Notes for a War Story (2007)

2006 winner: Appunti per una storia di guerra Gipi's three teenage boys live in an unnamed country at war, drifting into crime and the taste of power that comes with it. No battle scenes and no named conflict: the war is weather, always there, and the book is about what it does to boys with nothing to do. The washed, sketchy art feels like reportage. In English it is Notes for a War Story, a lean read that lingers long after.