DNF. It’s partly the subject matter and it’s partially the loose definition of graphic novel. I would consider this more illustrated novel and it’s just not keeping my attention.

Black and white, apart from a most judicious and economical use of colour – and the sepia of old documents and archived ID cards – this lengthy and wordy graphic novel takes us through the twentieth century as seen by a Jewish family in Sweden. The father of them all got out of what is here called Yiddishland (now Poland), and acted as a much-respected trader and clothier in Sweden. Their firm's traffic was restricted by Sweden agreeing with the Nazi powers to not trade with Jews, but things still managed to thrive – while whole limbs of the family tree were being lopped off in the death camps elsewhere.

And some limbs were unknown to our creator – she has a chunk where she is forced to investigate with grunt work in directories across Europe to find a distant relative – and it'll never be known exactly what happened to the bulk of that man's family. And here is as good a place as any to say I felt something along the same lines – that I would never get a grasp of who is who in this, even with the firm chapter-after-chapter structure. The family tree is not a small one – too large for the book, we're told – but my little mind needed more help with it.

But the details, the incidents, are certainly present, overt and galling. Life in Norway under Nazi occupation comes next, as some of the family were stuck there. One of their ways out was to try and get into Sweden, but then it became illegal to get into Sweden – and illegal to have tried but failed and stayed. Refugees on the way our characters take were not allowed to leave with any money whatsoever, but needed a small fortune to enter the next country.

This then is presented many decades on from the first testimonies of how life was for Jews under Nazi rule. And that's the point – here we have the generation that suffered all this, and afterwards said as little as possible, and now we have not one but two (or more) generations trying to piece it all together. And these things must be written down, and commemorated. After all, civic memorials are still being made – but one relative might be missed off, if their name is not revealed by research. And you don't need me to tell you how anti-Semitism is still a stock in trade of far too many people.

That anti-Semitism so often presents Jews with an ugly, large nose, and our creator designs herself that way here – certainly it's a bit of a prominent feature. Of course, she can portray herself how she damn well pleases. The book is presented with a clear lower-case font, alongside box-less graphic novel illustrations. It's very readable, but at 400pp certainly is no quick browse.

The last chapter seems more a generic story about the Holocaust, a round-up of the situation and what it led to. That kind of diminishes the personal side of this, and also adds to how this ends up as some kind of definitive look at the Scandinavian Shoah, the Nordic 'Nihilation. This blend of exhaustive and intimate is probably the selling point here – the art is not showy, but the text has a lot of matter-of-fact detail. For those seeking that, there is no reason to not give this a purchase.

This graphic memoir absolutely floored me.*Remember Us to Life* is both a masterclass in visual storytelling and a deeply human account of the Holocaust, told with nuance, tenderness, and brutal honesty. As someone whose family history includes both the pogroms and the Holocaust, this story hit incredibly close to home. I found myself learning new details, yes—but more than that, I *felt* every page. The use of illustration here reminds me of Art Spiegelman's work where image and word combine to carry truths too heavy for either alone.

I’ll be returning to this book again and again. It’s one I’ll be purchasing for myself, and eventually sharing with my children when they’re old enough. The storytelling is that important, and that gifted.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. All opinions are entirely my own.

Remember Us to Life is a beautiful graphic novel that pays tribute to lost and forgotten family. This is a must purchase for all adult graphic novel collections.

In Remember Us to Life, Joanna Rubin Dranger has created a work that really helps the reader understand the scope of the Holocaust. Nazi's were in many places, and they were popular. In places like Sweden (the author's home,) they had their own Nazi parties and were hostile to Jewish people - citizens and immigrants. Dranger goes through her family's history, and finds every branch was touched by the atrocities of the war. Many family members were killed in the war, or never heard from again. In researching her family, she discovers she has cousins she didn't know existed, from relatives that did flee and survive, but never found their extended family again. At over 400 pages, the scope of the horror becomes unmistakable - the Nazi's tried to exterminate every Jewish person they could, and those who survived lost their families in multiple ways.

Dranger blends social history with familial history in this graphic novel. We learn about generations of Dranger's family and how they survived antisemitism and other horrors of the time period. I felt like I was listening to family history while at the dinner table. It was sad and beautiful.

I will be honest that it took me a while to finish because I kept pausing from how serious it gets.

This graphic novel follows a girl as she explores her family history and learns more about her heritage. It’s an engaging and insightful story that blends personal discovery with cultural history. Not only is it entertaining, but you also end up learning a lot along the way. A great read for anyone interested in family roots and identity.

Its been so.e time since I read it so I dont rememver much, but I remember that I enjoyed it and loved the drawings in it.

This graphic novel was beautiful and moving, I loved th illustrations and the meaning behind the story

This is a graphic memoir, it is personal, historical and emotional all at once. Joanna takes you through her family's hidden history, uncovering stories that were lost during the Holocaust. The mix of drawings, documents and storytelling's made it feel very intimate. It also made me learn more about Sweden's role in the WWII, something i never knew. It is beautifully told, heartbreaking at times but very important always.

Many thanks to Joanna Rubin Dranger, Clarkson Potter/TenSpeed Press and NetGalley for this ARC! All views expressed are solely my own.

This graphic novel really is like a sucker punch to the emotions. I couldn't tear myself away, equal parts enthralled and disgusted by what Joanna and her family have been through.

The juxtaposition of these brutal lines of texts sitting beside these quite jolly, sometimes quite peaceful doodle like artworks (pg. 19 I'm looking at you) was a lot, but I feel like it was the perfect choice to show her grief yet wanting to celebrate her family's stories.

I will openly admit this particular read has taken me quite a while to get through. There are a lot of names, a lot of information to process and it is an extremely heavy read. Which feels awful to say as I know that is not the important factor, but I'm certain a Jewish reader would have an entirely different perspective on how the book is read from someone who just thought it sounded interesting like I did.

I learned a lot about the suffering Jewish people have been through - I had no idea Nazism was so widespread throughout Europe, even in countries which have a reputation now for being fair and liberal places. I had no idea about the prior abuse and slaughter occurring in Russia either. The whole thing is just so, so much deeper than one country with one bad leader.

Excellent book! The author/artist tells about finding out there was more to her family history than she'd grown up knowing about......& her quest to learn more about that. Her writings & drawings are very expressive & mostly done in black/white pages......conveying the weight of her discovery. I consider myself pretty well read re WWII history & the Holocaust......& I still learned a lot in reading this book....... It is very good.....I recommend this to everyone!
I was given a e-ARC of the book by Clarkson Potter Ten Speed Press/Ten Speed Graphic via NetGalley, giving me an opportunity to read it & provide an honest review.

This is a deeply affecting account of a Swedish family's search for answers as to what happened to the family that was lost in the Holocaust. Joanna describes a family culture in which the events of the Holocaust and its effect on their family were not spoken about. All she knew growing up was that they were Jewish but not practicing, and that her maternal grandfather's family had "disappeared"

Through a winding journey up Joanna's family tree, we learn of Sweden's claims of neutrality but practice of assisting Germany. Many refugees were denied entry into Sweden. The story is at times difficult to read, and very very tragic. Joanna Rubin Dranger has used mixed media to create drawings and photographs that depict true events and real people. At the darkest, saddest part of the book, she gave a bit of an intermission with light filled cloudy skies.

She also describes her thought process along the way, asking her husband, and thus the reader, if people will find this useful, interesting, meaningful? The answer is that it is very important and meaningful, and should be read by young adults and adults. I highly recommend this sad and lovely book for all libraries.

Joanna Rubin Dranger's deep dive into her family history illustrates the terrifying and fraught history of European Jews. In particular, her memoir contributes a vivid narrative of how Sweden's actions (and inaction) during WWII made them complicit to the horrors that ensued. That was a perspective that was new to me that I appreciated. The downside to this graphic memoir is that it was almost too detailed for this format to work. Some pages were filled with small text and the delicate balance of the words and storytelling felt off. The cadence was jerky and that sometimes detracted from my ability to take in the important parts of the story.

Couldn’t finish — formatting issues made it hard to follow

I unfortunately did not finish this book, stopping at around 12%. While the premise was interesting and the story seemed promising—especially for readers who enjoy historically accurate narratives—I struggled to stay focused due to formatting issues on my phone. The text was often unreadable, which made the experience frustrating.

With a different font or format, I believe I might have had a very different opinion, as the content itself seemed strong.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to try this title. This review reflects my honest experience.

The Included rating keeps the review in mind and is fully based on my experience.

1. This isn't really [in my opinion] a graphic novel; it is more of a memoir with a mix of both illustrations and some photographs. It won't matter to most people, but for me, it made it more difficult to read. It took me several days and I still ended up with a headache each day due to the teeny print.

2. The history part of this was very interesting; my former in-laws were in Sweden [escaped there from Estonia when the Russians invaded the Baltic States] during the way and their experience was dramatically different, but I'm guessing it was because they were white and "christian". Seeing that same Sweden through the author's eyes [and the eyes of her relatives that lived during that time, through the letters and diaries the author has] was very interesting, enlightening, and also very infuriating.

3. It was, though well-researched and very personal, very long and at times confusing [SO MANY PEOPLE to try and keep track of]; it was also bogged down by the minutiae of detail [of her daily life and the actually writing of this book amongst other things] and I found myself struggling with boredom at certain points. The overall story might have worked better as multiple books or as a series as it would have been easier to try and keep track of everyone that way, but seeing as it was also her personal memoir, perhaps not.

4. I DO recommend this book, especially if you have time to really sit with this; it is absolutely filled with history we ALL need to work on making sure that it is never erased [and if you can handle the tiny print], and it is important to see other people's POV's and how they experienced life that might have been different from how someone else experienced it. The illustrations are very good and truly work to convey the story in the best way possible. I can understand why this is so highly rated; it IS filled with stories that once you have read them, will never leave you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Joanna Rubin Granger, Maura Tavares - Translator, and Clarkson Potter - Tenspeed Press/Tenspeed Graphic for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was interesting in it's own way, but I don't think it's fully what I expected. I had a hard time getting into it in some sections. I really liked the art style and those parts.

Not for me, and i will not be requesting books like this for quite some time

My health dipped a lot while reading and I am goi by to give 4 stars because I think my illness played a bigger part into me not enjoying/retaining

This is such an important book. What starts out as a simple desire to know more about her family leads the author to learn so much more about the events that took place in Sweden and the surrounding areas during the Holocaust. What hit home for me was how people's memories were unreliable, even about their own families, and untangling her family history led her in so many directions.
There is so much history in this graphic novel, so much detail about the past. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I got through 65% of the book before DNF-ing. When I requested it the state of the world was not was it is now, and it's become too much for me to handle at this time. If I'm able to revisit it before the archive date I'll do so and update this review.

Of the 65% I read, it was a good book. At times the names got confusing, and a periodic family tree would have helped, but it was informative and heart wrenching and really told the story of the author's family. I'm adding a rating based on what I felt about at the time that I finished it.