Dnf 50%

Not for me.
I wasn't into the art styles or the stories, even if I was interested at some moments. I'm more critical when it comes to certain things.

This just wasn’t what I thought it would be. If I had went in expecting a case study I would have enjoyed it much more than I did.

I don't usually read graphic books but I wanted to try it out and I did with this book. It was an interesting read but I was not so invested. It was great to learn about sex tourism in Brazil though.

I want to say first of all that I absolutely love the intention here, which is to make ethnography accessible to the public through the venue of graphic novels. This is a fantastic idea long in the works and I am most excited to say this: it worked!

I have some critiques, which is why it's 4 stars (imagine us at 4.5, which feels more honest.) The book is in black and white, which is fast becoming outdated in the comic/graphic novel world, and it's often overtaken by text boxes. The author spoke to so many women, and we only get a few-- I actually would have loved to hear even more stories from the women she spoke to. I don't even think it's necessary to turn the research into a singular narrative.

The book included several pages of text notes, which points to this same issue-- much of the research was left out of the book, which isn't necessary. After all, you're turning the research into a graphic novel-- why not put the sources into the graphic novel, as well? Some notes may have been necessary (e.g. why the title 'gringo love'?), but I found I'd have preferred most in the same format as the rest of the book.

All in all, though, it's a wonderful book. I feel like I'm seeing the beginning of something, and so I really don't expect perfection. It was absolutely educational, and it was also interesting and attractively drawn. I'd be happy to see more from everyone involved; I'm very excited for this series!

"Gringo Love" is an ethnographic research study in the form of a graphic novel about the sex tourism in the north-eastern part of Brazil. The time span is from 2007 to 2019, but the main part takes place between 2007-2008. The author, Marie-Eve (Eva in the book), a Canadian ethnographer, hangs out with a group of women who practice sex tourism, observers and interviews them. Throughout the graphic novel we get to see their stories and their reasons for practicing sex tourism, as well as tidbits of some factual information and explanations offered by the author.

While the graphic novel is a pretty quick and "light" read ~ mostly conversations between a group of women getting ready for a night out, hanging out on the beach, and flirting and hooking up with men, it is in essence a lot more profound. The issue of sex tourism is very complicated, and "fixing" the issue of sex tourism is more than just cracking down on establishments where guests engage in this practice. The graphic novel explores multiple issues like race, gentrification, racial stereotypes (both of Brazilian women and of white/European men), double standards and more and how they play into sex tourism. Why is a poor woman seeing a white/European man seen as a prostitute while a rich woman seeing a white/European man is only seen as his date? Are the women engaging willingly in sex tourism victims or are they just making a living the best they can?

Of course the issue of sex tourism is more complicated than that. It is not always about willing women engaging in relationships with foreign men as a way of making a living. Sex tourism can become tangled with human trafficking. Where there is a demand there needs to be a supply. This can lead to women and young girls being lured into, or even kidnapped and trafficked. Sex tourism locations can become gateways of human trafficking. The graphic novel itself doesn't delve into these issues much, even though there is a very extensive appendix to it that explores all the issue more in depth. The graphic novel looks more at how cracking down on sex tourism affects willing women by taking away their livelihood and how sometimes the cracking down on sex tourism has less to do with the sex tourism per se, and more to do with serving a gentrification agenda.

"Gringo Love" is an interesting piece of non-fiction that I would recommend to those interested in this issue. Thank you to NetGalley and University of Toronto Press for the review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loooved it ! Such a clever way to democratize anthropology work ! The narrative is cleverly put together to enable us to see every aspect the author wants to showcase. This is really very immensly perfect, I always love to see new ways of scientific popularization in anthropology in particular !

I admire and praise the fact that the graphist is "ownvoice" to the setting, which avoids a foreigner's perpective on the image and makes it truer to the viewed reality.

Anthropology is great for puting ideas and popular misconcenptions in persepctive; so here the intent of challenging the popular visuals on sex tourism with an other visual is genial and perfect !

I love the discussions in Appendix 3 and overall all 3 appendixes where beautiful and needed.The reading guide is perfect for opening this work to a larger audience !

I also appreciate grandly the big bibliography and ressources at the end.

I will buy this if it is available to me !

I enjoy non-fiction graphic novels because they can make dense or dry information feel a lot more accessible, and Gringo Love did not disappoint. As a person with little knowledge of Brazilian culture or sex-work, apart from movies/television, this graphic novel explores these concepts in more clear cut way than a book filled with text and charts or graphs could. It give a realistic sense to facts that can be uncomfortable to look at and understand as a reality for people. I felt that it was a well composed and honest portrayal of the experiences of a group of women struggling to survive, or to simply get along, in a society that does not seem to be invested in their success.

This nonfiction work is a result of years of research and it's translated into a graphic format that make's it easier for the reader to engage with the theme. However, the social nature of the study is a bit harder to evaluate through this format, and I felt it could be a bit shallow and objectifying for a more serious approach on the matter, despite being from a University. Still, I thought this was an interesting work and I recommend it to those who are looking for a lighter method to learn more about sex tourism and poverty in Latin America's biggest country.

Gringo Love

The images were powerful and I enjoyed the art style very much for this type of book. It wasn’t too artsy, but instead very clean. I really do think the artwork could’ve been more powerful in color though.

I enjoyed the tidbits of Marie-Eve’s research throughout. I can tell she put a lot of work into researching sex tourism and I admire her for that. I think it would be very easy for a lot of information to be lost when put in a graphic novel format, simply because this seems to be a very research-heavy project. But, a lot of the information was presented well.

One issue with putting a research project into a graphic novel format is that with graphic novels, we expect a story. While I think it’s easy to see what Marie-Eve wanted us to know, I wanted more of a plot.

It was so fascinating to see all the gray, complex areas that were involved with this particular study. I do wish we could’ve gotten a little more from the characters. I started to see depths to them but then the scene would end and move on.

I appreciated the additional appendixes at the end, just so I was able to learn a little more detail.

Overall, I think this was a great book for learning purposes, but I would’ve enjoyed a little more depth to the story.

arc generously provided by the netgalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This was a read out of my comfort zone. I don't usually read graphic novels, but I was intrigued by the premise of this story. I didn't know much about sex tourism in Brazil when I started reading this. I learned a lot by the end of the graphic novel and in some ways, it left a bitter aftertaste of guilt. The representation of the marginalized and the gringos and how their relationships work in this space was 'fascinating' to read. It was a fast-paced and informative read!

I like what the author was trying to do here, just didn't translate as well as I hoped.
I think part of this had to do with the dry and drab delivery.
Despite the cover being in colour, the graphic is done exclusively in B&W.
Brazil is a vibrant country and I was really looking forward to all the colours jumping off the pages.
The writing felt like a PHD thesis presentation...long winded.
It didn't work for me, but there was some cool info inside.
Thanks to NetGalley and University of Toronto Press for my DRC

Nonfiction graphic novel where a researcher from Canada hangs out with young women in a Brazilian coastal town known for its "sex tourism." She gets to know the women and talks to many men who visit there for the easy sex. The women do not seem exploited, have a lot of autonomy, and greatly prefer sex for gifts or money over working as virtual slaves for little money and no respect cleaning the houses of Brazil's elites. The men, in general, seem warped — they don't like the uppity women back home (in Spain, Italy, Germany, Norway) and are seeking subservient, sexy women. In many cases, the possibility of marriage is a distinct possibility, with a number of the women interviewed being flown to Europe for long-term relationships. The author also gives little glimpses into her conundrums as an ethnographer trying to tell the stories of people she's becoming friends with.

The book isn't as fulfilling when the author returns six years later. She's able to find only one of the women she talked to before so the reader never learns what happens to the main "characters." What the reader does learn is that a heavy-handed crackdown on sex tourism has driven the open marketplace of transactional sexual relationships underground in a way that doesn't seem to be a benefit to the women involved in it. This, though, isn't explained with any detail because the author didn't investigate this.

There's an academic afterward that I mostly skimmed. For those coming at this subject from an ethnographic research angle, it's probably very useful. I liked the recommended reading list — it includes a title I was going to suggest that readers who are interested in this book might also like: the memoir "Paying for It" by Canadian graphic novelist Chester Brown, who gives a fascinating look at his paying for sex because he just finds it easier. The author tipped me to a graphic novel memoir I didn't know about but that is now on my to-read list, Sylvie Rancourt's "Melody: Story of a Nude Dancer."

Bottom line: If you have any interest in sex work from the perspective of those involved in it, this is worth checking out. The artwork is good and in no way exploitative toward the subjects it covers.

This excellent graphic novel is actually based on a research project which looked at sex tourism in Brazil. By presenting the research in graphic novel format the complexity of the research findings are brought to life.

It was incredibly interesting to see the research presented in this way and illustrating the research subiects brings the complexity of the issues to life in an engaging way. All of this is summarised at the end of the book and the author explains more about he roject

This book provides an opportunity to understand the lives of sex workers and to appreciate the complexities involved.

Copy provided by Netgally in exchange for an unbiased review.

"Gringo Love" is an ethnography of sex tourism in Brasil written in unique form of an "ethno-graphic" novel. What a way to present academic research to wider audiences.

As a Master's student in a related discipline, when I read the synopsis of this book, I had to get my hands on it. "Gringo Love" presents the story of Eva, the researcher, spending time with and getting to know female sex workers in Ponta Negra, Brasil. However, as the researcher learns during her fieldwork, these women don't necessarily like the label they are assigned- some spend time with men for free and hope to be reimbursed for their time while others seek adventure and a way out of their precarious circumstances. For many, meeting gringos, white foreigners, is a pathway to traveling the world or even moving abroad.

What's interesting is that the author also takes into account the perspectives of sex tourists, or the gringos themselves (although perhaps not sufficiently); it turns out they don't simply seek prostitutes, but a deeper connection or an easy-going girlfriend. For some, this ends with the trip, but others invite their newfound love back to their countries.

Eve's research illuminates a multi-dimensional problem related to Brasil's ban on sex tourism. While the campaign presents itself as a way of protecting the women, in reality their lives became even more precarious after the government cracked down on this industry.

I truly loved this book - both as a curious reader and as a scholar. I think "ethno-graphy" is a wonderful way to bring academia to the public in an accessible way. However, I did think it was sometimes difficult to follow the individual characters, which is a technical issue. Content-wise, though, there was nothing I can critique other than I would have liked the graphic part of this book to be significantly longer than it was.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The graphic novel 'gringo love' is an academic study about sex tourism in Brazil. The graphic novel contains a researcher: she talks about her experiences while doing research and the women she met. Near the end, she reflects on the differences between the last century and now. The graphic novel end with a more essay-type of form about relevant information.

To be honest, I don't feel like this concept worked out. Essays and academic texts are great to read in the right context. I love to read this type of literature to get to know something new. This graphic novel did teach me a lot about sex tourism in Brazil. It was helpful and totally taught me something new.
However, the combination of the academic aspect and 'fun' wasn't the right match. The characters were very blank because the researcher talked about them in a very object-type manner. The cartoon part was fun to read, but I feel like many people would be bothered with such flat characters. And many will skip the academic information at the back.
I also must admit that the drawings were very minimalistic. Brazil is such a colorful country and I didn't feel that same vibe. The setting was very off.

I loved to learn more about sex tourism in Brazil, and it was -for sure- very helpful. The concept however, didn't work out for me.

It is extremely difficult to take academic research and put it into an easily digestible form. Anyone who has taken a course from a brilliant, but maybe almost too knowledgeable professor in college knows this. Some material is very hard to explain in lay terms, or at least to explain it in any sort of meaningful way. I love that this graphic novel was attempted, but I don't think the end result quite achieved the goal. The graphic novel part came across as repetitive and shallow, and even boring at times. The information that followed expanded quite a bit on the subject, but I imagine a person who is initially attracted to the idea of an ethnography-based graphic novel would be disappointed to essentially find two separate texts. A successful carrying-out of this goal would have included more of the nuanced and detailed information within the graphic novel part. Otherwise, why even do it like this? This was an ambitious project; maybe a little too much so.

Based in the sultry city of Natal, Brazil this graphic studies the life’s of several local woman who negotiate the terms of their intimate relationships with foreign tourists, or gringos, in a situation often referred to as "sex tourism."

The authors unique use of a graphic to explain ethnographic research was brilliant! I think it allowed the reader to easily digest the situations the author observed and prevented the research from feeling overwhelming. It also allowed us to emotionally connect to each character in different locations throughout Natal.

The research presented in this graphic was eye-opening and important for everyone to read.

I like the idea of this and how it worked to turn research into a graphic novel. This will really make you think and bring an important topic to light. There are moments that leave you sad or disgusted. I felt like I wanted more depth out of the characters and story.

I do recommend it and think the graphic novel format is a great way to bring studies like this to a broader audience.

I think that Gringo Love achieved what it set out to do. I was so surprised and happy when I stumbled upon a university going out of its way to try and expand the audience of its research. I believe this is an incredibly smart idea to make research more accessible to a larger number of people by transposing it into a graphic novel. I am a sociologist by training so the theme of the novel really caught my eye. I think it does a good job of giving an overview of the world of sex tourism and (some of) the women that work in it.
I can't do anything but praise the idea and look out for the next installments!
#GringoLove #NetGalley

This story is very informative, and slightly disturbing. The book itself feels as though it could have used another editing pass