Comics for Choice
Comics for Choice
The book Comics for Choice is a nonfiction book containing stories about women from different backgrounds and their unique experiences with abortion, reproductive rights, and the oppression of women by the U.S. government. In addition, the book includes stories about courageous women and organizations that led the charge to ensure that women have the right to choose and have access safe, affordable abortions.
Of the many interesting stories in this book, two of the most inspiring stories in this book were the stories of Tennessee's first black legislator, Dorothy Brown, a reproductive rights advocate and of the Janes, a secret organization that was committed to getting women safe abortions before Roe vs. Wade even legalized it. The only way to fully appreciate these touching and inspiring stories is by reading and engaging with this book on your own.
I think books like these should definitely be in the spotlight more often, especially after the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. This book was written before the overturning, but in every story, you can see that reproductive rights were already under threat. Many people are misinformed about abortions and even what Roe vs. Wade and other important reproductive rights cases stand for. Roe vs. Wade doesn’t recommend abortion, it supports a woman’s right to choose. It’s important to be educated on such a polarizing topic and I think this book is extremely informative.
The one issue I have with this book is its wording. The writer often speaks about abortion as a “feminist issue” which I think could be seen negatively by many. Feminism is often seen as a form of extremism, and to associate reproductive health and women’s right to choose with this could cause people to have a negative perception of it. Other than my issue with this wording, I would recommend this book to basically everyone. Reproductive rights can often be seen as a dense and weighted topic, but this book proves quite the opposite. Most of these stories are between 5-15 pages long, the perfect length to not lose interest, and they are all in comic strip formatting which makes the stories even more engaging. In addition, Comics for Choice takes heartbreaking and emotional stories, and portrays them so that the reader can understand the lives of the people in this book, which I feel is hard to do in nonfiction writing. 10/10
-Praachi
PRAACHI! THIS WAS SO GOOD! First of all, I LOVE that you are reviewing this book, since I still can't believe that Roe v. Wade was overturned, and I think that reproductive rights really need to be talked about in today's world. I agree that there's a lot of misinformation surrounding abortion, and I think it's amazing that someone wrote a book sharing the stories of countless women that stood up for a woman's right to choose. I also feel like this book could be both happy and sad at the same time. I really appreciate how you pointed out the things you didn't like about this book; nonfiction can be a hard genre to master, but it seems like the author did it really well, and I think you did an absolutely AMAZING job writing this review too! I will definitely be reading this book in the future :)
ReplyDeleteHi Praachi, I typically don't read nonfiction, but this book seems interesting. It is important to read about contemporary topics even if they can be heavy topics to deal with. Of course, it is important to talk about the negative aspects, and you didn't shy away from pointing out how some of the wording can influence people's opinions.
ReplyDeletePraachi, this book sounds so good! I've never heard of a book talking about such controversial topics such as Roe vs. Wade and abortion, and it's refreshing to know that someone is out there educating people. Even so, I liked how you talked about some of the negatives about it, since theres never a perfect review. I hope to read this book soon!
ReplyDeleteWow! Nonfiction stories written in comic is such a creative way to address contemporary topics, your review definitely does a good job of expressing its impact. The overturn of Roe vs Wade was crushing. Definitely adding this book to my to-read list.
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