A powerful and starkly beautiful graphic novel. .......................................................................................................................................................................

Thank you so much Netgalley for providing me an ARC of the stunning graphic novel. The arc features one of the third stories, specifically the third one and my review is applicable for the same. After reading the whole book, my opinion might change for better or worse.

But I Live centers around horrifying experiences and traumas of Holocaust survivor Emmie Arbel. The distressing past often comes back to haunt her and she finds herself drifting away from the present. She came close to death several times but her unyielding courage and strength kept her alive in the darkest times. In spite of everything life threw at her, she lives on. The raw emotions captured in the illustrations are simply heartbreaking and gave me the chills. However, I didn't quite feel the connection I was hoping to achieve. The writing lacked emotional depths and the story telling could have been so much better. It reminded me of 'Between Shades of Gray' by Ruta Sepetys which is an extremely important book considering the plot and historical interests but failed to touch my heart. The illustrations are truly unnerving as they portray the despair and hopelessness in an intense manner and that alone is enough of a reason for me to give the book a chance.

**Disclaimer: I recieved a free teaser eARC of But I Live by Miriam Libicki through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for this opportunity.

But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust by Miriam Libicki is a collection of graphic novellas about children who survived the Holocaust.  The eARC is read was a sneak peak that contained just the first novella.  I rated it four stars on Goodreads.  It is set to be published on May 24th, 2022.


Here's the summary from Goodreads:

An intimate co-creation of three graphic novelists and four Holocaust survivors, But I Live consists of three illustrated stories based on the experiences of each survivor during and after the Holocaust.
David Schaffer and his family survived in Romania due to their refusal to obey Nazi collaborators. In the Netherlands, brothers Nico and Rolf Kamp were separated from their parents and hidden by the Dutch resistance in thirteen different places. Through the story of Emmie Arbel, a child survivor of the Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, we see the lifelong trauma inflicted by the Holocaust.
To complement these hauntingly beautiful and unforgettable visual stories, But I Live includes historical essays, an illustrated postscript from the artists, and personal words from each of the survivors.
As we urgently approach the post-witness era without living survivors of the Holocaust, these illustrated stories act as a physical embodiment of memory and help to create a new archive for future readers. By turning these testimonies into graphic novels, But I Live aims to teach new generations about racism, antisemitism, human rights, and social justice.

As mentioned above, I was only able to read a short part of the graphic novella collection, but honestly it was a very well written and designed story.  The art style was really lovely and really suited the emotional tone of the story.  I appreciated the colours and the design of each of the people that were included in the story.

The story itself was really beautiful and I liked how you saw the present of the survivor but also saw their story played out.  It had a lot of emotional resonance.  I found myself wanting more and to hear in even greater detail about this person.  

I do wish that I had been able to read the other two novellas in order to get a full image of the collection, but what I read was really interesting, and I think it's a must read.  You should definitely check it out when it publishes in May.

Like any preview should, "But I Live" the title memoir from this book, that features three stories of child survivors of the Holocaust, demonstrates the content from this book. "But I Live" is a graphic adaptation of Emmie Arbel's memories of surviving the Holocaust as told in her current home in Israel. Arbel shares what early memories she had of life before the camps, then first a transit camp and Ravensbruck, and then her after war experience reuniting with other surviving family and what scars she still carries. All of this displayed with realistic and sympathetic imagery.

I hope to be able to read the rest of the book, learn of the experience of other survivors, and read the historical essays that help contextualize the stories.

Heartbreaking. A woman who was in the concentration camps, she does not remember but she knows what she went through. Watching her family be ripped apart, her mother die just days after the liberation, but the words that hit me the hardest is when she speaks of being so ill she knew she was dying, and that thought brought her happiness...but she lived.

This is just as powerful as Maus and will probably be banned as well. Buy your copy so these stories never disappear.
Thanks to @netgalley, Barbara Yellin, Emmie Arbel, University of Toronto Press, and New Jewish Press for allowing me the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

So beautifully written. The illustrations were amazing. Congrats to the authors. I honestly can't wait to read the full version of it. Love to have stories like this as graphic novels.

Emotional, raw, beautiful, sad and perfectly framed.

While this is an extremely personal and painful collection of memories from Holocaust survivors and I respect that. However I didn't like the illustration style and I didn't know what I was supposed to take away from the collection.

This was a partial ARC. The retelling of Emma and her Holocaust memories was beautifully done. I would like to read the other 2 stories.

A powerful graphic novel, use of art and history to explore stories well worth sharing and passing down.

I received an ARC of the third memoir in this breathtakingly illustrated collection edited by Charlotte Schallié: “But I Live,” told by Barbara Yelin and Emmie Arbel. What gripped me about this story was Emmie’s palpable trauma, no less severe in her elderly years than during her Holocaust girlhood. Barbara’s illustrations are rendered in thick brush strokes, thick like Emmie’s pain, brain fog, thick like the viscous memories she trudges through in order to relay her memories of being tortured in Ravensbrück. Barbara deftly handles the conversational exchanges between Emmie and her interviewers by alternating color palettes. Alternating memory frames and present day frames hauntingly relays the experience of traumatic flashbacks. She sometimes leaves Emmie alone in the frame, the unoccupied space translating the sensation of dissociating after being lost in horrible thoughts. I have read other trauma memoirs and other Holocaust memoirs. While all important and powerful in their own ways, But I Live did something I have not personally encountered yet in this genre: the authors and editors are bold to leave in the narrator’s defeated admissions, “I don’t remember.” Those who would be so corrupt as to deny the very real existence and horrors of the Holocaust could easily point to this as “proof” that these stories aren’t real. Those of us who have experienced any sort of trauma (and who believe these survivors) know, however, that “I don’t remember” is the most honest, most devastating admission of one’s trauma. Not remembering is a biological act of self-preservation; the mind erases what it cannot compute. I learned this while undergoing EMDR for my own mind’s erasures. I am sure many, many readers, from all walks of life having survived all manner of traumas, and even those who haven’t, will feel the resonance of Emmie’s simple bravery to admit that she sometimes cannot remember. In one frame, the narrator, reaching for the emotional pressure release valve in the conversation, hopefully asks Emmie about Liberation and, astoundingly, is answered: “I don’t remember.” And that is the nature of trauma: it distills every good memory adjacent to the lived horror to an empty void that reaches around towards memories beyond those relentlessly playing on loop, unable to grasp an escape. But I Live, releasing this May 24 in a critical edition including historical essays as well, will surely emerge as a significant work of memory keeping and historical advocacy for survivors of the Holocaust and their families.

This e-galley contained 1 of the 3 survivor stories that the final addition will contain. The story contained in this galley is beautifully written and illustrated. The emotion conveyed through the sparse text was very moving. I look forward to reading the two remaining stories when this title is published.

The arc copy only contained one of the stories but was gorgeously put together. The artwork is a gorgeous watercolour style and I would love to read more in order to see all of the people’s stories. Hopefully I can better add my opinion on my Goodreads review once I can get a copy of the full graphic novel and read the full thing.

But I Live is a graphic novel, a collection of stories from three holocaust survivors sharing their painful experience and how they are now in the present time.

The arc only provided 1/3 of the collection which tells the story of Emmie Arbel. It is so heartwrenching. She suffered so much at such a young age and has to live with the trauma.

I love how the story was told and the art style is beautiful.

Overall, this is such a great book. I can't wait to read the other stories!

* Thank you Netgalley and University of Toronro Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

TWs: Self harm, holocaust, internment, suicide, child abuse

I only got to read one of the 3 stories in this ARC but the one that I read was fantastically written, superbly drawn and deeply haunting.

The art style is like a gorgeous watercolour painting and it lends itself so well to the story being told.

I'm highly anticipating being able to read the rest of this collection as the sample I read was phenomenal

I really enjoyed the excerpt from this book. It was really beautiful illustrations and the story was very moving. I like how the artist drew everyday events, like going to a coffee shop and checking emails, inlaid with the speaker’s memories of the Holocaust. It sent a clear message that the trauma and resilience is always with survivors, always looming in the background. I can’t wait to see the rest of this book!

I really enjoyed this chapter! The watercolours are very beautiful. i have looked into a number of hoocaust content, as i helped create a expo of it in my city in Portugal - i think this is a great addition to the existing work. It is very important that these stories are recorded and that we do not forget, and most importantly that we do not repeat them.
I would very much enjoy reading the book in its entirety when it is available!

a brilliant graphic novel about the stories from holocaust survivors based on their experiences and what they could remember from those times.

the watercolour illustrations make the whole reading experience a more heartfelt read. its such an important book to look back into history and think about how far they have come to get to where they are today. even though i have only read a portion of the book, i can feel that its going to be an amazing one.

thank you netgalley for an eARC which only consists on 1/3 of the story - will look forward to find it on the shelves to read.

Brilliant and heartbreaking story of a young person life during the holocaust. This graphic novel was such a beautiful quick read about Emmie Arbel fight for survival at such a young age and how she survived the tragic events that nearly lead her to losing her life to typhus. But then she managed to live on.

This is not representative of the whole book as only one story is provided in the e-ARC, but I do like what is presented.

The present day interspersed with Emmie Arbel's childhood ordeal of being in an internment camp provides not only an interestingly juxtaposing effect, the seamless transition between the two also illustrates the long-lasting impact the experience has on Arbel and many other Holocaust survivors alike. The art, with its painting-like quality, can be harrowing - especially in the splash pages.

Nevertheless, I feel like there could have been more depth or detail to the story; it seems like only the surface is explored as of now. Of course, straddling the line between telling a story and exploiting a survivor's traumatic experience can be tricky. Still, I think this will be a good addition to the existing graphic novels about the Holocaust.

This review will only cover one story within this graphic novel, as the eARC only featured one. The excerpt I read was haunting and sad, following Emmie Arbel who is a Holocaust survivor, telling her story to a young interviewer. The first aspect of this novel that caught my eye was the art style - I loved the watercolour art style, and combined with the beautiful blues and greens featured in this novel, it was beautiful to read. The story itself is heartbreaking and easy to follow. This story made me emotional as you are placed in the shoes of a young child in the Holocaust. I will definitely be looking for a completed copy of this book once published!