A stunning look at facing our own truths and discovering who we really are , and how a change of scenery can be the catalyst for all of that.

An unflinching look at rural life in the U.S. as told through an immigrant lens. Great graphics and dialogue

The author and his wife are not the first couple to buy land in the mountains, plop down an Amish built cabin, and try to live off the grid. And as they found out, it is possible to do - hooray for solar panels, the internet, and benevolent neighbors - until there’s a sudden need for police, fire, or medical. You really do need to learn how to shoot a gun and use a chainsaw, unless you’re going to continue to depend on those same neighbors.

After weighing the pros and cons of raising a child in such an environment, the author and his wife decided to move back to the city. It is easy to see why: the benefits of growing up in a diverse and stimulating environment outweigh the advantages of isolation, no matter how beautiful the surroundings.

This wise and entertaining memoir should inform anyone contemplating leaving civilization behind. And anyone who has ever entertained such a thought, however fleetingly, will probably be charmed.
The drawings keep the story light and moving – all told, a delightful book.

Two city folk from San Francisco move to rural Idaho purely because they can afford to buy a house there so they buy a tiny house and set it in the middle of nowhere on the 6 acres they bought. It starts off two-fold as the story of 2 dummies that don't know anything about owning a home now have to fend for themselves in harsh country. The other half is moving to a rural and very conservative area filled with racism and conspiracy theories right as Trump became president. Meanwhile, the author is Iranian. It all quickly becomes very surface level though as Mahdavian can't decide what stories he wants to tell. It starts to become more and more about very little. I lost most of my interest about half way through as there are multiple pages devoted to things like bird calls.

A fascinating graphic memoir. Navied and his wife Emelie move to rural Idaho from the San Francisco area. They start with land, putting up a tiny house and learning how to cope with freezing cold winters.

It was that aspect -- the pure struggle to survive -- that I found most surprising, although the contrast between Navied's Iranian heritage and what the locals think of Muslims is the book's selling point. Those of us who've lived in "red" areas won't be surprised at finding the people beneath the politics.

There isn't a big overall learning or realization, but a series of incidents and discoveries. It's definitely a time capsule, already a few years past. I'm glad he captured it.

One scene in Navied's memoir stood out to me. At a neighbor's gathering, two of the men use racial and homophobic slurs. They seem to forget that Navied, whose mother is Iranian, is right there. He wonders if he's invisible to them, Later, the guy driving him tries to say that it's just words, and they aren't racist or homophobic. Navied can't respond.

Most of the book, however, covers positive experiences that can happen when you buy six acres in Idaho. Navied and his wife Emelie plan to garden, chop up wood with an axe, and watch nature. They manage to do all three but learn the hard way that they need a chainsaw for fallen trees. Fortunately, the neighbors are willing to help, and explain which trees are best for firewood in the winter.

Navied talks about what it means to attempt this American Dream. Seeking the pastoral life should be a dream. And in some cases, he gets that romantic life. He learns more about the area in Idaho and how the sheep caused erosion by eating grasses all the way down to the roots. What's more, he learns what he can and can't do when it comes to physical labor. People come to settle, but their disruption has a price. Navied thinks about what it means to give or take from the world.

In other instances, however, the experience is a culture shock, since he's the only Iranian in the area and fairly liberal. Microaggressions come randomly, and he worries about his children facing them as well. When he and Emelie try to restart the old movie theater and bring culture to the town, people only request John Wayne movies. That was painful, as even their single customer who attends to watch new movies will see John Wayne. It's a place where no one wants their minds challenge or their worldview expanded. That is much scarier than endless Facebook photos of men posing with dead deer.

I have been in Navied's shoes. When I learned that he was from Miami, I clicked instantly. Going to such a rural place would scare me; he and Emelie making such a transition is terrifying. Yet they did it, and even made a home.

People need to read this book. Making a decision to move is hard enough. But we know what we will find if we are from an immigrant family, traveling to where bald eagles still make their nests, and Canadian geese may fend off hawks.

An engrossing story of domestic minutia set in front of cultural criticism and upheaval. It's always interesting to see a fresh perspective on the American Dream of home ownership.

"This Country" by Navied Mahdavian is a beautiful and sensitive graphic memoir. I was immersed in the story from beginning to end. I loved it!

Thanks NetGalley and Chronicle Books/Princeton Architectural Press for the e-ARC of this book. All opinions my own.

This graphic memoir chronicles Navied and his wife's relocation from the Bay Area to rural Idaho on the cusp of the 2016 election. Mahdavian's experiences seem a bit self-fulfilling at times (expecting to find racists and then finding them), and perhaps one might have suggested a more subtle transition from the Bay Area to the Mountain West, but a lot can be said in hindsight.

Overall a worthwhile read.

One note on the format: this book may struggle to pull new graphic memoir/novel readers in given the black and white pen-style artwork.

I resonated with this graphic novel a lot coming from a family that immigrated to the US and lived in the south during the rise of Trumpism.

This Country by Navied Mahdavian offers a glimpse into starting a new life in (very) rural Idaho. Mahdavian, an Iranian-American man, and his wife, Emilie, journey from California to Idaho around the same time as the start of the Trump presidency. Themes of home, nature, belonging, racism, and independence are explored. This story has increased my appreciation for graphic novel memoirs as a whole.

As someone from a rural area (though not nearly as rural as where this story takes place), I was impressed with how well Mahdavian was able to communicate what it is like to live in such an isolated context, as well as what some of the people in such areas are sometimes like. I also really enjoyed the depictions of the natural beauty of the area and the wonder Mahdavian was able to communicate through his artwork and words.

There are some really lovely quotes scattered throughout the novel from various authors, which are utilized in a way that feels natural and adds to the story. Though Mahdavian's drawing style is not something I would normally be drawn to in a longer graphic work, it worked quite well to tell the story the author set out to communicate.

Overall, This Country is a story of resilience, wonder, and the meaning of home. It is at times heartwarming, heartbreaking, and humorous. It is a beautiful memoir depicting a few very interesting years of Mahdavian's life. I would recommend it to those who enjoy graphic memoirs.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for my review.

A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

2.5/5 - It was okay, with certain aspects I liked.

As someone who has spent most of her life as a foreigner and has tried to grasp the difference in mindset between the liberal and conservative, the urban and the rural, the premise of this book appealed to me. The story is autobiographical, chronicling the adventures of Navied and his wife, Emilie, who abandon their liberal bubbles for a tiny home in remote Idaho.

I expected a book full of insights and perspectives. There were some moments of beauty - like the realization that cottonwoods are filled with stars; and others of ugliness - such as the confrontations with racism and hatred. There were also moments of ignorance, not only on behalf of the Idaho locals when it came to the narrator's culture, but also on behalf of the narrator when it came to his own stereotypes and lack of understanding of the local way of life.

This could have all contributed to an interesting debate on the intersection of different belief systems and ways of life... but more often than not, moments remained moments and did not lend themselves to a deeper or more thought-provoking discussion. This is why the book, for me, was mostly just okay - I found myself asking: "okay, so what?" after several ideas sizzled out and turned into discussions of bird-watching or gardening. The narrative isn't particularly surprising - if anything, the only real surprise is how little happens in the way of plot. In a way, this is refreshing - it's the cosy story of a young couple on a personal journey. But it lacks the larger application I had been hoping for.

Overall, I enjoyed the illustrations and the insights the book had to offer.

The emotional core of this book is what defines the narrative for me. As a fellow immigrant to this nation, it provides so much relatability and exploration of the small moments not notated in other media. While there were moments on analysis with regards to this nation and the authors autobiographical experience, I wish there were more moments like this. That being said, I feel the slice-of-life approach to the immigrant experience provides a new voice to the cacophony of immigrant narratives across different media.

"This Country" is a beautiful graphic memoir. Its subtitle, "Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America" surfaces so many expectations, and they're more than met in this book. Yes, there are experiences of white Idahoans revealing their ignorance and suspicion directly to the Muslim couple. But the book isn't only about the pain of being stereotyped and misunderstood. Instead, it's about the challenges and gifts people encounter when we move into an entirely different world and seek to build a home there.

So much gratitude to NetGalley and the publisher for a beautiful advanced e-copy for review. I can't wait to bring the paper copy home and enjoy it again!

I really liked this memoir in graphic novel form, geared to adults. This young couple moves from the city to a quite rural area of Idaho, buying a small piece of land & building a life there. The husband documents their life there, celebrating the positives...... along with their frequent struggles....environmental, social, political....as this takes place beginning in 2016. He's a great artist & his drawings really capture the mood, feelings, observations that he's writing about. He also includes some great information...touching on local habitat/nature/history. I'd think that anyone, young adults to older adults, might find something to relate to in this offering of their experience. I'd recommend this to all!
I received a complimentary e-ARC from publisher Princeton Architectural Press via NetGalley for review purposes. This is my own fair/honest review.

The graphic memoir "This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America" (PA Press, 2023) explores the millennial adventures of Navied Mahdavian, his wife, Emelie, and their dog, Stanley.

Born in Miami to parents who immigrated from Iran, now a fifth-grade teacher in San Francisco who dreamed of a dedicated illustration career. Mahdavian felt the unrest and dissatisfaction of his working life as it grated against San Francisco’s congestion and intolerable commutes. He and Emelie purchased six acres in rural Idaho, hoping to develop the rest of their lives on that sturdy middle-American plot.

Unprepared for the coming storms: weather, vehicular, small home space distribution (where to go when you need space from your partner but the second seat in the house is the toilet seat?) or food procurement, Mahdavian and Emelie find enough joy in their life on the land to counterbalance their inexperience. But racist and homophobic comments from “neighbors” and people in town, excused as “that’s just the way we talk,” lead them to wonder if this rural part of the country is the place they can call home for the long haul.

Told with wit, grace, and a straightforward fashion that transports the reader to Idaho and the prospect of killing an elk for dinner, or your raised vegetable beds freezing overnight, or another person asking, “Where you are really from, really.” Mahdavian’s willingness to investigate his own potential bias, even though he is swimming in a great lake of other people’s bigotry, lends "This Country" a reverential quality.

Thank you to Princeton Architectural Press, Navied Mahdavian, and Netgalley for my eARC!!

This Country refers both to the US and to the wide open countryside of very rural central Idaho, and everything that comes with the difference between moving from teaching in the Bay Area, California (San Francisco and the like) to super small Whitesville, USA. At times it was sort of the dream-- living off the land in an Amish-built house, getting to know birdcalls and the signs of deer and elk, but underlying, always, despite the humor of it, the 'otherness' of being a man whose parents came from Iran, who grew up in Miami, and who now lives with folks who are kind as individual neighbors but still hold the sort of old-fashioned standards that are certainly shocking to anyone who aren't around those people.

On a personal note, being a white person I live in Major City, California, and over the last few years I've definitely been interacting with a lot of people who are not from major cities/places in California that have the same background, exposure, and experiences as I do. It's eye opening to say the least, and as much as I ideally would love to just flat out ignore anyone who voted for a certain ex-president or have said words or things that I would not put up with a friend saying, some of these people would be right there by my side helping me change a tire or restarting my car. It's something I've had to come to terms with as the world further separates itself into "us" versus "them" and I can only imagine how much tougher this would be for someone like Mahdavian who is not white-passing.

This Country is an easy to read memoir comic about live truly in the middle of nowhere, a big change for a youngish couple, and some hard work and decisions along the way.

Thank you to NetGalley, Chronicle Books, and Princeton Architectural Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Escaping expensive city life, Navied Mahdavian, his wife, and his dog, move to rural Idaho to try their hand at off the grid living. This book beautifully illustrated the charms and challenges of life in rural America in a politically turbulent time.

I loved the art in this graphic novel, but the story itself presented itself as a series of fun facts rather than a fluid narrative. It was hard for me to get through.

Navied and Emilia are two millennial liberals who move from the Bay Area to rural Idaho to forge a new life. They set up their homestead and get to know the locals who are both kind and prejudiced. They help Navied and Emilia out but not without questions about Navied's Iranian parents or slurs for other identities tossed around. Nature is beautiful (and dangerous) and the air is quiet and life is what us city folks like to call "simple." But this "simple" life is hard work both physically on the homestead and emotionally, with neighbors. Once Emilia gets pregnant, they make the decision to move back to a city so their daughter can grow up around likeminded ideals.

My parents tried a similar, though less rural, approach. On September 11th, 2001, my parents picked me up at school instead of letting me take the van from the private school in the college town out to our home in the countryside. When I asked why, they said they didn't want me hearing untrue or hateful things about the day's events from the other rural kids on my "bus" and their parents. This is the choice Navied and Emilia made for their child. One of protection with the knowledge that a child's mind can't find truth and balance on its own. My tired millennial heart wishes they could've made it work. But my queer, genderqueer, and disabled body knows the fear that comes with being the only one of your kind around.

Navied's story is illustrated with effective, simple images depicting their time in Idaho. The graphic novel is engaging and easy to follow. However, the factual asides felt a bit random and I wish they'd been connected to each other through a theme. I also hungered for a bit more emotional reflection from the narrator himself.

While the illustrations were gorgeous, the storyline was at points nearly non existent.

The final thirty or so pages were my favorite as spoke more directly of the couple's experience with fertility and essentially the life cycle of their time in rural America.

I think this memoir touched on overarching topics like masculinity, gun culture, and racism it stopped short of really making a memorable statement.