This is a horrifying read, which is appropriate for a horrifying period. I asked my library to acquire this last year, and by the time I got to reading it yesterday I had pretty much forgotten what it was about. Which sort of tracks, as very few people remember much about the Bosnian Genocide and even the Wikipedia article downplays what happened in the region.

Kubert uses his skills as an illustrator well here, and the graphics highlight the atrocities in a brutal fashion. Cutting between the story of Ervin's family and the faxes he sent from the Sarajevo area is a nice touch, with the dramatization underlined by actual messages sent as it was happening. They don't really interlink well in many places, though; the faxes often spoil the upcoming story developments, and a dramatic event is sometimes undercut by a fax treating it as a non-event. It's a nice storytelling device used poorly.

In spite of these issues, this is still a powerful and emotional story. It brought me to tears a few times, and while I read it in a day it's something I had to put down repeatedly to give myself space to breath. Highly recommend.