The Gulf

This is an interesting take on the graphic novel. I would recommend this more for the seasoned reader.

So first off I have to commend the book for not using dialogue to explain the story. I really appreciate when people try a deliver a method of storytelling that is novel or at least deviates from the standard spoon-feeding read-along route, although the foreword let's the reader know what they're in for and gives a description of the final chapter that would be open to interpretation otherwise. I felt the book drew closer to the author's real life experiences than she may have led us to believe; dates seem too specific, events had those seemingly insignificant details that I don't think an imagination would include (but that's just my opinion).
I think the finer points of the plot are open to how each reader might view it, but I experienced the story to be about is a woman who suffered brain trauma and lost herself in the accident; she lost her memories, her talents, her job, her hope; her daytime was gloomy, her nighttime was filled with nightmares crossed with flashbacks. So she sets out on a journey to piece back together whatever pieces of her old self she can find through her art, and from the shared experiences she has with people along the way she builds herself back into a whole person again. If people have gone through a traumatic event in their life, I think this book would resonate very well with them.

Downsides to the book: at some points I got a bit lost trying to piece together the story (cutscenes with Fatima and Mohamed, I don't know what was going on there, translation issues? Did the main character never get over flashbacks?), the end felt abrupt or incomplete (goodreads says the book should be about 300 pages, my ARC only had 171, I might be missing something), and in general I just had a lot of questions about the story that I feel can't be answered without a one-on-one with the author.