{"id":29397,"date":"2024-02-15T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29397"},"modified":"2024-02-14T19:03:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T19:03:01","slug":"what-we-dont-talk-about-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/02\/15\/what-we-dont-talk-about-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Don\u2019t Talk About"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Charlot Kristensen<\/strong> (Avery Hill)
\nISBN: 978-1-91039-555-4 (TPB\/digital edition)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty wrong with the world, but most of it could probably be sorted if people got together and discussed things rationally and honestly. Some individuals, however, don\u2019t want to change positions or even agree that there even is a problem. This book isn\u2019t for them, and we\u2019ll have to find more drastic ways to deal with their nonsense\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Charlot Kristensen graduated from Middlesex University in 2015 with a degree in Illustration and thereafter pursued a career in the arts. Her visual and narrative gifts are prodigious and superbly highlighted in this vibrant examination of an interracial relationship in crisis. Kristensen is of Afro-Danish descent and clearly knows what she\u2019s talking about and how best to depict it\u2026<\/p>\n

Painted in lavish and mood-setting colours, What We Don\u2019t Talk About<\/strong> focuses on an idyllic modern romance as (demi-autobiographical?) artist Farai<\/em> accompanies her white English boyfriend Adam<\/em> to Lake Windemere to finally meet his parents. The young couple have been lovers for two years now, ever since University, but her beautiful gentle musician soulmate is uncharacteristically nervous – even short-tempered – as the journey begins. Farai almost regrets the trip, even though she\u2019s been pushing for it from the start. Her nerves and his tension dissipate on the trip north, but are all revived when she meets Charles<\/em> and Martha<\/em>. The look on their faces and the tone of the greeting tell Farai an old story\u2026<\/p>\n

In frosty diffidence, the social amenities are followed but it\u2019s not just a barely suppressed attitude of polite condescension Farai experiences. Martha\u2019s blunt opinions extend to all aspects of her son\u2019s life. Although she clearly opposes Adam\u2019s choice of career, after meeting the girlfriend, Mother now has a new problem to gnaw at\u2026<\/p>\n

As the weekend progresses Martha\u2019s sneering, passive aggressive comments go from dismissive to openly hostile: mocking Farai\u2019s clothes and denigrating the achievements of her Zimbabwean parents (a doctor and engineer respectively). It soon becomes clear that it\u2019s not just her who\u2019s a problem: people with funny names or difficult accents and all Muslims also fail Martha\u2019s tests of decency and acceptable standards. The matriarch also thinks the world should be grateful for British colonialism\u2026<\/p>\n

And Adam? He\u2019s loving and conciliatory but ultimately weak and keen to avoid the issue. He knows what his mum says is objectionable, offensive and just plain wrong, but can\u2019t or won\u2019t bring himself to say anything or rebuke his parents. He seeks to divert conversations rather than defend Farai, even employing the \u201cjust a joke\u201d defence at a most distressing family dinner. He doesn\u2019t seem to believe their attitudes are unacceptable or that it even matters. Farai\u2019s seen it all before. This is a love story that cannot possibly end well\u2026<\/p>\n

Like a contemporary Guess<\/strong> Who\u2019s Coming to Dinner<\/strong>, this powerful graphic drama forensically picks open the sores underlying so much of modern society\u2019s attempts to integrate and assimilate long-entrenched attitudes: revealing not just how far we\u2019ve all come, but how far we still have to go.<\/p>\n

Comics have always had an admirable record in addressing issues of bigotry and racial injustice, and this tale takes that to the next level with potent moving empathy displayed and seen through the eyes of someone who\u2019s clearly \u201cbeen there, done that\u201d all too often\u2026<\/p>\n

That ignorance and intolerance still daily endured by so many today is perpetually ignored, diminished and dismissed by those in charge has never been more effectively shown as in this unforgettable tale. Luxuriant colours and a welcomingly accessible cartoon style subversively act to devastatingly prove that prejudice doesn\u2019t just lurk in dark corners any more but instead proudly rears its head everywhere it can. But that just means we must slap it down more forcefully and decisively.
\n\u00a9 2020 Charlot Kristensen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charlot Kristensen (Avery Hill) ISBN: 978-1-91039-555-4 (TPB\/digital edition) There\u2019s plenty wrong with the world, but most of it could probably be sorted if people got together and discussed things rationally and honestly. Some individuals, however, don\u2019t want to change positions or even agree that there even is a problem. This book isn\u2019t for them, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What We Don\u2019t Talk About”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[299,216,105,148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feminism-sexual-politics","category-lifestyle","category-mature-reading","category-romance"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7E9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29399,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29397\/revisions\/29399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}