American Widow

by Alissa Torres, Sungyoon Choi

On September 10, 2001, Eddie Torres started his dream job at Cantor Fitzgerald in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The next morning, he said goodbye to his 7½-months-pregnant wife, Alissa, and headed out the door.

In an instant, Alissa's world was thrown into chaos. Forced to deal with unimaginable challenges, Alissa suddenly found herself cast into the role of 9/11 widow, tossed into a storm of bureaucracy, politics, patriotism, mourning, consolation, and, soon enough, motherhood.

Beautifully and thoughtfully illustrated, American Widow is the affecting account of one woman's journey through shock, pain, birth, and rebirth in the aftermath of a great tragedy. It is also the story of a young couple's love affair: how a Colombian immigrant and a strong-minded New Yorker met, fell in love, and struggled to fulfill their dreams. Above all, American Widow is a tribute to the resilience of the human heart and the very personal story of how one woman endured a very public tragedy.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Memoir, Nonfiction, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, History, Biography

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 2, 2008

Reviews

[shellyindallas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love David Cross' bit on "Shut Up You Fucking Baby" where he talks about the woman who works at New York, New York Casino in Vegas who was overly devastated on 9/11 because she works just down the street from the fake world trade center. "That could've been me not me!" She cried. There are a lot of people who weren't really affected by 9/11 and despite the vow of their bumper stickers to "never forget" quickly did. They also love to talk about where they were and what they were doing and how they know someone who knows someone who lived in New York/worked at the World Trade Center. Those people, for the most part, are the people I've talked about 9/11 with. I wasn't there. Yes, I remember where I was. Yes, it was insane. But I was safe and sound in dumb ol' Dallas, TX and so like most people who were nowhere near Manhattan on that day I went to work. Time did not stand still where I was.

Maybe this is why I can't get enough of hearing people who were actually there talk about their experience. Which is why I bought this book. This poor young women was newly wed, newly pregnant and on September 11th newly widowed. "Wow!" I thought. "This is gonna be good. I may even cry!" Wrong. In Torres' defense, maybe she wasn't trying to make anyone cry. Maybe her goal was to talk about how she met her husband (at a bar, how romantic!), wasn't really sure she should have even married him, got annoyed at all the attention she received as a pregnant 9/11 widow, and then bitch about how hard it was to deal with inept grief counselors and governmental agencies put in place to disperse funds to survivors and their family members. Aside from not really liking Allison, her story was all over the fucking place. To me it felt as though she had taken a bunch of notes in preparation for the book, which is more of a short story, and then not knowing how to put them all together cohesively she just decided to shit them out in no particular order.

Just so I don't sound completely heartless before this review ends, I will say that there were parts that were really insightful, and tragic, and moving. But if this book hadn't been in the form of a graphic novel and wasn't so full of kick-ass artwork, I'd never have finished it.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

American Widow by Alissa Torres is a powerful retelling of one woman's loss when her husband, Eddie Torres, is killed on 9/11-one day after beginning his new job. Barely past newlywed status and pregnant with their first child, Alissa struggles through the shock and, worse, the systems set up to "help" bereaved families.

The book takes a brave look at the complexities involved in grief and portrays 9/11 vividly, evoking viscerally the moments when we all watched in disbelief and the painful unfolding, particularly for those who lost loved ones, of the following months.

And there is no really happy ending. Just survival and trying to move on. And the last gift of a son, born just weeks after her loss.

[kirkesque · Rating 1 out of 5]

This sort of deliberately obfuscated and questionably selective method of storytelling belittles the emotional power and even importance of sharing a tale about 9/11. Alissa Torres presents herself from the beginning as an American Widow who deserves sympathy and understanding. Yet, in telling her story, she hides crucial evidence about it from her audience and shows us no more courtesy than she claims she received following the tragedy that claimed the life of her husband and a few thousand others. Torres rails against the federal government, the Red Cross, the Columbian Consulate, other 9/11 families, her friends, neighbors, and anyone she encounters. But worst of these, perhaps, is to deliberately lie by omission to us, the audience she wishes to share her story with. Other than the fact that she wishes others to suffer what she suffers from—confusion, betrayal, and possibly outright lies—there seems to be no reason for her to treat others in such a manner. And if her intention is to make her audience feel such emotions, she is little more than a street hustler who took our twenty dollars in her slight-of-hand three-card-monty trick. Misery loves company, and as a recurring (yet unexplained) image of he late-husband Luis stares at us with an expression that implores us as to what could make him feel this way, we come to understand that perhaps he wonders why his wife shows him little more respect than she does the rest of the world surrounding her.

This recurring image then becomes a mirror to a tale of narcissism distilled in four-color line drawings, withheld information, and questionable intent.

Torres suggests that she deserves special sympathy and entitlement for being an American Widow, and then a single American Victim Mom (victims who had Fallen Husbands who were Fathers), without ever considering that tens of thousands of Non-American Widows of Terrorism (and American Military Might) who are not even so privileged as to have a NY Times artist draw their self-centered poor-pitiful-me memoir for sale to the bourgeois masses the author so despises.

One of the most wretched books I've ever had the displeasure of reading.

[Caitlin Constantine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often hear people speak about 9/11 as if it was a personal devastation to them. On some level I don't doubt that it was, but then I read stories like that of Torres, who actually lost a loved one that day, and I think all those people should just shut up. (Yeah, I said it.) The drawings and her words combine to describe the undescribable - how it feels to know that your partner in life was taken from you in such a huge tragedy. It makes the shock I felt that day as I watched the towers fall from the safety of my living room 2,000 miles away seem rather small.

What really got me, though, was all of the bureaucracy and red tape she had to deal with afterward. For instance, I had no idea the grief counselors on hand were so callous, which made me wonder what kind of training and qualifications were in place for these volunteers. I had no idea that the fund for the widows, widowers and children was tied to protection from legal action for their airplanes, and that all of these restrictions were in place for that money. (It's a reminder that the messages we get through the media are often vastly simplified.) And finally, I was very upset at the way Torres and other family members were turned into symbols. I know it happens all the time, because symbols slot easier into rhetoric than do actual people, with all of their messiness and complication and dimensions, but still, it doesn't mean it's right or fair.

This book should be required reading for anyone who uses 9/11 as a tool of political rhetoric. It will help them remember that the day is not just about declaring war or hating Muslims or hating Bush, but that actual lives were destroyed on that day, and that actual people were the ones who shoulder the weight of what happened that day.

[Patryx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alissa Torres, autrice e protagonista, racconta la sua storia di vedova dell'11 settembre (è proprio così che sono state etichettate le donne che avevano perso il marito) con un figlio in arrivo.
L'autrice concentra il suo racconto sulla guerra alla burocrazia che i familiari delle vittime hanno dovuto combattere per vedere riconosciuti i loro diritti e sulla scarsa sensibilità di tutti gli operatori preposti al loro supporto. Inoltre, la sua condizione particolare (vedova e futura madre) l'hanno resa particolarmente appetibile per tutte le varie fondazioni e organizzazioni che, in diversi casi, hanno subordinato l'aiuto economico che le promettevano alla sua disponibilità a farsi intervistare dai media durante cerimonie di commemorazione e, soprattutto, di sponsorizzazione, a cui Alissa non sempre ha potuto dire di no.
I disegni sono di Sungyoon Choi: tavole in bianco e nero con dei tratti in verde che, secondo me, esprimono il senso di oppressione e di solitudine della protagonista.

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sobbed through about the first 5 chapters of this book. It's the heart-rending true story (told in graphic novel format) of Alissa Torres, the pregnant wife of a Cantor Fitzgerald employee who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11/01. The book illustrates the grief that has become Alissa's new reality, as well as the struggles she faces in dealing with charitable organizations meant to help those affected. I found the middle of the book to be somewhat confusing, with the constant flashbacks and the crises that never fully seemed to be resolved, but I suppose it was the same feeling of confusion that Alissa was dealing with at the same time. She's lost, she's trying to understand and make things better for herself and her son. It was a very, very good book and I'm glad someone recommended it to me.

[Aneesa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what the point of this book is. I can understand her need to write it as a means toward resolution, and I can understand the publisher's angle in publishing a graphic novel about September 11, 2001, but I'm not sure what a reader is intended to get out of it. I don't particularly sympathize with the author, or completely understand her, and I'm not sure why she would want someone to read this story. What did she want the reader to feel? Did she even try to produce emotion or encourage empathy? I also wonder what inspires someone to write a comic book but not illustrate it. And why her child was so absent from the pages.

[Abc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questa graphic novel fa riflettere su come situazioni già estremamente pesanti vengano ulteriormente aggravate da chi, in teoria, ci dovrebbe aiutare.
Alissa perde il marito nell'attentato alle torri gemelle. Tra l'altro il marito lavorava lì da soli due giorni e questo, oltre a rappresentare un tremendo segno del destino, è stato un problema per Alissa che doveva dimostrare che il marito era realmente dipendente di quell'azienda per poter avere un risarcimento. Purtroppo tutta la documentazione era andata persa e c'è voluto del tempo per risolvere la questione.
E Alissa versava in condizioni economiche critiche, soprattutto dopo la nascita del suo bambino, avvenuta a due mesi dall'attentato.
Mi ha colpita il fatto che per tutto il libro non si dica mai il nome del bambino. Penso che per Alissa sia stato difficilissimo dover gestire il proprio dolore di vedova e la nuova condizione di mamma. Accettare una nuova vita quando un'altra se n'era appena andata via in modo del tutto inaspettato.
Le difficoltà burocratiche, poi, hanno appesantito ancora di più la situazione costringendo Alissa a fare lunghe code appesantita dal peso della gravidanza e spesso inutilmente perché poi veniva rimpallata di sportello in sportello.
Leggendo questa graphic novel mi è venuto da pensare che tutto il mondo è paese. Spesso ci lamentiamo della burocrazia italiana, ma ho potuto constatare che in America le cose non sono molto differenti.
Complimenti all'autrice per aver saputo raccontare una storia così dolorosa e così intima e complimenti anche a Sungyoon Choi per i disegni.

[Adelaina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love love. I loved this book so much. It was just so good. I cried at the end and everything. Being an autobiographical graphic novel, it was the story about Alissa and how she was widowed by the 9/11 attacks while being 7 months pregnant with her son. I chose this as an additional graphic novel for school and am so glad I chose this one. It was so heartbreaking, especially with the mix of how her and her husband had gotten in a fight and how it was only his second day of work at the world trade center. Theres a few pages dedicated to the 'what ifs' that Alissa is asking herself and then, obviously, I start thinking about all of the other ifs. Anyways, amazing book I loved it.
5/5 stars!

[Rex Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an autobiographical graphic novel about the aftermath of 9/11. The author’s husband began his second day of work at a finance office located in the World Trade Center. He was an illegal immigrant who had difficulty finding a job. She was pregnant and the pair had had an argument the night before, from which she was still angry. Then the towers fell and she was left to pick up the pieces and deal with emotions left dangling in the wind.

[Britany]

I dislike rating non fiction that I ended up hating. If I were to rate this, it’s a one or two star for me.

My critique for a potential “low rating” has nothing to do with an individuals experience but rather it’s presentation of information. This graphic novel was all over the place and left me very confused at what to take away.

[Lara]

On Monday, September 10, 2001, Eddie Torres started the job of his dreams at Cantor in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. On Tuesday, he said goodbye to his 7½-months-pregnant wife, Alissa, and headed out the door.

They'd had an argument. She was upset with him. And then our nation experienced a horror like none other. Planes crashed into two WTC towers, the Pentagon was hit, and a plane crashed in Shankstown, PA.

American Widow is one woman's account of that day, and the the complicated, frustrating, bureaucratic days, weeks, and months that followed. She partnered with graphic artist Sungyoon Choi whose to tell her story.

Like most graphic novels/memoirs there are gaps. There's no way, I think to tell a story in this format without them. However, if you look at the reviews on Goodreads, they are ranging. I am not sure how you can rate a person's life, their personal tragedy. I was able to get a strong sense of the isolation, loneliness, and challenges of navigating life after such a devastating loss, and the absolute frustration of working with and through systems and organizations that are supposed to help you.

This is one person's story. And it's one way of expressing a story. I am glad I read it.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find the lack of empathy expressed in some of the reviews jarring. It is not the job of every victim's family to pose as props in anyone else's narrative about what happened that day, or the days, months, and years that followed. Some 3,000 people died on 9/11, each one of them an actual human being. They were flawed, imperfect people, who were loved and grieved for many other flawed, imperfect people. This is one of those people's stories, and it tells not only of the heartbreak of grief, but of the fear and uncertainty that follow a loss, and of the very unique kind of stress-the utter exhaustion and frustration that followed this unprecedented event. The criticisms of this widow's feelings in particular left a sour taste in my mouth. Marriage is complicated, and I respect her honesty about her relationship with her husband, which like all relationships, has complications and moments of anger woven into its fabric.

I live in a corner of New York that was profoundly affected by 9/11. I was personally untouched, but I am not exaggerating when I say that there is nobody I know who is more than one or two degrees away from a 9/11 loss. I try to do my best to honor the memories of those who were killed without infringing on real, personal grief of those who must wake up each day knowing their spouse, parent, sibling, or child was brutally murdered for having done nothing more than gone to work that morning. But I wonder at times if what I think of as a respect for their privacy could be misconstrued by others as a lack of interest or support. Many widows and family members, I am sure, find comfort in public displays of grief and support from Americans they do not know. But what if some don't? What if those displays feel like an intrusion? I think American Widow speaks to that dichotomy in an affecting way.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, I was wondering when I'd come across a graphic novel that wasn't about a social misfit, and here it is. I realized this on page 12, when we meet Alissa and her revealing clubbing attire.

The story that follows is of a tender, enviable romance. The American Dream is coming true for this couple: a fixer-upper in the burbs, a bun in the oven, a well-paying job in finance. Their world begins to all apart when he loses his job (yawn). And then 9/11 happens.

Post 9/11, Alissa comes across as greedy and self important. She rarely mentions the baby, who I would think is the cause of many of her financial worries. Instead, her dog is the subject of a series of affectionate drawings.

The last straw for me is the closing scene. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say, as a female working homeowner, I do not have cash to travel by airplane. Sorry, Alissa, but your life is not as bad as you appear to think.

Sungyoon, your illustrations are wonderful, and I look forward to seeing your work with a more thoughtful storyline.

[E.C.R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are aspects of the book I really admire. I thought the closing sequence was particularly good. But the book is simply too short. The kind of tacking back and forth between present and past would have worked a lot better in longer stretches where some of the characters could have been fleshed out a bit more. At the end, I really felt I didn't know much about either Eduardo or Alissa apart from their circumstances. The graphic part of this novel is very pedestrian. I don't like giving a one star review to a book that is about such a difficult and very personal experience. I wouldn't even go so far as to say that this is a bad graphic novel - just one that wasn't executed as well as it could have been.

[Margie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

I enjoyed reading this graphic novel - it's the first I've ever read. The illustrations were good although there were a couple of places I found a little disjointed. But I liked that the story was true even though it was about a horrible experience, and I hope it was cathartic for the author to go through this process of writing her experiences with people - friends, family and strangers - and the government during her struggle.

[Anna M (readwithanna) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Sarah83 sbookshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die Geschichte, die dahinter steckt, hat mich sehr berührt, aber die Umsetzung hat mir nicht so gut gefallen.

[Maya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not really enjoy the plot of this story, because it just seemed all over the place. It would also leave little details out, that still, to me, made a difference. The artwork was good, though.

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this one up at the library on the spur of the moment, and I cannot even say that I looked that closely at it. The cover drew me, a short blurb by Harvey Pekar caught my interest and a glance inside revealed pleasant enough art for me to decide to bring it home. And I am very happy that I did.

But that said, I was nevertheless surprised by what the book actually was (not that I am sure what I had expected, if anything, really). This is Alissa Torres autobiographical account of having lost her husband in the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Her husband Eddie had just started a new job at Cantor Fitzgerald in the North Tower the day before, and Alissa was pregnant with their child. What follows is the story of surviving an utter disaster of loss and pain, and attempting to turn life around again, somehow.

The narrative is visually expressed by Sungyoon Choi, who does a great job of capturing the (sometimes raw) emotions of Alissa's story.

This was a good read on many levels, and I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in stories about loss ... and life.

[Jeimy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eye-opening look at how the families of the 9/11 victims were treated by entities that were supposed to help them. Of course, this is only one woman's experience.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was fantastic. Torres was a young newlywed and seven months pregnant when her husband was killed in the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11. She describes in unflinching detail her struggles to cope in the aftermath, trying to regain some kind of equilibrium (even just getting out of bed is clearly a struggle at first) and move forward, while also fighting through red tape. One of the things that struck me is the way that help was offered eagerly from all sides early on, but then came with strings attached or never came at all.

A lot of readers seem to think that Torres was grasping in the way that she sought the promised assistance, but I don't feel that's at all accurate. I couldn't help but put myself in her shoes and imagine what it would be like if I lost my husband at the same time I was having my first child, and it gives me a terrifying sense of free-fall. Imagining the mortgage payments, the birth expenses, the struggle to return to work and to life, all while trying to care for a baby... It makes my stomach drop through my shoes. The fact that she had to threaten her husband's employer with legal action before they would even agree that she was covered under his insurance is astounding. It also seems to have been the battle with the various bureaucracies that pulled her out of her spiral of despair and gave her something to fight against, and that makes sense to me, too.

Most of the time Torres's writing is matter-of-fact, but there were two sections in particular that moved me to tears: the description of her child's birth, and the section where she describes waking up and imagining that her husband's energy is there with her in bed. So beautifully done.

I really loved Sungyoon Choi's artwork, particularly the way that small details jump out at the reader. And I'm not sure a bed with one person in it has ever looked so lonely.

[gremlin snacks · Rating 2 out of 5]

i guess i expected more possibly? some parts were really touching. the beginning though was really cheesy. i kept asking myself is this for real? it sounded like something a 13 year old girl would write in her diary. the two pages that were covered with pictures of her late husband really got to me. the thing is i wanted to feel bad for this woman and parts of me did, but overall i felt bad for her husband more than anything. and the fact that she spent most of the time bitching about the red cross and crap sort of annoyed me. i'm not saying she shouldn't have i'm just saying that i rarely got the impression that she really missed her husband or that she was destroyed by what happened. i'm not saying she wasn't. i'm just saying that it didn't come across that way. i don't even know what the point she was trying to make was. and when she complained about friends being jealous of her and saying awful things? i'm not exactly a fan of humans, but honestly what real friends would EVER say such horrible shit in a situation like this? either she exaggerated or her friends really did sense that she mostly cared about the financial assistance which is the same impression i got from reading this.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read about this book in Entertainment Weekly, which gave a favorable review, and decided to pick up this story from a pregnant woman who lost her husband in the 9/11 attacks. Told in the form of a graphic novel, this book succeeds at painting a nice picture of the atmosphere in NYC, her panicked search for her husband, and, at the end, how she deals with wanting to get away from the city, but ultimately this book was filled more with the woman's frustration with the bureaucracy and less about her relationship with her husband. Maybe it's just because I don't usually read graphic novels (although the illustrations in this one were good), but I think the story would have been a lot stronger if it'd been told in a regular book form and if it focused more on relationships and individuals instead of spending so much time on her frustrations afterward. It wasn't what I expected.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful addition to the graphic non-fiction category which includes a big chunk of titles which are memoirs or autobiographical in nature.

This is the posting on the book's discussion forum

www.americanwidowbook.com

This touching story actually brought tears to my eyes as this horrible tragedy was brought to life once again through the eyes of one person. But that's all we need to relate to anything of this magnitude. One person. And for me that one person is Alissa Torres and her story which is beautifully illustrated by Choi.

(It was really fun to get an ARC of a GN since that so rarely happens!)

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected more. Torres has such a compelling story-she is 7 months pregnant with her first child when her husband, Luis, begins his job at Cantor Fitzgerald on 9/10/01. What an amazing tale of embarking on an unexpected life as a single parent. Unfortunately, the story derails into a vendetta against Red Cross and the other aid organizations that have wronged the author. Her son rarely enters the picture.

Two stars are awarded. One is for her search for her husband in the days post 9/11. The other is for the collage of pictures on pages 198-199. Suddenly, Luis Torres is much more real than his wife becomes in 200 pages.

[Amy Beatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man. Makes me want to hate it since it left me in tears. And I'm totally surprised by all the hate here on goodreads over it. It's my first graphic novel I've read as a adult and had no expectations but was totally moved by her story. We all have our own memories of that day filled with fear and heartache. I had only been married a month when it happened and I just can't imagine what I would have done if I was in her shoes. It was scary enough for me in my one bedroom apartment with my new husband across the country in CA. I don't want to say I loved her story since it's just so horribly tragic but I'm glad she wrote it and shared it all. Sending her and her sweet boy my love xo

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMFG. Heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching, and yet I couldn't put it down. Just read it in one sitting.

American Widow is the story of Alissa Torres, who was 7 months pregnant when she lost her husband, a Columbian who worked on the 83rd floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. I don't want to give too much away, but this is a beautiful book. Also very critical of the Red Cross and other "helpers" and media who surrounded those who lost loved ones.

I'm reeling from reading it right now. Awesome book.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heartfelt and disturbing story of one woman’s experiences in the year after 9-11 told in graphic novel format, the confusion, depression and loss are vividly composed in stark black and white. The constant jumping back-and-forth in time beautifully conveys the author’s thought process as she strives to move forward while being trapped in the what-ifs and joys of the past. Her pain is real, and her anger and confusion over the handling of victim funds and the backlash against victims’ families make the narrative compelling and appropriately uncomfortable.

[Norman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good read. Emotional yet not overwhelmingly sad for a 9/11 widow story. Maybe more informative than anything. Probably a 3.5 though - not my absolute favorite memoir. Enjoyed the art mostly, though some parts didn't work for me, and some panels didn't feel necessary for the storytelling. Maybe the facial features weren't emotive enough for me or something? Or maybe it was too manga-ish? However, I did appreciate the singlular color palette (and b&w) with the exception of red white and blue at the end.