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“Sohini’s art—drawn over ‘twelve or more hours a day for six months straight’—electrifyingly bursts in full color with architecturally meticulous details throughout. Her love letter to ‘this beautiful, ridiculous city’ proves to be a vivid celebration of survival and belonging.”
Financial Times
'Sohini's book, with its glorious, candy-coloured drawings of the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station and the Gimbels Skybridge, presents its allure in a fresh, enchanting way, while also offering a reminder that Sohini is one of a long line of women who have found themselves in the city, made their mark, remade themselves."
The Guardian
"Kay Sohini’s account of leaving Kolkata and sadness behind to build a life in the Big Apple is a stirring tribute to the place that saved her...I love the way she messes with scale, and mixes her media...You feel the good these places did her, and with such an awareness comes the itch of wanderlust, the sudden desire spontaneously to book a flight."
Library Journal
“Sohini puts her own experience in the context of her cultural forbears seeking answers and inspiration in the United States' foremost metropolis, with influences as far-reaching as Sylvia Plath, Alison Bechdel, and Shah Rukh Khan...Sohini’s love of New York and evolving understanding of herself within its powerful context work in concert for a radiant read.”
Double-click on the boxes below to expand:
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--- an example of what the format is capable of when it’s put in capable hands.
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--- the literary graphic memoir you’ve been looking for
On her first night in New York City, Kay Sohini sits on the tarmac of JFK Airport making an inventory of everything she’s left behind in India: her family, friends, home, and gaslighting ex-boyfriend. In the wake of that untethering she realizes two things: she’s finally made it to the city of her literary heroes—Kerouac, Plath, Bechdel—and the trauma she’s endured has created gaping holes in her memory. As Kay begins the work of piecing herself back together she discovers the deep sense of belonging that can only be found on the streets of New York City. In the process she falls beautifully, ridiculously in love with the bustling landscape, and realizes that the places we love do not always love us back but can still somehow save us in weird, unexpected ways.
New York Public Library | February 2025
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In Conversation with Dr Lisa Diedrich
A Year in Books
“An intimate portrait of the city not only as a place of dreams, but as a vital source for healing and self-discovery.”
—Nick Sousanis, Eisner Award–winning author of Unflattening
“This is such a rich book, both visually and narratively. Kay Sohini captures a vivid sense of place through literature, landscape and food, taking us on a journey from the heady suburbs of Calcutta to the New York that has so enchanted her.”—Isabel Greenberg, New York Times bestselling author of Glass Town
“Part reflective memoir, part family history, part architectural survey, part literary companion, part food blog, part dreamscape, part data-driven political, and cultural critique—this book is all kinds of genius.”—MK Czerwiec, Eisner Award–winning editor of Menopause: A Comic Treatment
“This Beautiful Ridiculous City is a radiant love letter to New York City that paints a portrait of how the restlessly ever-changing megalopolis can save us, change us and captivate us. Kay Sohini deftly holds the greatest city in the world close and tenderly, while imbuing the most introspective, vulnerable memories with sweeping mythic quality. An intimate insight into an artistic awakening that invigorates hope for finding a home that lays ahead of our dreams, ambitions and curiosities.”
—Matt Huynh, Eisner Award–winning artist and creator of Cabramatta