What do you think?
Rate this book
Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family
In this intergenerational graphic memoir, renowned video game designer Jordan Mechner traces the path his family takes as it's uprooted by war, Nazi occupation, and everyday marital strife.
1914. A teenage romantic heads to the enlistment office when his idyllic life in a Jewish enclave of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is upended by World War I.
1938. A seven-year-old refugee begins a desperate odyssey through France, struggling to outrun the rapidly expanding Nazi regime and reunite with his family on the other side of the Atlantic.
2015. The creator of a world-famous video game franchise weighs the costs of uprooting his family and moving to France as the cracks in his marriage begin to grow.
Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner calls on the voices of his father and grandfather to weave a powerful story about the enduring challenge of holding a family together in the face of an ever-changing world.
1914. A teenage romantic heads to the enlistment office when his idyllic life in a Jewish enclave of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is upended by World War I.
1938. A seven-year-old refugee begins a desperate odyssey through France, struggling to outrun the rapidly expanding Nazi regime and reunite with his family on the other side of the Atlantic.
2015. The creator of a world-famous video game franchise weighs the costs of uprooting his family and moving to France as the cracks in his marriage begin to grow.
Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner calls on the voices of his father and grandfather to weave a powerful story about the enduring challenge of holding a family together in the face of an ever-changing world.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 19, 2024
About the author
Jordan Mechner
26 books70 followersJordan Mechner is an author, graphic novelist, video game designer, and screenwriter. He created Prince of Persia as a solo game developer in the 1980s, joined forces with Ubisoft to relaunch the series in 2003 with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and adapted it as a 2010 live-action film for Disney. Jordan's books include his game development journals The Making of Karateka and The Making of Prince of Persia, the graphic novels Templar (a New York Times bestseller) and Monte-Cristo. His games include Karateka and The Last Express. In 2017, he received the Pioneer Award from the International Game Developers Association. @jmechner on Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon and Twitter.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
May 22, 2024
My thanks to NetGalley and First Second Books for an eARC of this book to read and review.
I get the layers of family that the author was going for, tying in his family and their flight from Europe in WWI and WWII, that was interesting, though not always clear which scenes belonged to which timeframe.
But his life? I always say I will never write my memoirs because 1) no one cares and 2) it will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am a self-centered idiot who has First World Problems, usually of my own making.
The memoir portion of this graphic novel follows those failings to a T. We don't need to see the disintegration of your second marriage. Yes, she didn't come out of it looking great, but neither did you. I hope that was the intent.
His family's life and struggle to survive? Yes, give me more of that please. (Though you could have left out the bits about how no one could seem to keep it in their pants in 1930s France. And the bit where your grandparents divorced in their 70s and how your grandfather has kids the age of yours....or if you mention it, you need to give MORE. Like WTH!?!? Did he have a secret family, was his new wife like more than half his age?? SOOOO many questions.)
Again, the WWI and WWII bits were fascinating, though more obvious distinction between the two timelines would have been helpful. Modern day? Not necessary, thanks. The only part where it worked was the parallel Passover dinners. That gave me chills.
2, this had potential and wasn't horrible but I was hoping for more, stars.
I get the layers of family that the author was going for, tying in his family and their flight from Europe in WWI and WWII, that was interesting, though not always clear which scenes belonged to which timeframe.
But his life? I always say I will never write my memoirs because 1) no one cares and 2) it will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am a self-centered idiot who has First World Problems, usually of my own making.
The memoir portion of this graphic novel follows those failings to a T. We don't need to see the disintegration of your second marriage. Yes, she didn't come out of it looking great, but neither did you. I hope that was the intent.
His family's life and struggle to survive? Yes, give me more of that please. (Though you could have left out the bits about how no one could seem to keep it in their pants in 1930s France. And the bit where your grandparents divorced in their 70s and how your grandfather has kids the age of yours....or if you mention it, you need to give MORE. Like WTH!?!? Did he have a secret family, was his new wife like more than half his age?? SOOOO many questions.)
Again, the WWI and WWII bits were fascinating, though more obvious distinction between the two timelines would have been helpful. Modern day? Not necessary, thanks. The only part where it worked was the parallel Passover dinners. That gave me chills.
2, this had potential and wasn't horrible but I was hoping for more, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2024
I follow Jordan Mechner on social media and have played most of his games - loved The Last Express. This is a triple-memoir in graphic form, and while originally published in French, looks fantastic in translation.
This is *not* a development journal of any particular game; most of those are published elsewhere. The theme here is families and connectedness and sub theme of trains just keeps cropping up. The perspectives are eye opening, and the story is a very good read - it was hard to put down, and finished in a few days. The troubles of the eastern front in WW1, the perspective of WW2 from a partly Jewish family - it is said in the text, but there was a lot of luck in getting this far. Finished just before Passover in 2024, and that also plays a part in the end, bringing all three stories together.
Borrowed hardcover from the library for this read; will probably reread in the future. Definitely recommended.
This is *not* a development journal of any particular game; most of those are published elsewhere. The theme here is families and connectedness and sub theme of trains just keeps cropping up. The perspectives are eye opening, and the story is a very good read - it was hard to put down, and finished in a few days. The troubles of the eastern front in WW1, the perspective of WW2 from a partly Jewish family - it is said in the text, but there was a lot of luck in getting this far. Finished just before Passover in 2024, and that also plays a part in the end, bringing all three stories together.
Borrowed hardcover from the library for this read; will probably reread in the future. Definitely recommended.
May 22, 2024
Amazing, if sprawling, epic saga. I got a little lost at times, with the jumping timelines and the sheer number of characters, but this is a very good graphic presentation of specific and personal narrative history.
July 30, 2024
Excellently drawn in calm confident lines with the perfect amount of detail to really support the story. The story itself is impressive, touching and highlights an important part of history. Knocked off one star, because the number of characters combined with the different timelines and time jumps (and skipping certain details until the very end of the book) made it a bit confusing at times.
May 3, 2023
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Jordan Mechner, à qui l'on doit la série des jeux vidéos Prince of Persia, enfile ici sa casquette d'auteur/dessinateur pour nous livrer ce roman graphique très personnel. Il y narre en parallèle son expatriation à Montpellier pour travailler sur un nouvel opus de Prince of Persia et l'exil de son père et sa famille pour fuir la seconde guerre mondiale.
Pour cette partie du récit, Mechner se base à la fois sur les souvenirs d'enfance de son père, Franzi, d'une part et sur les carnets de mémoires écrits par son grand-père Adolph d'autre part. Les trois récits s'entremêlent de façon très fluide et rendent la lecture de ce roman graphique agréable et facile à suivre. Le choix de la mise en couleur qui utilise trois teintes différentes selon les époques n'y est pas pour rien et m'a un peu rappelé celle de The Magic Fish dans une version plus neutre.
Au final une lecture très agréable, que vous vous intéressiez aux jeux vidéos ou pas, car ce n'est pas là le focus principal du récit. J'ai beaucoup aimé.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Jordan Mechner, à qui l'on doit la série des jeux vidéos Prince of Persia, enfile ici sa casquette d'auteur/dessinateur pour nous livrer ce roman graphique très personnel. Il y narre en parallèle son expatriation à Montpellier pour travailler sur un nouvel opus de Prince of Persia et l'exil de son père et sa famille pour fuir la seconde guerre mondiale.
Pour cette partie du récit, Mechner se base à la fois sur les souvenirs d'enfance de son père, Franzi, d'une part et sur les carnets de mémoires écrits par son grand-père Adolph d'autre part. Les trois récits s'entremêlent de façon très fluide et rendent la lecture de ce roman graphique agréable et facile à suivre. Le choix de la mise en couleur qui utilise trois teintes différentes selon les époques n'y est pas pour rien et m'a un peu rappelé celle de The Magic Fish dans une version plus neutre.
Au final une lecture très agréable, que vous vous intéressiez aux jeux vidéos ou pas, car ce n'est pas là le focus principal du récit. J'ai beaucoup aimé.
May 21, 2024
Three generations of a Jewish family's history, from Europe to North America, to Europe again. The author is the creator of the video game Prince of Persia and other successful games. What is so unique about this graphic memoir is that several generations of the men in this family kept journals of their family's history, a true legacy. The story is told in multiple generations/times in history, but is pretty easy to follow and the artwork is told in muted colors of grey and green. A little long but engrossing just the same.
April 22, 2024
Why does every millennial think we want to read their life story. And to mix it in with stories from the war just feels like it diminished the war story. And the lack of a coherent back and forth between the stories made it harder. Comparing the struggles of creating a video to escaping a war torn country seems the height of self centeredness to me.
March 25, 2024
Calling it now, this might just be my Book of the Year. It’s a moving intergenerational memoir of Jordan, Franz, and Adolf Mechner, showing the hardships they endure and the surprising ways their lives connect. I’ve already considered Mechner a bit of a Renaissance man; this just confirms it. Easiest five stars I’ve given in months.
May 4, 2024
Very solid four stars! The intergenerational stories were interesting, and it’s a gift that Mechner’s father and grandfather chronicled their life experiences in such detail. My only complaint is that it was sometimes hard to follow the thread among the timelines, despite the color coding. However, definitely worth the read!
March 24, 2024
As a kid of the ’80’s, I grew up on the Apple ][. I played Karateka and Prince of Persia, not fully grasping at the time just how advanced or forward thinking the games truly were. Karateka brought the idea of story and rotoscoped character motion to video games. I didn’t know the person behind the games beyond the name that flashed on the splash screen.
A friend of mine told me about the author’s works, including his development journals and the graphic novel discussed here. It isn’t focused on games and computers, though it does provide a backdrop. The core is how three generations of his family dealt with the events of WW1, WW2 and growing up in modern times. The author uses a different color for each era, making it easy to keep up with the flipping back and forth between time lines.
The author has a rich family history to tap into. It is tragic and hopeful. We get to see the events proceeding to WW2 from the eyes of a Jewish family, running away from ever encroaching Nazies. There is a lot of luck involved, they being the fortunate ones. Many others in the extended family were not so lucky. It is painful to know the fates of them.
The author lays bare a lot of his family history, including his own. Two marriages, two kids, obsessive to tell more of the Prince of Persia story. He makes points of pride, regrets and challenges as he attempts to hold his own family together while making a video game. It is this vulnerability that gives the book its weight and power. Amazing story telling.
A friend of mine told me about the author’s works, including his development journals and the graphic novel discussed here. It isn’t focused on games and computers, though it does provide a backdrop. The core is how three generations of his family dealt with the events of WW1, WW2 and growing up in modern times. The author uses a different color for each era, making it easy to keep up with the flipping back and forth between time lines.
The author has a rich family history to tap into. It is tragic and hopeful. We get to see the events proceeding to WW2 from the eyes of a Jewish family, running away from ever encroaching Nazies. There is a lot of luck involved, they being the fortunate ones. Many others in the extended family were not so lucky. It is painful to know the fates of them.
The author lays bare a lot of his family history, including his own. Two marriages, two kids, obsessive to tell more of the Prince of Persia story. He makes points of pride, regrets and challenges as he attempts to hold his own family together while making a video game. It is this vulnerability that gives the book its weight and power. Amazing story telling.
June 11, 2024
From what the author told about Replay, I was expecting something quite different. To me the most interesting part about these stories is the tale about how Prince of Persia was made, apparently a passion project made by just one guy. But there are just tidbits in this book about that, the vast majority is a historical account of Mechner’s various relatives. Some of it might be interesting to someone, but I found it very hard to follow because of all the names and the constant switching between the timeperiods. I also found it a little bit shallow, it’s mostly ”this person did that”, we don’t really get to know any of these people. It would’ve been better to tell the stories in chronological order, and do a deep-dive on selected parts.
Despite the struggles of the author’s relatives because of the nazi persecution, I find it that the people in this account are so privileged, making it hard to relate to. It’s important to recognize your privileges. Not everyone can have a house in LA, New York and rent an apartment in France, at the same time. Many people can only dream about even having a house period, and probably do.
Despite the struggles of the author’s relatives because of the nazi persecution, I find it that the people in this account are so privileged, making it hard to relate to. It’s important to recognize your privileges. Not everyone can have a house in LA, New York and rent an apartment in France, at the same time. Many people can only dream about even having a house period, and probably do.
July 6, 2024
This was an excellent graphic memoir of 3+ generations of one family.
In 1914, a Jewish teenager from Vienna enlists to fight in WWI. As he eventually starts his own family, trouble again brews in Europe.
In 1938, a father is in Havana, having fled the war, and awaits his family. His seven-year-old son is still stuck behind Nazi lines in France with his aunt as they move from town to town to escape detection.
In 2015, the creator of the video game Prince of Persia moves his family to France while trying to compile the journals of his great-grandfather's time in Europe and Cuba, while also dealing with his father's aging across the ocean in the U.S.
The memoir weaves between these times artfully, occasionally stopping in other decades, to tell the story of a resilient family over the course of a century as they move full circle, once again to return to Vienna.
The height of threads was a poignant moment of Passover happening in three different timelines--with all three looking toward a time of peace and togetherness.
I found this very enjoyable and one of my favorite graphic works.
In 1914, a Jewish teenager from Vienna enlists to fight in WWI. As he eventually starts his own family, trouble again brews in Europe.
In 1938, a father is in Havana, having fled the war, and awaits his family. His seven-year-old son is still stuck behind Nazi lines in France with his aunt as they move from town to town to escape detection.
In 2015, the creator of the video game Prince of Persia moves his family to France while trying to compile the journals of his great-grandfather's time in Europe and Cuba, while also dealing with his father's aging across the ocean in the U.S.
The memoir weaves between these times artfully, occasionally stopping in other decades, to tell the story of a resilient family over the course of a century as they move full circle, once again to return to Vienna.
The height of threads was a poignant moment of Passover happening in three different timelines--with all three looking toward a time of peace and togetherness.
I found this very enjoyable and one of my favorite graphic works.
April 12, 2024
In this graphic novel memoir, Mechner recounts his struggles to keep his family together when he moved to France to work on a new video game. During this time he reminisces of the games he made previously, especially Prince of Persia. But he also weaves in stories of the struggles his father and grandfather had as Jews living in Europe. He includes his father’s stories of fleeing from Austria to France as a child during WWII, and stories from his grandfather’s memoir which details memories of fleeing the Germans in WWII and fighting for Austria in the Great War.
This graphic novel memoir has lots of amazing and heart-breaking stories. The individual stories are great, but it struggles in other ways. It is very jumpy back and forth through stories and timelines, and so the overarching narrative of families struggling to stay together isn’t very clear. I do like the use of color to try to differentiate between the different timelines, but it’s still confusing. 3 stars for jumpiness, but rounded up to 4 stars because the stories are just astounding.
This graphic novel memoir has lots of amazing and heart-breaking stories. The individual stories are great, but it struggles in other ways. It is very jumpy back and forth through stories and timelines, and so the overarching narrative of families struggling to stay together isn’t very clear. I do like the use of color to try to differentiate between the different timelines, but it’s still confusing. 3 stars for jumpiness, but rounded up to 4 stars because the stories are just astounding.
July 27, 2024
Jordan Mechner es el autor de un videojuego clásico: 'Prince of Persia', que diseñó siendo apenas un adolescente para ordenadores de 8 bits. Esperaba, por tanto, encontrarme con la biografía del programador entremezclada con la historia de su propia familia, que sabía que tendría interés porque habían sido judíos que lograron escapar del Holocausto.
Mechner es un gran narrador y, por lo que veo, un excelente dibujante. La historia de su familia (que se remonta a su abuelo, que luchó en la Primera Guerra Mundial) es treméndamente interesante y la manera en que la narra, mezclando presente con pasado de todos sus protagonistas, resulta absorbente. He disfrutado la novela gráfica y creo que es muy recomendable.
¿Cuál fue mi problema? Que yo esperaba más de desarrollo de videojuegos (concretamente del Prince of Persia) y menos de historia familiar. Con lo cual a mí, personalmente, no me aportó lo que esperaba. Culpa mía, por supuesto, porque en la portada o su publicidad no hay nada que conlleve a engaño.
Mechner es un gran narrador y, por lo que veo, un excelente dibujante. La historia de su familia (que se remonta a su abuelo, que luchó en la Primera Guerra Mundial) es treméndamente interesante y la manera en que la narra, mezclando presente con pasado de todos sus protagonistas, resulta absorbente. He disfrutado la novela gráfica y creo que es muy recomendable.
¿Cuál fue mi problema? Que yo esperaba más de desarrollo de videojuegos (concretamente del Prince of Persia) y menos de historia familiar. Con lo cual a mí, personalmente, no me aportó lo que esperaba. Culpa mía, por supuesto, porque en la portada o su publicidad no hay nada que conlleve a engaño.
April 16, 2024
I enjoyed this graphic novel. The author was the original creator of Prince of Persia (one of the few video games I experienced growing up in a no-TV, no-video-game household). This book combines his story of moving to Paris for a reboot of the game (shades of Tomorrrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow) with his family story: father and grandfather who escaped Vienna during World War II; grandfather who fought in Russia and Italy during WWI. His family was very lucky and prescient; although the Holocaust clearly is alluded to and exists at the edges of the story it is nowhere near as harrowing as, say, Maus (which one of my daughters just read for school. I thought it was thought-provoking and well told.
April 18, 2024
One frequent refrain in memoirs is how the past affects the present. ��Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family” by Joran Mechner (First Second) shows the importance of relating stories from the past in order for the current generation to understand the history of their family. The graphic memoir offers three different stories: the first and most interesting is a record put together by the author/artist’s grandfather about his life in Austria, first his service in the army during World War I and then his escape from Europe, although Mechner’s father was, at first, left behind in Paris when his father moved to Cuba.
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/book...
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/book...
March 31, 2024
A beautiful memoir of Jordan Mechner's family's journey through two world wars and across two continents, and with Jordan's own story as he juggles relationships and his demanding career as a workaholic award-winning video game designer.
While I found the book's flashback narrative somewhat disjointed, such that keeping up with all the various characters was difficult, the story kept me turning the pages until the bittersweet ending. I may try to re-read it in chronological order, as I think it will be much easier to figure out all the family connections without all the flash-backs and flash-forwards.
While I found the book's flashback narrative somewhat disjointed, such that keeping up with all the various characters was difficult, the story kept me turning the pages until the bittersweet ending. I may try to re-read it in chronological order, as I think it will be much easier to figure out all the family connections without all the flash-backs and flash-forwards.
August 15, 2023
This was very long, very rambling, very jumpy, and very disorganized. I can’t imagine it was easy to try to combine three men’s stories into one, and occasionally they do overlap in very pleasing ways, but overall I just found this strangely self-gratifying. it almost felt like he wanted to toot his own horn a little bit, which I guess is expected in a memoir. Maybe it’s because he just seems like an unappealing person. I found myself looking for the opportunities to read more about his father and grandfather.
July 24, 2024
There is a lot to appreciate here. I remember playing a demo of Prince of Persia on my dad’s Mac when I was a kid. At some point I stumbled into Mechner’s “The Making of Prince of Persia” journal, which I’ve only read parts of…
This was an obvious labor of love. As someone who appreciates family history, journaling, drawing, simplicity, and attention to detail, this inspired me quite a bit. Some of the wordless frames that accompany the drama of life that Mechner lays out hit me in a pretty profound way.
This was an obvious labor of love. As someone who appreciates family history, journaling, drawing, simplicity, and attention to detail, this inspired me quite a bit. Some of the wordless frames that accompany the drama of life that Mechner lays out hit me in a pretty profound way.
January 17, 2024
Bon si j'ai trouvé l'idée bonne, et certains éléments intéressants. Je dois dire que ça a été souvent confus pour moi. Les changements de temporalités ont beau être de differentes couleurs, ce n'était pas toujours évident. Régulièrement je me disais "mais qui parle ?"
Je trouve que ce format, allant de l'un à l'autre comme ça n'est pas maîtrisé. J'ai manqué d'intérêts. J'aurai préféré plus de prise sur les récits. Un peu par ci par là, ça ne me plaît pas du tout.
Je trouve que ce format, allant de l'un à l'autre comme ça n'est pas maîtrisé. J'ai manqué d'intérêts. J'aurai préféré plus de prise sur les récits. Un peu par ci par là, ça ne me plaît pas du tout.
March 27, 2024
Author does an amazing job telling three stories: that of his grandfather who was born in the Austria-Hungarian empire, served in WW I and was then forced to flee to the Americas on the eve of war. The author's father, as a small child, flees with his father but endures several years of separation while hiding in Vichy France. Finally the author tells his own story of falling in love with game design while managing his own tumultuous personal life. An enjoyable read.
May 28, 2024
This is messy, hard to follow but it aches with the trauma of a family's past and the author's expectations for himself. The interspersing of the generational narrative is uniquely suited for the graphic novel and is made all the more convoluted. But that complexity has a beauty in its wistfulness for a past that no longer exists. One can't help but read this and see the ghosts in Mechner's own life that have haunted relationships, career choices and so much more.
March 30, 2024
Just fabulous. Maybe it's because his family history is not a world of different from mine, or maybe it's because his journey and interests feels intertwined with my own, but I wept openly as I read the final third of this. It's beautiful and heartbreaking; true and relevant; deeply resonant in the way Maus was a generation ago. I learned about myself as I read it; I can't recommend it enough.
May 7, 2024
Amazing memoir in graphic novel form, the author (I knew his work in videogames like Karateka and Prince of Persia first) tells his own story, his father's story, and his grandfather's story of immigration and time spent as refugees. Very well done and the timelines and colours and lettering style are interwoven in a compelling fashion.
June 12, 2024
Following the different parts and generations of the Mechner family can be hard at first, but it is a really interesting story that tells you a lot of repeating history, but also reflects on what changed through the last 100+ years. Careful: If you're just here for Prince of Persia, it's not your book.
July 15, 2024
Could’ve done with a bit less about the author’s personal life—I didn’t find him particularly relatable or sympathetic. But the stories of his father and grandfather are harrowing and moving. The structure, bouncing back and forth across time, weaving the generations together through memoir, conversation, and tradition, was ambitious and largely effective.
July 7, 2024
Unlike video games life needs to be lived on one player turn. Jordan recounts his video game journey but also generations of Jewish struggle from Austria (or is it Romania or Ukraine) to Cuba to US. Good artwork.
July 27, 2024
Une très belle bande dessinée, le créateur de jeu vidéo Jordan Mechner retrace l'histoire de sa famille lors de la seconde guerre mondiale grâce aux mémoires de son grand-père et nous livre également le récit de sa vie professionnelle et personnelle, les deux se faisant écho de très belle façon.
October 16, 2023
super intéressant mais trop décousu et désorganisé
Read
February 5, 2024Booklist review pending
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews