Recent Reads: Passport by Sophia Glock

Passport by Sophia Glock 
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Publication Date:  November 30, 2021

 

Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed from the library

Rating:

Goodreads Synopsis: 

An unforgettable graphic memoir by debut talent Sophia Glock reveals her discovery as a teenager that her parents are agents working for the CIA

Young Sophia has lived in so many different countries, she can barely keep count. Stationed now with her family in Central America because of her parents' work, Sophia feels displaced as an American living abroad, when she has hardly spent any of her life in America.

Everything changes when she reads a letter she was never meant to see and uncovers her parents' secret. They are not who they say they are. They are working for the CIA. As Sophia tries to make sense of this news, and the web of lies surrounding her, she begins to question everything. The impact that this has on Sophia's emerging sense of self and understanding of the world makes for a page-turning exploration of lies and double lives.

In the hands of this extraordinary graphic storyteller, this astonishing true story bursts to life.

Review: 

A graphic memoir about Sophia's life traveling and living around the world with her parents that are CIA. 

This is a very simplistically drawn graphic novel. It is minimal with little to no color, mostly black, white, grey and a light peach with pops of red here or there. The story is a coming-of-age tale about Sophia, too young and too naive, but wants to do more and also get back to the United States. Her parents tend to pull her out of schools and countries too quickly for her to form meaningful connections or keep up with them afterward because of their protection and secrecy. She wants a home but nowhere feels like home and this is hard for her, especially because of the parent politics that come into play. Sophia moves a lot and has not had a chance to find herself, so in this memior she starts to act out, trying to be a normal teen in a non-normal situation. She does her best to find herself adn understand her situation but it is still difficult. That being said, we don't move with her. This particular account is of one of the final locations right before she learns the truth about her parents. From the title, I think I expected more travel.

I wasn't a huge fan of how this all came together, I understand that as a memior there is only so much you can do if you are recounting your life, but it felt like maybe she never asked the right questions at the right times or that she was being too self-absorbed to realize what was happening around her. Most the time it seemed like she wasn't paying enough attention to her world and being too focused on what she thought should be happening. 

If you are looking for a realistic account of life as a CIA agents daugther, this might be helpful. It was a quick read but it wasn't super exciting nor did I find that it held my attention all that well. Overall, it was just ok.