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Mike's Reviews > Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family
Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family
by
by
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.
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