Bookshelf recommends Postcolonial graphic novel “United States of Banana” by Latinx philosopher Giannina Braschi.

“United States of Banana: A Graphic Revolution is a postmodern graphic novel, adding illustrations by Swedish cartoonist Joakim Lindengren to parts of Puerto Rican writer Giannina Braschi’s 2011 postmodern text. The result is a complex tale about U.S. imperialism and Puerto Rican independence, featuring the Statue of Liberty (who has a Jewish cat), Chico Marx, Zarathustra, Don Quixote, René Magritte, Fidel Castro, Hamlet, Donald Trump, and many others debating such issues as global warming, terrorism, immigration, mass incarceration, and much more, all in the name of anticolonialism. An introduction by Amanda M. Smith and Amy Sheeran, professors of Latin American Literature and Spanish, respectively, provides important help in unpacking the narrative, citing multiple scholarly sources. This is the trippiest work in this year’s Bookshelf.”