"De lijnen die mijn lichaam tekenen" by Mansoureh Kamari

Translated from French into Dutch by Elisabeth Van Haegenborgh. Also available in Portuguese and Croatian, but not in English. Very literally, the Dutch title means 'the lines that draw up my body'. This is a graphic novel-style memoir about the author's childhood as a girl in Iran. It's about how terrifying and bleak life can be as a woman, and about how that already enters one's life at a very young age. There's a lot of anger and despair that comes with dehumanization, being lawfully nothing more than the possession of your father or husband. The sense of powerlessness that comes with risking so much everywhere you go, from 'everyday' sexual assault by strangers to execution by the state. I'm used to reading a lot of dark books, but this one made me tear up quite a few times. I think it's the way the illustrations and their framing of them capture some feelings of dread, fear and sadness so well. Some panels immediately made me hold my breath. The drawing style overall is…