Fax From Sarajevo (Paperback)

~ Joe Kubert (Author), Joe Kubert (Author) "ON A NARROW, WINDING ROAD NEAR THE NORTHERN BORDER OF WHAT WAS ONCE YUGOSLAVIA, A SMALL CAR STABS LIGHT INTO ITS PATH TOWARDS SARAJEVO... MARCH..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In March 1992 Ervin Rustemagic, a well-regarded European comics agent, faxed a message from his Dutch office to the New Jersey home of his American friend and client, distinguished comics artist Kubert (Sgt. Rock; The Green Berets), detailing his plans to return to his home in the Sarajevo suburb of Dobrinja. Once back, relentless Serb bombardment trapped Rustemagic and his family, destroying their home and possessions. The family took shelter in a ruined building. For the next two and a half years Rustemagic communicated with Kubert and supporters in Europe via sporadically functioning fax machines, recounting the city's destruction, the Serb brutality inadequate multinational peacekeeping force and the physical and spiritual deprivations of life in a war zone. Kubert has used Rustemagic's faxed messages to recreate the family's experiences?a heartstopping nighttime dash across Sarajevo airport under fire; the deadly gauntlet of Serb snipers on the route between Dobrinja and Sarajevo?in a black-and-white, book-length comics work that brilliantly documents a family's wartime survival and escape against unbelievable odds. Kubert's mainstream comics narrative style can at times be heavyhanded, but his signature graphic style?brisk, precisely rendered, emotionally charged linework in dramatically composed panels?marks him as one of mainstream comics' most talented and celebrated interpreters of the horrors of war.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA. Told through a combination of comic-book graphics and copies of the faxed communications sent back and forth between Sarajevo and the outside world, this dramatic account tells how the Rustemagic family survives the deadly siege of their homeland. The graphic novel format is ideally suited to bring the events to life in a compelling way. This portion of the book is followed by a condensed version of each chapter with photos of the actual people and places depicted in the narrative. The package was put together by Rustemagic's American friend and fellow comic artist, Joe Kubert. This is an important offering that will be read by graphic novel enthusiasts, as well as by students doing reports on these horrifying events.?Betsy Levine, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; 1 edition (October 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569713464
• ISBN-13: 978-1569713464
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #784,728 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Society Unraveled, January 6, 2002

By	N. Smith (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I heard about this book when it first came out and I simply had to check it out.

Why would a well-known artist like Joe Kubert abandon the hum-drum of fictional comics to produce a full-length journalistic book...? How could he expect it to even sell?

When the Cranberries wrote a song about Sarajevo, comparing the hatred there to that of Northern Ireland, the topic of Joe's book made me sit up and listen. And I am so glad I did. Joe's connection to the subject matter is personal, and I think that this one fact makes this book a classic work of literature in its own time. Despite his bias because of his closeness to the situation, Joe takes the time to present the complexity of the situation in Bosnia with his art and editorial commentary. And for this I am very thankful.

When I traveled to Croatia in 1997, this book gave me an emotional "frame of reference" from which to speak to the people I met, and I was met with passionate affirmations of the fear, frustration, and outrage that the people there were feeling, being threatened by people who hated them, not for political reasons, but for their ancestry or religion.

Imagine: You walk outside one day and suddenly people on the street are drawing lines between people where they never drew them before. They taunt, persecute, even shoot at people who look just like them, went to school with them, and live across the street from them. This is not a phenomenon limited to Bosnians. It's a human phenomenon, and it's happening right now, in the U.S. between narrow-minded Americans and people who they fear for illegitimate reasons.

Kubert succeeds in framing, accurately, how, given the right chain of events, the seeming tight knot of trust and brotherhood in society can quickly unravel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read Book!, April 10, 1999

By A Customer

As a University student who is currently studying the topic of genocide, I had my first lesson of what genocide really is after reading Joe Kubert's book "Fax From Sarajevo". Joe Kubert, the author, really opened my eyes to this international problem of war crimes when he explicitly described the atrocious conditions and slaughterous events of the 18 month siege in Bosnia. The story brought me to my knees and put tears in my eyes when I finished reading the documented true life story of a family.

I have such admiration for the Rustemagic family, the author and also my professor for educating me some more on a topic that I was once ignorant on and thought it was a foreign enigma. I was impressed by the families strong will to survive during this murderous event, and leave Bosnia in the middle of an ethnic cleansing campaign by the Serb Army, which could have easily taken their lives.

I highly suggest that future readers of the book take into account that victims and survivors of all genocides are the ones who are the "True Hero's" of war.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars lacks something, November 8, 2001

By	C. D. Murphy (Natick, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a sad story and I applaud Kubert for putting the effort into making this and trying to relay what happened in Sarajevo to people. However the style doesn't suit the story. The drawing and thought bubbles are just too reminiscent of a super her comic. If you compare the book to Sacco's "Safe Area", the stories are very similiar and equally heart breaking, but the presentation lends to the horror in Sacco's book. That being said, Sacco was there, while Kubert is basically translating from communications. He does a good job of relating from the faxes, but you come away feeling that this could have been so much better.

I think you should read it if interested, but Sacco's I think should be taught in schools. So make sure to get that one.