The Dissident Club: Chronicle of a Pakistani Journalist in Exile

Pakistani reporter Siddiqui’s bracing graphic memoir, drawn by French cartoonist Maury (Out of Focus), doubles as an account of the Middle East’s descent into religious violence. A dramatic frame narrative starts things off with a bang, depicting Siddiqui’s terrifying attempted kidnapping by armed men in Islamabad in 2018. Circling back to a quieter time, he describes his childhood in Saudi Arabia, where his Pakistani immigrant parents had relocated for work. Siddiqui’s upbringing was both lucky (his family was prosperous) and increasingly fraught (his once secular father began to impose extremist Islamic rules at home). The family returned to Pakistan after the first Gulf War, where Siddiqui’s young adulthood is a cavalcade of typical teen rebellions (drifting from Islam, discovering hashish) whose stakes are raised to life or death by political and religious tensions (his first date turns from cute to terrifying when a mob attacks, presuming Siddiqui and the girl he’s with are an unmarried couple kissing). His reporting during the iron-fisted rule of President Pervez Musharraf provides an outlet for his disillusionment but leads to self-doubt: “Is this what journalism is? Counting the dead?” Maury’s fluid, zippy artwork brings a whimsical spirit to the often-sardonic narration. The result is a timely tribute to the dangerous and crucial work of journalism. (Apr.)