My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame

Title: My Brother's Husband Volume 1
By: Gengoroh Tagame
Published: 2017
Call #: 741.5 TA (In Wilmette; two copies on order in Evanston)

Anderson Cooper calls it “heartbreaking” and “quietly dazzling.” Alison Bechdel (Fun Home) calls it “delightful and heartwarming”. I can’t quite even put into words how good this book is.

My Brother’s Husband Volume 1 has grabbed me as no other graphic novel has! It is a contemporary story from Japan by one of Japan’s great gay manga artists about one straight father’s start in rethinking what makes a family, based on a surprise visit of a Canadian man who was his brother’s husband in Canada. (Japan does not recognize gay marriage, either between citizens or between visitors from other countries.) The story is full of tender surprises highlighting the differences between cultures. And the drawing is unbelievably good; Tagame draws men in great and loving detail (Kana, the young daughter in the story is more cartoon-like) revealing their unspoken feelings and thoughts.

Beautiful, shattering, intense, quiet and lovely.

 

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Tags: Japan, gay, gay marriage