All her life Olivia has grown up hearing stories of her family's beginnings in Algeria. Forced to leave because of civil war, Olivia's grandmother has always made her childhood growing up in Algeria seem perfect and picturesque. But as Olivia grew official history and personal family began to conflict. To understand the truth, she decides to travel to her family's homeland and visit all the places her grandmother has told her about.

This was a really interesting graphic novel. The pace is slow, but the story is told well. There's a lot of history and racial nuance that I didn't understand, but it was fascinating to take this journey with Olivia. The story makes me want to do more research about this region to understand the divide that exists between the French and Algerians. Olivia must come to terms with the fact that the paradise her grandmother always told her about is only one perspective and a small part of the whole story.

The art is very simple, but fits the story well. Use of color is minimal, restricted to the pictures that Olivia takes during the trip. Overall, I'm really glad I decided to pick this up.

4/5 stars

The graphics were my favorite part of the text. I found the narrative itself to be a bit slow. I enjoued learning more about Algeria and its history.

A lovely graphic memoir of a young woman's journey to Algiers to visit the country that her mother and grandparents left in the early 1960's. I learned about a history about which I was woefully ignorant. I loved the artwork and especially enjoyed the drawn photographs that compare the modern to the historical settings of the story.

How much French colonial history do you know? As an American, I know that the French were in North Africa because of the movie Casa Blanca, and that The Stranger takes place in Algeria, but beyond that, zip. So little colonial history is taught in American school, which is probably why we don't understand so much of the world.

I had never heard of the term, Black Foot, other than used for Native Americans. But, according to this graphic novel, and online sources, this refers to people of French decent that were born in Algeria.

Olivia, the author of this memoire, is a descendent of Black Foots, but who now live in France. Her grandparents grew up in Algeria, and have memories that they have shared with her, how the beaches are more blue there. How the melons are more sweet there. How the palm trees were too scrawny in France.

With stories such as that, what would have kept her from wanting to visit the land her family left behind when the war broke out, and Algeria was liberated from the French.

It is interesting story of a former colonist, or child of a colonist, visiting her families home. It is a little slow, but that is part of the travel. She took a lot of pictures and they were incorporated into this novel. Two examples below.

<img src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Screen-Shot-2018-02-02-at-3.34.09-PM.png">
<img src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Screen-Shot-2018-02-02-at-3.35.06-PM.png">

I thought the title of the book was odd, but it is the same in French as it is in English. And she does compare the wide open spaces to the American west.

Despite the lack of history, enough is explained that I felt I was up to speed as I read this. Very thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

The pace of the story was slow, and sometimes there was too much text on a particular page, but overall this was very enjoyable read. I think the idea of wanting to know where you come from is so very common- just consider the popularity of home DNA testing kits like AncestryDNA and 23 And Me, and so many readers will be able to relate to the desire to explore their family's roots.

The best way to sum up my thoughts for this is to say it was ok. I feel like there needed to be more of the story and I found myself a little underwhelmed but it was ok.

Nice artwork and story throughout. Reminded me of Camus work a bit.

I wanted to read this one as it sounded quite intriguing, however I am now at page 46, and now she is finally in Algiers... But by now I couldn't even care any more. I came for her to go to Algiers not give us a whole life description of everything (which was terribly boring). Or maybe I shouldn't read this book while having the flu/cold, reading on a pc/tablet screen is hurting my head even more.

The art is also not pulling me in. It tries to be realistic but it looks more creepy to me.

Plus I had expected a bit less of walls of text and more illustrations (not that those were better, but you get what I mean).

So yeah, I tried, I got to page 54, and then I just couldn't care to read this one further.

3 ⭐⭐⭐stars!

"When you don't know where you're going, take a look at where you came from."

I've never been to Algeria, but I know that there are great and generous people, delicious dishes and wonderful places to see.

Algeria Is Beautiful Like America is about a French girl who was brave enough to go on her own and explore a place she only heard of from her grandma's stories.

When her grandma passed away, Olivia decided to visit Algeria and see for herself the places that stole her grandmother's heart. Meeting all those generous people filled Olivia with love and gave her hope to come again and visit the place where her family was born and was always welcome to stay.

Interesting family story and history about Algeria, a country which I really didn't know anything about. The notion of going back to ancestral lands is always fascinating and this was a compelling portrayal of such a journey.

The file that I downloaded is not working correctly - instead of words or images, there are only fuzzy gray boxes. I am unable to review it, but am happy to review the book when the problem is resolved.

I couldnt review this because there is a problem with the file. I downloaded it into my reader but all I'm seeing is black squares.

There are no pictures. I deleted the file and reloaded it but it's the same thing. I'm happy to review the book if you repair the file