This children’s story was hilarious, impactful, and thematically strong! Front of the line for teachers of young children.

A captivating story of a Jewish family searching for their roots in Poland. The characters, especially the main character Malka, are complex and realistic. I would love to see more from this author

This graphic novel is a great study in how much we love and loathe our families set against the backdrop of shared family trauma.

I'd give it probably a 3.75. As a family historian, I loved the premise, but the execution was a bit wanting. I didn't love how much of a mess he made the main character. It's one thing to make her family's concerns reasonable, but it's another to make her a total caricature. Otherwise I thought it was great. Illustrations were decent, at least not distracting if not unique. I loved the family dynamic and the history and the honesty.

A slice of life story told through different points of view in the Bloom family. Everyone has sorrows and difficulties they are trying to face. At the same time, the family is working together to find their family home that was lost to them during the holocaust. There is humor, sadness, existential crises, joy, and love of family. Well done art takes you back and forth in time with ease, and keeps you interested in the story along with the words.

This is one for adult collections, if you're buying for a library. It's not explicit, but there's language and multiple characters have (nonexplicit) sex at some point. Also general subject matter of genocide, auschwitz, racism is pretty heavy.

Overall it was okay. It's a large cast of characters so none of them are really developed that much. They all have issues, but there was a never a point where it felt like they overcame their own issues or biases to help one other with their issues, more that the point was that everyone carries burdens and sometimes people argue about whose burden is heavier.

Would maybe recommend it for large libraries.

I guess the moral of this story is: "family is the absolute WORST but they're still family so I guess you have to put up with their bullshit because what else are you going to do."
Malka is the designated family screw-up. Even though she is highly educated, she is a hot mess with no job, no place to live, and has just lost custody of her son because even he can't take her drama anymore. When she guilts her way on a family trip to rediscover their Jewish roots in Poland, she ends up discovering that some of them are not that bad after all.
Except they kind of are. And she kind of is too... none of these character are likeable, in fact most of them are pretty horrible, obnoxious, judgmental asshole people... but through all of that, there is genuine love for each other deep DEEP down.

This was a bit more mature than I originally thought it was going to be. All-in-all it was a good read about family dynamics when combined with a troubling ancestral note. This was a very good pacing of dealing with family while on a very specific vacation goal. The storyline was relatively easy to follow.

It doesn't take long for you to get a feel for how the Bloom family assembles into their obviously well-worn tracks of their own family drama. Their disfunction sets up a good back drop for the heavy topic of the Holocaust and intolerance for Jews that still exists today. The art style is pleasantly realistic and helps draw you in to the story.

Fun story about family and living a messed up life. Im so glad the family was able to bounce back from all of their issues and were able to forgive each other.

I didn’t love this as much as i wanted to. I liked the illustrations but the story line didn’t captivate me.

I was initially concerned about the swearing and Malka's lifestyle, but it soon became apparent that it was part of the story. I would not recommend it for younger children, I would say mature teens and up.
This book tells the story of a Jewish family who sets out to find their ancestor's home city and the flour mill he owned. Along the way, they discover many things about each other, Ashkenazi Jewish history, and the present state of antisemitism in Eastern Europe. I do not read too many graphic novels, but I thought it was odd that through out the trip nobody lent Malka clothes after her luggage went missing.

I want more!

The family in this graphic novel is really interesting and I really wanted more back story on them. Hopefully there will be a second book.

I'm very interested in the Holocaust, so this book was right up my alley. It was a great pilgrimage story. I'd love to see a book that explores the original story (of the family pre Holocaust, their experience during the war and after.) Again, hopefully a second book!

[3.5 Stars]

Chasing Echoes by Dan Goldman follows Malka, a dysfunctional single parent and family archivist, who gets a last minute invitation on her family's trip to find a family mill from the past. Malka's family is ... unlikeable to say the least and they judge Malka for her shortcomings throughout the story. I find that this made me, as a reader, empathize with Malka as well as root for her honor throughout. Goldman does a good job of depicting true feelings of Jewish people seeing the sites of genocide. While you see tourists taking pictures/chatting excitedly instead you see Malka's family huddled together feeling hurt and somber.

The art style is well drawn, and while it is not my preferred style I can see the artist really captured the essence of each character and brought life to intimate moments between the family.

Something that DID lower my rating was the nonchalant look at mental illness. Malka is seen at the beginning to take pills for something like depression or anxiety, though it is never mentioned to my memory. She loses her luggage during the trip which has said medicine in it, and during this time she uses the excuse of not having her meds as a way to get away with saying inappropriate things. This can be written off as fairly humorous when it comes down to it, but the ending we see Malka finding her pills and deciding she doesn't need them because she feels happy. This bothered me slightly because mental illness does not work like that and the misuse of medication can be dangerous.

Overall I did enjoy the story and find that this will be a great piece of literature looking into the life of Jewish-American families in the modern age.