Reddit reviews The Arrival

Visually, The Arrival by Shaun Tan. Never in my experience has so much been communicated without words. Simply amazing.

I also became deeply embedded in The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (famous for Cloud Atlas).

Could it be The Arrival, by Shaun Tan? Never read but had it recommended to me many times!

https://www.amazon.com/Arrival-Shaun-Tan/dp/0439895294

Just my opinion but I didn't like Blankets all that much...Fun Home is awesome though!!

But, in addition to the others mentioned:

Understanding Comics -McCloud

Stitches -Small

Yummy-Last Days of a Southside Shorty-Neri

Tyranny

Pitch Black -Landowne(sp?)

The Arrival -Tan

Palestine

American Born Chinese

Drinking at the Movies

Unlovable

There's a PDF scan of The Arrival on Scribd.com or you can buy it on Amazon.

Super cool: The Spare Parts Puppet Theater in Australia adapted it as a stage show.

Are you open to picture books for adults? The Arrival is a beautiful (in both art and story!) book about life as an immigrant. I think this would suit her well as an artist and someone who is interested in graphic novels or experimental works. It has a happy ending and there's nothing I can think of that would be offensive to her religion :)

The Arrival

http://www.amazon.com/Arrival-Shaun-Tan/dp/0439895294

On paper achieving multiculturalism is a good thing, but in reality it is very difficult thing to do. For one thing, people have very different ideas of what 'multiculturalism' should look like. For some, the ideal is a melting-pot where incoming immigrants shed their past and integrate fully into their new society. For others, the idea scenario is more like a mosaic where immigrants retain their unique cultures and traditions but work to contribute in a positive way to the functioning of their new society. Amid all of this there are still others who do not hold with multiculturalism at all, and would rather not change or integrate others into their society.

As an immigrant navigating your new country it can be very difficult to understand to which model you should adhere or strive for...all the while you have people who tell you to "get out" and "go back home"...its enough to make anyone isolate themselves into immigrant communities that are familiar and safe to them. Why bother exploring or integrating yourself into a scary, possibly hostile culture to which you are trying to make a new home? In some cases facilitation of integration simply isn't there. Immigrant may want to break out of their isolated communities but the programs that might facilitate this transition simply don't exist in the capacity that is required.

I suggest reading the book The Arrival...For me it put the immigrants journey into perspective. People have also made it into a few different youtube videos, but to get the real feel of the book you need to sit and 'read' it yourself (there are no words).

I space out my books with other things like graphic novels. They're perfect when you're feeling a bit burnt out as they seem to work a different part of the brain (at least for me). Have you read The Arrival? It's a fantastic graphic novel and it has no words.