This Country is a graphic novel memoir of the author's experience moving to rural Idaho with his wife. They design and construct a tiny house, garden, solar array, and pretty much live "off the grid" as much as possible. Along the way they meet their neighbors (most of which are represented as very right-wing, racist, gun-owning, anti-environmentalist, MAGA types) and try to become a part of the community (such as attempting to resurrect the community movie theater).

I really enjoyed the artistic style of the memoir. The art is simple yet emotive, which is always my preference in graphic novels. There are panels where you can see what's happening without needing text. (Show, don't tell, another aspect of a well-written book.) I liked the somewhat lyrical (but not over-the-top) prose.

However, I have mixed feelings about the book. I grew up in a rural area. I'm not entirely sure what the authors were expecting when they moved from a city to rural Idaho. They almost act surprised that their neighbors live up to the stereotype of right-wing, rural folks. You moved to rural Idaho and didn't realize there would be racists? You didn't realize they would hunt? You didn't realize they'd be Trump voters and anti-environmentalists? WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?!

I also didn't love the glorification of rural life. I think this theme is prevalent at the beginning of the book. While I think this theme becomes less strong as the authors spend more time in their tiny rural house, it is never really analyzed or resolved. For example, deer start decimating their garden. (Again: any rural inhabitant could tell you that deer are a menace, they will destroy everything you grow outdoors, and nothing will stop them short of reducing their population.) I feel like that would have been a good opportunity to be like: hey! Maybe rural living isn't just some panacea utopia after all!

While I was intrigued with the life-off-the-grid narrative, the author never fully explores what this entails. Short of presenting his frustration with watering raised beds, discussion of the limitations of having a single wood stove for heat, and dealing with a chimney fire, the author doesn't really unpack what resources it takes to live this way. How much fuel is involved? How do they cook? How do they connect to the Internet? I had so many questions! I imagine it must take an enormous amount of time and effort collecting the fuel and resources it takes to avoid having a fossil-fuel driven central heating system. It was also unclear to me if their appliances are fueled by their solar array, or if they also have to use wood as a fuel source to cook. I would have been interested in learning about that.

Also, and this is a small thing... I'm not sure if the author's simplistic drawing style just didn't capture every detail, but the fact that the couple didn't dress appropriately for winter, or know how to deal with extremely cold weather, struck me as embarrassing. Again, why would you move to a rural area prone to severe weather without making sure you're prepared for that? (For example, the author has many panels where he and his wife are dealing with trying to get their car started in the extreme cold, and I don't see either of them wearing hats or gloves/mittens. That's an invitation for frostbite.)

The book wraps up when the author and his wife become parents, something they are trying for and then anticipating throughout the book. It is this moment that they consider if they want to raise their daughter in a community where her school would possibly teach her that the Earth is flat, and have friends whose parents are racist (and likely become racist themselves). They ultimately decide to move back to a city because, they decide that if they raise her in rural Idaho, "it's going to be her culture." I can understand why they don't want that for their daughter, but it also makes me wonder why they were OK with having that culture be a large part of their lives when it was just the two of them.

Completely unexamined in this book is the privilege that must exist to be able to buy acres of land in rural Idaho, live off the grid, and still make enough money to pay for things like food, fuel, their house / land, building supplies, and health insurance (I'm assuming they have it, otherwise having a child would have been a nightmare, but maybe they didn't). The author's wife is a documentarian and is depicted as leaving a for a period of time to go to work. The author is a cartoonist and is able to work from home. Perhaps, post-pandemic, I'm just burned out on the "van life" stories. And it's been a long enough time for us to be fully aware of what happens when lots of privileged folks flee the city to live in rural areas... I'm kind of over it. ( )

Navied Mahdavlan’s This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America chronicles he and his wife Elika’s move from San Francisco’s bay area to rural Idaho in 2016. They purchased the land to live away from the stress of city life and try something new. Along the way, they built a home, made unlikely friends, and learned more about the rhythms of nature and time away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The story is introspective and captures both the positive and negative experiences of moving to such a different place. Mahdavlan’s artwork brilliantly tells his story, with evocative character designs and great use of blank space to represent the stillness or the size of the wilderness. A lovely memoir that makes for a perfect read in the winter months. ( )

A vegetarian, Iranian-American man and his wife relocate from liberal San Francisco to conservative rural Idaho to build a life closer to the land and nature. The landscape and the animals are magnificent, the wildfires and hunters not so much. The racism and xenophobia add an extra cutting chill to the challenging subzero winters.

Mahdavian's anecdotes and insights about nature and the community are interesting and illuminating, but his relationship with his wife comes off so pleasant as to seem shallow, even in the midst of fertility issues and big life decisions about where to live. I liked what I saw on the page, but I'm left with an impression of withholding or a sense of detachment.

(Best of 2023 Project: I'm reading all the graphic novels that made it onto the list of NPR's Books We Love 2023: Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels ) ( )

This is a graphic novel about Mahdavian, and his wife, move to rural Idaho, where they were able to afford land and hoped to live off the grid and start a family. They found the land to be beautiful, and many of the people were kind and generous, however they also were confronted with casual racism and a very different political landscape than they were used to. Three years later, they left, and now live in Salt Lake City with their daughter.

The art in this book is very lovely. I felt that the story was ( )

graphic nonfiction/memoir - brown-skinned (Iranian heritage) cartoonist and bookish wife transplant from SF bay area to rural central Idaho, where they make a home and plan to start a family while living off their 6 acres, 2016-19.

A quick, very enjoyable read touching on topics of environmentalism vs tradition-bound ranchers, potential political climate divisiveness, and the practicalities of homesteading. Recommended. ( )