Why I Killed Peter
When he was 35 and his daughter had turned 12, Ka confronted Peter, the priest who had sexually abused him 23 years earlier. The story of Ka’s religious formation, how the priest Peter insinuated himself into the lives of Ka and his family, how Ka dealt—or psychologically failed to deal—with the abuse during adolescence and early adulthood, and the catharsis of writing this book all play an active role in the narrative. In Alfred’s hands, the story takes shape and form that allow readers full access to Ka’s emotional life without exploiting it. The artwork, in the main, is scratchy, colorful cartoons, but the final trip to confront the elderly Peter is depicted in snapshots Ka and Alfred made en route, a reminder of the authenticity of the story as documentation of fact. Highly successful both as literature and visual art, this is a book to recommend to abuse survivors as well as readers who appreciate exploring life’s difficult realities. --Francisca Goldsmith