Review of En klump i magen (2020)
Malin Granroth (writer-artist).
Read in 2022.
This autobiography covers the span of the writer-artist’s first pregnancy. This occurs at a time when natal care in her home town of Malmö, Sweden has had its funding cut for many years.
In one scene, Granroth draws herself with Smålands mörker (2012) on her bookshelf. This is in that style of visually simple, straightforward graphic novels for adults. For realistic reasons, Granroth includes frequent swells of emotion, which Bromander excluded. The only significant lapse in realism is that her shop talk as a software developer has been diluted for a broad audience.
As a story about a generations’s life in Malmö, it’s more gripping than Wage Slaves (2016) and more carefully structured, yet equally political. As a short story about the highs and lows of pregnancy, it’s very good: Honest, accessible and touching, not sappy or manipulative.