'An Italian town deals with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake
'Matteo, Guilia, and Federico have ordinary lives: they spend time with friends, help out their families, go to school, and deal with the many mood swings that come with growing up. Then, in a single night, everything changes. The ground shakes. An earthquake devastates their town and their security. But after everything is gone, life must go on. Anger and fear affect everyone in the community, but each of them must find a way to begin again. In the aftermath, the roots for stronger friendships can be laid amid the rubble. This graphic novel provides a look at how natural disaster can strike and forever change a community.'
Inspired by the events of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that hit central Italy in August of 2016, Red Zone tells the story of a small Italian town and it's residents following a similar natural disaster. However, rather than focusing on the disaster itself, the book is set within the aftermath, and is seen through the eyes of the children of the town rather than the adults.
The book begins with the town being hit with an earthquake, dropping the readers straight into events. Soon after we're introduced to our core cast of characters, Matteo, Giulia, and Frederico. All of them have either lost their homes in the disaster, or find their homes inside the dangerous red one; meaning that they're unable to return.
A makeshift school is set up inside a tent, whilst those who can't leave the area have to move into a small tend village or caravans whilst the community tries to rebuild the town. Unfortunately, there's a lot of damage, not much money, and winter is fast approaching. As the weeks pass and things get colder the children find things harder as they see little to hope for, especially Frederico, who hasn't been the same since he lost his dog during the quake. However, the children learn to come together and form strong bonds of friendship to help them through.
Whilst there's a lot to like in the book, especially the relationships that form between the characters, I often felt like the book was lacking somewhat in depth, and we only get a cursory understanding of each of them. I hoped to have been able to get to know them better, to understand more of what the earthquake did to them and how it changed their outlook, but the book is sadly too short for this. It's a shame as I'd have happily have read a book that was twice as long if it meant that got a better understanding of the characters.
That being said, there are moments that work surprisingly well despite not knowing the children all that well; with one particular scene being quite moving. There a times where we get insights into the way that the aftermath of the earthquake has affected their personalities and left them deeply troubled. There are moments when we get hints of the post traumatic stress they're having to live with, and these are by far the best moments of the book.
The artwork works really well for the story too, and it's a very crisp and clean looking book, with a lot of care and attention given over to the details; especially in the ruins of the town following the earthquake. The scenes where the winter snow comes are particularly good, and these panels in particular are some of the best in the book.
Overall I really enjoyed Red Zone, but was hoping for a lot more from it. However, if you're looking for a nice quick read, or a book that's going to be found enjoyable for younger readers it's definitely one worth giving a look.
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