Shelterbelts
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Average rating3.5
Fractures form in a tight-knit Mennonite community, echoing the struggles experienced in small towns across North America When a non-denominational megachurch opens on the edges of a rural Mennonite community, a quiet--but longstanding--battle begins to reveal itself. For years, the traditionalists in the community have held fast to the values and beliefs they grew up with, while other community members have begun raising important questions about LGBTQ+ inclusion, Indigenous land rights, and the Mennonite legacy of pacifism. Through a series of vignettes, Shelterbelts explores the perspectives, experiences and limitations of a wide range of characters who find themselves increasingly at odds with their surroundings. A pastor and his queer daughter learn that a family has left their church because of the "LGBT issue." Young activists butt heads with a farmer over the construction of a pipeline happening on his fields. A librarian leaves suggestive notes for readers inside popular library books. By pulling these threads together, artist Jonathan Dyck has woven a rich tapestry--one that depicts a close-knit community in the midst of defining its future as it reckons with its past.
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3.5 stars
Loved the art.
This book felt like a mumblecore movie with no plot...which could be fine but drifting between characters, trying to deal with a million different issues, AND lacking plot is a combination that doesn't entirely work. The overall reading experience was quite enjoyable and it gave me a lot to think about, but I think this might have worked better as a series of books or a series of short graphic novellas, each with an actual plot line, and each able to fully delve into characters and issues.
I thought for the most part the depictions of different characters was quite nuanced...with a few exceptions. The setting and issues dealt with are really interesting and the story did a good job of interweaving all these issues...but I felt that for the relatively short length of the book it was trying to do too much. SO many topics get touched on or brushed over. In some ways this is accurate to real life, as in a given day you might casually mention or think about any number of topics...but the author was clearly trying to make a point or reveal something about each of these and it felt like there wasn't enough time for any of them or most of them to really be dealt with in a meaningful way. Mennonite history, land rights/indigenous land claims, pipelines, pacifism, LGBT acceptance in the church, LGBT acceptance in a small town, parent/child relationships, intergenerational relationships, disability, farming issues, appreciation of nature/dominion of nature, missionaries/white saviours/voluntourism, mega churches vs. small churches vs. new conservative churches, disputes over the meaning of Remembrance Day etc....So many threads got dropped, characters that could have been interesting fade into the background.