The style art did NOT match the story... or so I thought! It actually made it more modern in a way and that made it more relatable. It was so cool!

Powerful. It was very educational and inspirational to see the world through the little girls' eyes.

This was a delightful collection of autobiographical stories from the authors life growing up in Poland. Poland is a country that I know very little about and so it was really interesting to learn a bit about the history in graphic novel form. The illustrations are bold and brightly coloured which is my preferred style of artwork so I enjoyed the book visually.

Some of the writing seemed a little stilted in places but overall I enjoyed the reading experience. If I had the chance to read more in the future I would give it a go.

Marzi is the author's recollections of growing up in 1980's communist Poland. In this volume, she tells of here experiences at the age of 7, growing up in these high-rise apartments and standing in line for hours for food. Not knowing that other children elsewhere had it better, she grows up content with the little they had.

MARZI is a graphic novel set in 1979, before the end of communism. It is Marzena's memoir of her childhood, and the struggles her and her family faced. The illustrations are eye catching, and her stories keep you interested.

While I think this is a great book for all audiences, I think it's especially good for children who don't quite "like to read" but who need to know more about history and/or communism for school. Graphic novels tend to be more attention grabbing for those students.

Little Carp is a comic about Marzi, a girl living in Poland in the 80s. The comic is an autobiographical account of the authors childhood. I think that choosing to write your biography in comics is a brave choice. It helps to bring everything to life, but it also limits the amount of detail that can be provided.

I struggled a little with this book, because Poland in the 80s was very different than the world I grew up in. There are cultural things mentioned in the book that I have no experience with. I don't think that can be avoided, it how it really was at the time, but it does make it harder to understand what is going on.

Although this is a comic, I would recommend this book for older kids to teens.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Author: Marzena Sowa
Publisher: Europe Comics
Publication Date: 19 Jul 2017

Fun introduction to a bit of Polish culture. Having moved to Poland myself in 2000, it resonates. A good way to share late 20th century Polish daily life with friends/family who have never lived in a (post) communist European country.

This was okay but it had no beginning nor end...
It was kinda of a testimony of the life of a kid in 1979 in Poland.
Basically, it was interesting but not captivating...
I also was not a huge fan of the art...

'Little Carp (Marzi #1)' by Marzena Sowa with art by Sylvain Savola came to me through a new publisher on NetGalley called Europe Comics. I was immediately intrigued by the idea of reading comics from another continent, and Marzi has been a fun find.

This graphic novel is a series of short stories about Marzi growing up in Poland in the early 1980s. The character is drawn with large blue eyes. She tells stories about food rationing, and getting a live carp to eat for Christmas. There are stories about the group of kids in her apartment that cause mischief by running among the floors and pushing the elevator buttons. There are visits to relatives in the country.

It's certainly a different childhood than I had, but the mischievousness and wonder of a child are very familiar. The friendships and make believe are too. I really enjoyed this book and it's art.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

It's a bit rich for the blurb of this book, together with the cover's bright colours and wacky pose, to suggest it's about a bright girl going off on lots of adventures. The point of the book is that she's a little stuck - so much of the charm here is the veracity of the character, disliking the relatives she is forced to share her world with, realising politics must be the subject if she can't understand the conversation, and sharing her time between the rationed goods queues and playing in an apartment block stairwell. Yes, the book is full of short episodes as opposed to one narrative, but adventure is a bit rich. Still, this is a really enjoyable book, with a nice, slightly naive design, ultra-simple grid shape that never wavers, and a close connection to the childhood of a Polish girl circa 1980 that really brings things to life. I hope the six other books that took our narrator to her teenaged years can join this one on the shelves soon.

"My comics won’t age. Even twenty years on you will find something new, something for yourself."

That quote is from a 2008 interview of Marzena Sowa. Her "Marzi" comics are unabashedly autobiographical. This first volume reflects her life as a seven year old girl in 1980's Poland in a series of engaging and charming vignettes.

The series was conceived when Sowa told stories of her childhood to her partner Sylvain Savoia. He was fascinated by the tales of life in Communist Poland, and encouraged Sowa to preserve her memories for her own children and grandchildren. Sowa ended up writing a diary, Savoia illustrated it as a comic, and this series was born. There are at least six volumes in the series, (in French), and now "Little Carp", the first volume, has been released in English by Europe Comics, which, according to Wikipedia and the Europe Comics website, "is a pan-European comics and graphic novel digital venture run by 13 European comics publishers from eight European countries...." intended to promote and disseminate European comics in English translation.

If that's their goal, then "Little Carp" is a stellar opening offering. Young Marzi's voice, like that of many classic child narrators, is fresh and honest. She combines a childlike directness with keen perception and frankness. Marzi reports on and describes many events and scenes that she does not fully understand, and so we get to see and understand more than she does, and to read between the lines, even as we are entertained by her version of events. We end up with a remarkably authentic view of life in Poland during this era, and we do so complements of an entirely engaging girl. (It helps that the crisp, colorful, and remarkably expressive drawings match the energy and freshness of Marzi's story. The emphasis in the details is on the characters, not backgrounds or grand set pieces, and that keeps the focus nicely on Marzi and whatever interaction she's describing.)

More and more books for young readers are being published and shelved as "cross cultural". That's a slippery sort of description and covers a lot of territory. But, any book that can fairly capture a time, a place, and a foreign culture in an entertaining and thoughtful fashion should be able to wear that mantle proudly. That's certainly what I found here.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

To children, life is normal, because that is all they have ever known.

And for Marzi, in the 1980s communist Poland, all the things that go on around her are normal. Be it waiting in line for products, such a toilet paper or meat, so having no place to play in Winter, and having to do so in the halls of her apartment block.

Though her parents know what life was like "before", this is the only life she has ever known, and so this memoir, written after Marzi is a grown woman, is told from the sever-year-olds point of view.

Wonderful slice of life, when life was hard.

I look forward to reading the rest of the stories in this series.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review

This is a cool graphic novel. I love the magical realism and the story. Great art too!

Marzi is a long running graphic novel biography of a girl growing up in Poland at the end of the Communist era. This isn't a story so much as her memories in the series of vignettes about events and places as viewed through author Marzena's eyes as a youth and then a teen. This first volume covers early memories at the age of 7 in 1976 - including food shortages, the visit of the pope, and life in both rural and agrarian Poland. Through her memories we are given a very honest and yet emotional observation of the place and the period as it would go through great change.

The story begins with her father going to the market to haggle for a Christmas Carp. The fish is kept in the tub until time for slaughter for their dinner. Drawing parallels to communist Poland, the fisht only knows a small world that is very bland and missing food. This would set up the following stories of food crisis, standing in line for basic necessities, and the heartbreaking of sometimes not getting something as simple as oranges before they sell out. It also tells of how important it was to have relatives and connections in order to get beyond the basic necessities in life in Poland.

But through all the dreariness Sowa is careful to note that she does not feel deprived. She played with the other kids daily, had sled trips, was greatly loved by her parents, and never missed what she didn't know she didn't have at the time. From an historical standpoint, it's fascinating to see the results of collectivization when Marzena visits her agrarian relatives and contrast that with the industrialization life of her parents who work in factories in the city. Stalin's lingering influence was mentioned off hand but clearly had a huge influence on her life: she grew up in a large communist apartment building in a city industrialized by Stalin's five year plans in the 1930s.

Most of the book is about the playing and mischief of Marzi and her friends in the apartment complex and then visits to her mother's relatives. From sledding down hills in Winter, food coupons and lines, the monumental impact the pope's visit had on her mother and her own playtimes, church services, and the friendly and unfriendly people she interacted with daily. It's all you would expect from a 7 year old and free from guile or judgement.

The art is appropriate for the story and serves it well. Drawn in a Schultz style, we have a feel for 1980s Poland that is from a 7 year old's eye view - looking up at the adults and going through life with a positive and curious outlook. The illustrations are full color and emotive. At this age in Marzena's life, she's curious and hopeful and unaware of the politcal unrest other than knowing her family occasionally discuses issues in hushed whispers.

Both as a biography and as a graphic novel, I enjoyed Marzi and look forward to future volumes as she grows and experiences the great upheaval of a country moving painfully away from Communism. Marzi is a genuinely likable character whose story gives us an insightful and artlessly authentic view into 1980s Poland. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Adorable graphic novel about a young girl named Marzi, collected in short story or short memory form. The art is colorful and captures Marzi's happiness, fear, worry and pride as she experiences life as a 7-year old in 1979 Poland. Honest, sweet, sad and heartwarming, with mentions of jewelry smuggling, shopping with inconsistently supplied stores,and the Pope. Especially touching is the opening story of Marzi's conflicted feelings about the traditional carp dinner swimming in her bathtub.

Very well done.

I absolutely adored this volume about a girl growing up working class in Poland in the 1980’s. Vividly and well illustrated. A must buy for my artist niece.