A probing, curious mind interrogates a fascination with New York City in Kay Sohini's gorgeously detailed debut graphic memoir, This Beautiful, Ridiculous City. Sohini, who holds a Ph.D. in English from Stony Brook University, explores her life to see how and why she became infatuated with New York, a city with which her "attachment can never be explained in the realm of the logical." She begins with an image that's repeated two more times later in the book: a plane sitting on the tarmac at JFK airport in the rain on her first night of the city, as she tries to make an inventory of what she's left behind. Each time, the refrain changes slightly, complicating the narrative.
The first chapter touches on literary greats, such as Sylvia Plath and Alison Bechdel, who helped shape her image of the city as a refuge for creatives. Then, Sohini dives into her formative years growing up in postcolonial India in a large family home in the suburbs of Calcutta. The book transcends autobiography through a collage-like assembling of cultural and historical context alongside the personal. For instance, India's rapid industrialization with her parents' decision to send her to a private, English-speaking school, which in turn becomes "the language [she] thought in," and "the language [she] understood the world through." All of which helps foster her attachment to things like Friends, which fed into her longing for New York, a place where she finally feels at home. This Beautiful, Ridiculous City is a poignant examining of New York as seen through an Indian immigrant's eyes and history. --Nina Semczuk, writer, editor, and illustrator