Sarah Glidden's graphic novel, Rolling Blackouts is a book about the author traveling with journalists to document them documenting a story in the Middle East in the 21st century. She joins a crew of journalist friends who are bringing along a former soldier to document stories they found in Iraq and Syria. The team interviews many Iraqis and Kurds and There's a lot that I liked about this book I found at my library.

I like that it was both travelogue and an examination of regional issues. I love hearing about border crossing, running into random people and interviewing them. To me, meeting new cultures is one of the best parts of traveling. Glidden’s watercolors made me feel like I had already been there. The characters’ images are made with such subtlety it’s really like revisiting a memory. The scenes she presents work to help you see some of the broader stories that don’t make the news.

I like how the novel shows a soldier who isn't suffering wildly from PTSD or generally negatively affected by the war. In fact, it sounded like he had some pretty good times. It's a potentially fraught narrative, especially when thinking about the impact that the war had on the population of Iraq.

The book examined the results for Iraqis of Iraq War. They spend a lot of time in Kurdistan talking with Kurds who have a chance at a better future. The interviews at a Syrian refugee camp were really illuminating. Refugees’ stories are always heartbreaking, but hearing about the particulars make them so much more real. It's disappointing to hear about how refugees are so limited in their futures.

The only bit I was disappointed in was her thread of figuring out journalism. She set out a lofty goal and didn't address it to my satisfaction. She presents her figuring it out through discussions with her friends and I think she could have used some more of her own voice. That said, it didn’t detract much from the book. The whole thing was an exciting, fascinating look at a region I only know through headlines.

When I said I really hated the characters in this book and disliked the whole story I got a lot of this 

How could I to like it ? It's a best seller ? 

 

I found the main character pathetic, in her alcoholism, her inability to move on, her lack of common sense. She was boring, repetitive and predictable.
The story read the same, slow filled with unlikeable characters, a predictable story and a meh ending.
The feeling I got most for this was that I just wanted somebody to kill her and end her pathetic existence. The main character just angered me by her lack of anything except her stalking. She was an idiot stalker too, getting blackout drunk and doing ? She couldn't remember.

 

The mystery, figured it out before 50%. 

 

 Good point:The narration was fantastic

Rx - Episode 1: The Blackouts - Robert B... UPDATED: Screw it. I'm upgrading this to 5 stars on the basis that I really did LOVE this story. But I still have rage. So much rage....-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I would have given this a five star review if it had been a complete novel. I'm not a fan of serialised fiction - I would rather just pick a book up, immerse myself in it for a while and finish it. No pissing about trying to hunt down the next instalment and getting distracted by something shinier, then going back to the story having forgotten half of what happened previously. I just want to pick up a book and read it. To read a story as promising as this, only to have it randomly chopped off with no resolution sucks. To find out that the next instalment is not available sucks more. To find out that the author will be releasing the rest of the instalments ad hoc, starting in "Later this Spring" might be a deal breaker. If the author wants to sell his fiction internationally, he should probably be aware that seasons differ in different parts of the world for starters....Can you sense my bitterness?Believe it or not, I really loved this story. The writing was fantastic and the world building absolutely flawless. The prologue was so beautifully written, I was envisaging a huge tracking shot in a James Cameron movie. It was actually awe inspiring. I was invested in the characters (to the extent that I'd actually rather like to BE Zippy when I grow up) and I was intrigued as to where the plot was going. But that's the problem. I STILL don't know where it's going. Because the author seems to want to release this like a comic book!GOOD writer! BAD publisher! GOOD writer! BAD publisher! GOOD writer! BAD publisher!