This Beautiful Ridiculous City by Kay Sohini book review

This Beautiful Ridiculous City. Kay Sohini. Ten Speed Press. 2025. 128pp. $24.99.

If you are a creative person, you have most likely fallen in love with New York City and perhaps that feeling has stayed with you. In a city with an endless amount of stories to tell, it seems that everyone who dares to dream of an artistic life, and has the means or sheer will to do so, has taken a bite out of the Big Apple. Kay Sohini, a talented artist-writer, presents her take on her own love affair with NYC in her debut graphic memoir, This Beautiful Ridiculous City. The title says it all. This is the city that never sleeps , an amazing amalgam of high and low culture along with manic highs and lows. Everyone has their story to tell about this quintessential metropolis and Sohini provides quite a distinctive visual narrative.

Sohini has a way of inviting the reader into her world that is sincere and authentic. I felt quite at home as Sohini leads the way, setting the tone by sharing about her love for New York: the sights and sounds; the artists and writers; the euphoric feeling of being there. This introduction dovetails into a look back at Sohini’s childhood and upbringing in the suburbs of Calcutta: a slower pace; a smaller scene. I think therein lies the conflict: a need by Sohini to seek greener pastures while also coming to terms with and honoring her family back home once she does leave for New York. It won’t be a spoiler to say that Sohini does ultimately find a balance. What transpires within this delightful book is an utterly genuine coming-of-age story with all the insights and epiphanies any reader could want.

This book is filled with page after page of essential information for anyone interested in visiting New York, or just curious about what makes a great city tick. This is also a compelling story about one young person’s journey of self-discovery. And there are wonderful extended moments when it all seems to coalesce. One such scene is a two-page spread that well represents the soul of the book: a mother and daughter conversation about food. Sohini explains that she was kept out of the kitchen as a child. Now, as an adult, she hungers for every recipe detail she can get from her mother.

Another two-page spread provides a delightful insider guide to the best kept secrets on where to find amazing Indian food but you’ll have to leave Manhattan to find it. In the end, life in the big city is made up of a vast array of struggles, failures and sublime victories. Who is to say just how great a victory a favorite restaurant can provide on any given day? Sohini will help you appreciate New York City with her crisp and thoughtful writing and drawing. This graphic memoir is truly a victory.