Book Review: Two Generals, by Scott Chantler

Book Review: Two Generals, by Scott Chantler | Afterword | National Post

The graphic novel has had a long slog to respectability, largely thanks to the battles fought and won by non-fiction works in the medium. Moreover, the strongest of non-fiction graphic novels have been about war and strife: Joe Sacco’s ground-level reportage in The Fixer; Marjane Satrapi’s heartbreaking memoir of a childhood during the Iranian Revolution in Persepolis; Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning foray into his father’s concentration-camp experience during the Second World War in Maus. It’s into these lofty heights that Scott Chantler’s Two Generals hopes to climb, a biography about the author’s grandfather Law Chantler, his experiences in the Second World War as a member of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada and the “bloody Battle of Buron.”

 

Canada at War: Remembrance Day, by the books - thestar.com

some excerpts

 

I really enjoyed this book. I got my copy last month and did a review on my blog. It's visual storytelling is a nice change of pace. That National Post review above was probably the least complimentary. I'd say that reviewer isn't familiar with the current status of graphic novels if he's bringing up Maus for a comparison. Anyway. Chantler's book is worth buying.