War is hell and peace is difficult–but conflict is always necessary.

“Harvey Pekar wrestles the kind of things most comic book heroes wouldn’t touch with a laser blaster.”
–Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A visit with Harvey Pekar . . . will cause you to reexamine your own life . . . just as the greatest literature will.”
–The Austin Chronicle

“Pekar lets all of life flood into his panels: the humdrum and the heroic, the gritty and the grand.”
–The New York Times Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Villard (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345498992
• ISBN-13: 978-0345498991
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #517,302 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two books in one, July 18, 2007

By	J. Howard (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(Disclaimer: This reviewer has been a consultant in Macedonia on an NGO educational activity associated with the Ohrid Agreement.)

Harvey Pekar's and Heather Roberson's "Macedonia: What does it take to stop a war" is two books in one. One book is about the country Macedonia. I have been there a few times, and since this is a graphic novel, I wanted to see how the country was pictured. The pictures don't misrepresent the nation, but don't capture it either. There are not many iconic images of the capital, Skopje, but the illustrator Ed Piskor has drawn one on the cover. However, if one were in this city square and faced in the opposite direction, one would see the older section of the city with minarets and ruins of a Turkish fort. Interiors--small, run-down apartments, internet cafes, bars--are convincing. But Macedonia is largely rural and mountainous, and those views are missing in this graphic novel which takes place in cities.

The other book in "Macedonia" is an attempt to show how a political arrangement called the Ohrid Agreement decentralized the national bureaucracies and transferred some power to minorities, primarily Albanians, and thereby avoided armed conflict. The main character, Heather, an American student, goes to Macedonia to research how peace, rather than war, can be intentionally implemented. She talks to a lot of people and records her reflections in a portable recorder. Unfortunately, this is where the graphic novel falters. There are a lot of rectangles of people talking. It seems as if one is reading a play without any clever or insightful lines performed under a strobe light. The text can be dense and the visuals unexciting. While the presentation may make some readers struggle, however, the dialog captures the simultaneous doubts and expectations of the Macedonians as they shift from belief in the future Ohrid holds to discomfort about the present adjustments which the Ohrid Agreement demands.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ambitious but, finally, disappointing, January 9, 2008

By	Rhetor (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews

I'm a fan of serious comics -- Pekar's, Sacco's, Spiegelman's, Satrapi's -- and I had very high hopes for this Piskor/Pekar/Roberson collaboration. My hopes were disappointed. *Macedonia* is a case in which well-meaning people have tried to share an important story but, for lack of artistic vision or time commitment, have failed.

One has to imagine that Roberson, without any experience with the genre, wrote the entire script. Pekar tried to save it, but true salvation would have required a far greater investment of time, completely recasting the script as something far less "talky" and didactic. The book would have grown in length, too, in order to allow similar stories to be told through something other than shot-countershot frames of fillibuster.

To make a success of Macedonia would have required, at the very least, completely reconceptualizing the opening sequence. Page after page, the Heather character essentially lectures her non-responsive boyfriend about her interest in Macedonian politics.

In fairness to Pekar, Roberson's long narrative isn't exactly the "pithy vignettes on life" format for which Pekar is best known. Sure, Pekar wrote at greater length of Robert McNeil (*Unsung Hero*), but that's the exception proving the rule. Moreover, the McNeil project was likely initially conceived as a comic. Though Pekar did encourage Roberson early on to take notes for a possible comic book, she seems not to have approached the concept through the lens of comics.

The book does have its moments, however. Piskor ably presents Balkan history -- clearly the toughest assignment given -- and he moves admirably from those moments, to depicting Eastern European architecture, to Heather and friends dancing at a local disco. It is when Roberson's/Pekar's torrent of conversation finally slows, or when the words can be presented through voice-over, that Piskor finally finds a quite moment to do something more artistically organic.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice political comic, August 25, 2007

By	J. Gogovski (Republic of Macedonia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this comic-book 'cos I wanted to see how my country Macedonia was pictured.I was suprised how well did the autor knew the situation in Macedonia and the Balkan.