Book Review: The Park by Oscar Zarate

I recently read an interesting graphic novel called 'The Park' by Oscar Zarate.

This book explores how random occurrences with strangers can impact our lives along with exploring the complexity of child-father relationships. The book starts out in a park, where two men have an unfortunate interaction when Ivan's dog bites Chris. This is the catalyst in the book that brings people together, pulls people apart and forces many of the characters to confront themselves through introspection.

While the main catalyst for the narrative centers on the two fathers in the book, the story is really plunged further forward through the reactions of the children to their fathers, specifically their fathers behavior due to the dog bite.

Chris's son views his father as weak. He is filled with anger that his father did nothing in his own defense. This reaction causes both men to grapple with their identities. The son seeks revenge, and the father questions himself and despairs that his son has no respect for him.

Ivan's daughter sees her father as irresponsible for his lack of care for how his own dog caused another to be injured, and also her father's reaction to the man being bit. She also does not respect her father and does not see him as a good man. It is her view of her father that motivates her to try to change the world through changing other's perceptions of the world, or by waking people up to the injustices of the world.

The book is an interesting mediation on how events can have such pivotal impact on our entire existence.

Overall, this was an interesting and thought provoking book with beautiful art.