Book Review: Gandhi by Kazuki Ebine

I’ve read a lot of biographies.  In elementary school, biographies were my favorite things to read.  We all learn the historical highlights of famous figures from text books and documentaries, but biographies take you deeper into those lives turning figures into people.  When I picked up Gandhi by Kazuki Ebine, I had high expectations for a book that combines two genres I love: biographies and comics.

The book begins at Gandhi’s childhood, but quickly skims through to adulthood barely touching on what should be important events like his marriage and the birth of his first son (or subsequent children for that matter).  The death of his mother while he is studying in England barely seems to register with a young Gandhi. It’s hard to connect with a character that leaves his family to study abroad seemingly without a second glance. 

This book makes Gandhi unlikeable which hardly seems possible when you consider all he did in his life, however the Gandhi of this book comes across as too perfect when dedicated to his cause, yet cold and unconcerned when it comes to his family. How could a man have such a love for the people of his country, but never shown having that love in his own home?

I applaud Penguin for their attempt at bringing history to the world of graphic novels. It is a good medium to educate a younger audience. Unfortunately, as a reader, I demand more from a novel, graphic or otherwise, than I can get from reading Wikipedia.

For future books, I hope they delve more into the personal lives of the historic figures they choose.  Biographies should seek to go further into the character of the person they are examining and go beyond what we learn from a school history textbook.