Ghost World - Daniel Clowes

 Here is a snippet from my reading life.  I'm reading EW and there is a review for a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes.  Oooh!  Cool!  New stuff!   Darnit, the library doesn't have it.  But the article says that the author is known for his famous book and motion picture "Ghost World".  The library had that, so I ordered it.  When it finally shows up on my doorstep and I start reading it, I question my motivations for getting it in the first place.

It had to happen eventually.  After a year of being blown away by graphic novels, I've finally found one I didn't like.

Synopsis:  Please meet Enid and Rebecca, two friends recently graduated from high school, both angsty, conflicted, perched between childhood and adulthood.  We follow them around in their daily lives as they frequent various diners, observe others, make fun of others, complain about their love lives, and just generally have bitch fests and hurl insults at each other.

As the girls contemplate the next step in their lives, they deal with issues of jealousy, fear of the future, and nostalgia for their innocent youth...will Enid leave for college and abandon Rebecca?  Who is more interesting?  Why do neither of them have boyfriends?  Are they gay? Will they have success in their lives?  Will they always be friends?

   

My thoughts:  I'm scratching my head on this one.  It was hailed a cult classic, popular with young adults for its cutting edge portrayal of "real kids".  I don't know.  Maybe.  I'm not a kid anymore, but I remember being one.  Did I act like this?  Hell, I hope not. 

I can curse with the most colorful of sailors, but I guess when you are reading it in print, and the f-bomb is used repeated times on each page, I cease to find it amusing.  Seriously, I went looking for examples of the artwork, and found only the one above that didn't have foul language.

There was very little plot, which is OK.  I get it that the message is more about the worries and obsessions of this generation.  I am curious that this was made into a movie, however, with so little to go on.  Perhaps a plot was invented.  Has anyone seen this movie? 

Bottom line, the book didn't do much for me.  After reading GNs that make my brain hum, or make me cry, or make me laugh, this one just left me cold and apathetic.  If it weren't just 80 pages, I most likely would have DNF'd it.

I'm curious if any of you have read this book.  I'd love to get your input.

2 out of 5 stars
       

Lost & Found - Shaun Tan

I think it was the recently published "Lost & Found" and the simultaneous Oscar win for Best Animated Short in 2011 for "The Lost Thing" that got me started on this whole Shaun Tan binge in the first place.  Beth Fish raved, and I dutifully scoured my library to see what all the fuss was about.  The result?  After reading "The Arrival", "Tales from Outer Suburbia" and now this, total fandom.

Between its covers, there are three separate tales, all originally published separately in Australia between 1998 and 2001.  All magical, all slightly mysterious, and all containing messages that may or may not be perceived by the reader.  In a note from the author in the back of the book, the stories are described as having come from Tan's experimental period as an artist and as a writer, and are all "about the relationship between people and places, especially when the relationship is ruptured by physical displacement".

In "The Red Tree", a young girl is overwhelmed by sadness and loneliness, but eventually finds hope in the form of a tiny red leaf "right in front of you, bright and vivid, quietly waiting".  Of the three stories, the art in this chapter is something you could get lost in, jarring and violent and haunting and beautiful.  The picture below was my son's favorite.  He sat and looked at it for probably ten minutes (the child that can't sit still).   

In "The Lost Thing", upon which the Oscar-winning short was based, a young man happens upon a creature that doesn't fit in.  It seems to be lost, so he takes it home and takes care of it, hiding it from his apathetic (and slightly intolerant) parents until he can find a place where it will be among its kind.  It reminded me of a stray animal, or an immigrant, or a person who feels separated from society.  It made me both sad and touched simultaneously.

The third story "The Rabbits", was the most disturbing to me.  It depicts a peaceful native land that is invaded by Rabbits, who arrive determined to conquer and rule.  They bring their technical expertise, new food, and new diseases.  They destroyed the land, ravaged natural resources and did as they pleased.  "Who will save us from the rabbits?".  This one was scary, and made me slightly nauseous.  

The book appears to the informed eye to be a children's picture book.  As I've said in my earlier reviews of Tan's work, however, small children are not going to grasp the concepts addressed here, although they are bound to be mesmerized by the amazing artwork.  My 11-year-old and I read this together.  He got it, and loved it.  That made two of us.

If you are interested in giving graphic novels a try, and you have an appreciation for mind-blowing art, I would recommend you give Tan a try.  You can read the books in an hour or so, and will most likely want to give them a second or third pass.  As I've said before, minimal investment, maximum impact. 

5 out of 5 stars

The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick

 My children have had this book on their shelves for years (a gift from the most literary Uncle Kevin) and I've been hearing about the book since I started blogging.  Part storybook, part graphic novel, even part flip-book maybe.  Why on earth I've never read it baffles me.  Maybe it was the size of the book, which is about four inches thick?  The kids both told me I could read it in two hours, so I grabbed it for Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon awhile back, and was exactly what I needed...a charming escape into a world of magic, movies and the innocence of youth.

Synopsis:  Hugo Cabret is an orphan who lives secretly in a train station's clock tower in France.  His mother and father are dead, and his uncle, the clock keeper, disappeared months ago.  Hugo understands that he must keep up appearances and maintain the clocks so the authorities don't discover his lack of parental supervision and send him to an orphanage.  This is no problem, though, because he has a gift with mechanical things.

Hugo's primary obsession is with an old automaton, which is father rescued from an old museum years ago.  The automaton, once fixed, should be able to draw something, and once Hugo figures out what that something is, he thinks it might just change his life.
   

And it does, in ways he never suspects.  Suddenly he is involved with a cranky old shopkeeper, a strange young girl, a mysterious drawing, a secret key, and the legacy of Georges Milies, a magician and famous filmmaker at the turn of the century.

Writer, illustrator and Caldecott winner Selznick was inspired to create the story of Hugo Cabret by two influences.  First was the true story of Georges Milies.  Milies was a visionary when it came to making wonderful and strange movies, like "A Trip to the Moon" (shown below), made in 1902 and was the first science fiction movie ever produced.
 

Selznick was also fascinated with automata, which were constructed by using thousands of tiny clockwork parts to make a figure move automatically, performing any number of complicated maneuvers like dancing or drawing pictures.  Watching an automaton in action is mind-blowing. No wonder Selznick's imagination went wild:




My thoughts:  Do I REALLY need to tell you what I thought?  Selznick has created what I could consider the perfect book.  It incorporates over three hundred gorgeous illustrations, and a magical story.  Then there is the history!  There is the birth of film with the works of Georges Milies and the love of old movies in general.  There is the magic of automata.  My brain was buzzing while I was reading this.  I decided that if I get rich someday, I'm buying myself an automaton.  I sat and watched video after video of them on Youtube.  To heck with the moving and talking Presidents over at Disney's Epcot, I want one of these guys. 

And it gets better.  On November 23, 2011, there will be a movie directed by Martin Scorcese and starring Johnny Depp, Ben Kingsley and Christopher Lee.  My heart is coming out of my chest.  I could cry I'm so excited.   

So set aside a couple of hours for yourself, and read this now.  You will not be disappointed.

5 out of 5 stars

Tales From Outer Suburbia - Shaun Tan

Having dipped my toe into the magical world of Shaun Tan's "The Arrival", I am moving on to the only other book of Tan's that my library carries, "Tales of Outer Suburbia". While "The Arrival" was wordless, this collection of 15 illustrated stories are full of fanciful tales of magical realism. Tales that on one hand are childlike in their imagination, but contain deeper philosophical undertones that give pause to those of us old enough to understand (or NOT, in some cases!).

For example, take the story "Eric", about a shadowy leaf-like creature that comes to live with a family as a foreign exchange student. Eric prefers to sleep in the pantry (written off as a cultural thing), is curious about unexpected objects, and departs without warning, leaving behind the most precious of gifts as a thank you.

Or how about this scary, silent water buffalo that lives on a vacant lot, that gives directional advice to young children? I'm not a hundred percent sure about the message, but the image of the buffalo is arresting.

One story tells about a dreary community where cement is painted green to simulate grass, there is a shortage of food, and a shortage of money. But then one family discovers a hidden courtyard that can only be accessed through a hole in the roof, a courtyard where everything is lush and beautiful. They discover that all houses have an inner courtyard, if you can find it, and is used as sanctuaries for each family. The imagery is amazing.

There is a community, sometime in the future, where all families are encouraged to each buy their own missile in order to help the government protect their citizens. Each family must keep their missiles functioning and clean and ready to use. But instead, the missiles are slowly disarmed and used for doghouses, tool sheds and planters. Obviously our Mr. Tan is a lover, not a fighter.














As you would expect, the illustrations each have a life of their own, ranging from breathtakingly beautiful to bizarre. This is eye candy that you won't tire of admiring.















The stories aren't all easy to understand. In fact there were some that I scratched my head and just admired the artwork. This is considered to be a children's book, but like "The Arrival" I think it would make more of an impact if some adult assistance accompanied the reading. After reading two of Tan's books, I will attest to the fact that he gets you thinking with the creative side of your brain, and away from literal interpretation, which makes for great discussion with your kids or in a classroom.

4 out of 5 stars

The Arrival - Shaun Tan

The world of graphic novels has sort of been a new discovery for me over the last year or so, and I've found the experience to be thrilling. I know there are many of you that look at this type of book with a skeptical eye, but to me it is almost like combining the joys of reading and watching movies. In many cases, the visuals just grab you by the hair and pull you into the book. They are generally a very quick read, and can, in just a couple of hours, blast you right out of that reading slump. It's immediate, and impactful.

I'd been hearing about Shaun Tan forever. His work has won umpteen awards, and just this year, won an Oscar for the short animation "The Lost Thing" that was adapted from his book of the same title. I was long overdue for an introduction, and I started with his most well-known publication, "The Arrival".

In nostalgic sepia tone, and without a single spoken word, Tan documents the story of one man who leaves his family and immigrates to a land of promise in search of a better life. We sense that his homeland is threatening by an unspecified evil (war? disease? oppression?) and has no choice, but is an extremely painful decision.

Upon arriving in the new world, the man is faced with a strange language (invented by the author to create the sensation of confusion), fascinating and magical buildings, and unrecognizable creatures, one of which attaches itself to the man and becomes its companion.

















The man meets others who have walked in his shoes, ones of varied races and ethnicities, and they show him kindness and help him with his transition. Once the man's family finally joins him in the new country, they pay this kindness forward to other newcomers.






















The beauty of this story is in its simplicity, its magical realism, its hopeful innocence, and the immigrant's tale that could be applied to any country, race or culture. My heart was filled to the brim almost intantaneously with emotion and yet not one word is written. It was enough to take my breath away, and then after I'd turned the last page, sit there in stunned silence.

The book is described as a children's book. It's certainly appropriate for any age, and the illustrations would most likely enchant them, but I wonder if the underlying message would be lost. I sat down and went through the book with my son, whose mind can stretch around just about any concept, and he loved the book, but needed some explanation. Our absolute favorite thing about the book is the little white creature who adopts the immigrant man (on the front cover). We think we need one of those little guys.

Without a doubt, one of the best graphic novels to date.

5 out of 5 stars

And the Pursuit of Happiness - Maira Kalman

I saw on the news the other day that Amazon experienced the highest number of Kindle downloads this Christmas Day than all other days combined since its launch. E-readers are soon going to be a household device, and it makes alot of people nervous that this will eventually kill off the printed book, sending it the way of the dodo bird.

But if you have a chance to touch, feel and feast your eyes on this book, And the Pursuit of Happiness, you will know in your heart this is never going to happen. This is the best justification for a printed book I have ever seen in my life. This book is a work of art, meant to be cherished by all of your senses.

Synopsis: I am a bit confounded on how to describe this book. It is a graphic novel, sort of. It is a work of non-fiction, but that sounds dull. Travelogue? Personal musings? A dedication to American democracy? A love letter to the delights of food, and to simple pleasures? Sarah Vowell set to pictures? All of the above!

Maira Kalman, an illustrator and author, takes us along for a journey around the country, exploring little-known facts about our founding fathers, addressing each one and meanderingly related topics each month of the year. Sounds a little strange I know. Let me give you an example.

George and Martha Washington make an appearance. We get to see a picture of the flag he took into battle, learn how he loved Lafayette, had hippopotamus ivory teeth that were too big, and valued his library. Martha wore fancy shoes. Maira ruminates on how to achieve happiness, her answer being working, walking and going to museums.

Of course, we see alot of Lincoln because Maira is in love with him. Lincoln loved people, has 150 impersonators around the country, he had a dog named Fido, he loved apples and Mozart.



Maira ponders on whether there is such a thing as a military gene.

"Don't we need both the warriors and the artists on this planet? What if I were in the Army? Apart from an impeccably made bed, I can't imagine what else I could do. Fly a chinook? Peel potatoes? Or maybe be a hostess?"

We also are treated with a little John Adams, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, James Buchanan and Benjamin Franklin, who is featured on the cover. Apparently the women were "nuts for him with his brains and his crazy fur hat".

My thoughts: I loaned this book from the library, but I think I may need to own it. It is just beautiful, with its thick, glossy colorful pages and its heft. (I had to weigh it on my postal scale..over a pound!) But more than that, you will love this book for the way it makes you feel. It makes you feel good about our country, about determination and confidence, and about finding happiness in the smaller things in life. Like stately, plump tassels on a curtain, the perfect red eyebrows on a museum guard, or a great piece of pie.

Even thought the book is 471 pages long, you can read it in one sitting, or leisurely browse through it in a day or two. In all honestly, you will want it to last as long as possible, so your eyes can drink in Maira's quirky, rich illustrations and your psyche can soak up her child-like optimism.

This read is in a class by itself. Dedicate a Sunday afternoon to the cause, and I promise you will thank me.

5 out of 5 stars

American Widow - Alissa Torres

I sometimes have to ask "why do I do this to myself?" I have this compulsion to read books and see movies about 9/11. Am I a glutton for punishment? Does it help me find closure? I didn't even lose anyone in the tragedy, but I still lost a piece of my heart that day. Each year I mourn, and with every novel, I cry and my stomach hurts. Still I persist.

So up went my antennae when Carrie from Books and Movies reviewed "American Widow" by Alissa Torres. I felt like I owed it to Alissa Torres to read her story.

Synopsis: Alissa and Eddie met at a New York dance club, under the shadow of the Twin Towers, fell in love, and got married. Eddie was an example of the American Dream...born and raised in Colombia, moved to the US and worked his way up the corporate ladder. Then he lost his job, and was hired by Cantor Fitzgerald, whose offices were in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. His first day of work was September 10, 2001.

Seven months pregnant, Alissa is forced to endure a mountain of paperwork, bureaucratic red tape, and uncooperative "assistance", all while silently grieving for her husband. She is plagued with images of her husband jumping (which the authorities believe he did), of the fight they had the night before he died, of her attempt to provide for herself and her infant son. She is bewildered by the animosity and anger directed towards her because of the monetary help she seeks.

But Alissa is nothing if not strong, and she forges through the muck, fights her fight, and comes out the other side ready to tell her story and her husband's story. Despite my typical stomach ache, it is a story of survival and hope.

My thoughts: Another graphic novel hits the bullseye. Between Torres' candid recall of her loneliness, grief and frustration after her husband's death, to Sungyoon Choi's expressive and emotional illustrations, you have nearly walked in Torres' shoes. My heart goes out to Torres, and wished I could introduce her to the Cantor Fitzgerald widows who wrote "Love You, Mean It", another amazing story of resiliance.

There was one thing that confused me about the story (and in hindsight, I think Carrie mentioned this too) was that Alissa was angry at her husband about something on the evening of September 10, 2001 and the morning after when he left for work. She never tells us why, and I suppose it is none of our business. Maybe it was something trivial, and the bigger point was that she was never able to resolve her differences with him. But in the process of the story, it felt like it was a small missing piece.

Generally, I like to include an illustration or two of graphic novels I review, but I found this feature on Torres and her novel, and thought it was better than any one frame I could show you:

4 out of 5 stars

The Color Trilogy - Kim Dong Hwa

On my never-ending quest for all things graphic (my new form of crack), I was at the library recently and spotted this trilogy. I first read about it over at Gavin's place at Page 247, and I've never forgotten the arresting visuals. I sat down and knocked them all out in a matter of days. (Side note: This is one of many reasons why graphic novels are so incredible, and why you really need to get on this bandwagon. They pack a huge punch emotionally, because they are so visual and often well-written at the same time. And you can normally read them in one or two sittings.)

Synopsis: In Korea, Kim Dong Hwa is highly revered as the standard in graphic novels, called "manhwa". The Color Trilogy is his first work translated and sold in the US, and tells a story of a young girl's coming-of-age in nineteenth century Korea, and her relationship with her widowed mother.

In The Color of Earth, we first meet Ehwa, who lives with her mother in a small village. Her mother runs the local tavern, and is a beautiful but lonely woman. Ehwa has just started feeling stirrings of adolescence, and harbors her first crush on a young monk boy. At the same time, her mother meets a mysterious and handsome traveling artist, and Ehwa observes her mother in love, an emotion in which she is has a sudden interest. The onset of puberty is explored as we see the young monk experience his first wet dream and Ehwa's first period. The novel ends when a new love interest of Ehwa's, a enigmatic student, leaves the village to return to school, and she is crushed.


In The Color of Water, Ehwa becomes a somewhat difficult teenager, and is often moody. She longs to have the attention of a young man, and spends her energy on wondering who she will marry. She becomes agitated (and jealous?) at her mother's obsession with the continuing visits from the traveling artist. Ehwa learns about the birds and the bees from a precocious and promiscuous childhood girlfriend. She finally meets the man of her dreams in Duksam, who must leave at the end of the book to earn money so they can be married.




In The Color of Heaven, most of the plot is spent focused on Ehwa and her mother's constant longing and waiting for the men in their lives to come back to them. They find common ground in their angst, and begin to relate to each other as equals. The men eventually do return, and Ehwa is married.

Not only does this trilogy address all of the confusion and excitement of the transition from child to adult, it also gently reveals many different Korean customs, as well as local foods, roles in the family unit, attitudes towards single women, arranged marriages, sexual taboos and social order. Hwa also incorporates a great deal of symbolism and metaphors with a multitude of text and images dedicated to the blossoming of flowers, ripening fruit, and butterflies.

My thoughts: The Color Trilogy is unlike any of the graphic novels I've read before. It is seeped in Korean culture and beautiful images of the countryside.

The book is also very straightforward in its depiction of sexual awakening. It is a little disarming because there are pictures, but also refreshing in its honestly. For this reason, this could be an excellent book to give to a teenager (I think at 12, my daughter might be still too young) - just make sure you read it first so you can use it as an opportunity to discuss.

The artwork was absolutely gorgeous. It seemed, in some of the frames, that actual photographs had been merged with illustration (not sure if it actually was or not), and the result was breathtaking.

I felt like I was getting a mini-tutorial on traditional Korean culture, of which I was completely uneducated. Hwa even added footnotes to some of the dialogue, with explanations of some of the customs.

On the downside, I did grow extremely weary of reading about flowers and butterflies. I completely understood the point, but it was heavy-handed. And I also have to mention one particular sex scene near the end of the last book, taking place between two older townspeople at the same time that Ehwa consummates her marriage, that left me turned off. I didn't think it was necessary, and did not add to the beauty of the story.

Overall, a wonderful graphic novel experience that I would highly recommend.

4 out of 5 stars

Laika - Nick Abadzis

I should know better than to read a book with a dog on the cover. Or an animal of any kind. This always means tears, lots of them. But I remembered reading Alyce's review of this graphic novel, and on a library/graphic novel spree of gluttony, I grabbed it on impulse.

Everyone in my house knows the story of Laika, being animal lovers that we are. The Russian street dog that became a hero overnight, as a result of his one-way trip to space on Sputnik 2, a rushed mission to prove to the world that Russia reigned supreme in the field of space exploration.

Nick Abadzis diligently researched Laika's story, added his own interpretations, and the result was this heart-wrenching story of a dog that will forever be remembered.

Synopsis: Korolev was once a political prisoner in a Siberian gulag, now an engineer for the Soviet Space Program. He is a "man of destiny", and was saved from frostbite and starvation by the barking of a dog. He has been charged with making history by sending Russian orbital vehicle in space before the Americans.

Yelena is a soft-hearted animal handler for the dogs that are test-subjects for the space program. She is attached to the animals, and often can even imagine their thoughts, and is deeply distressed by their ultimate fate.

Laika is a scruffy but high-spirited dog who was once an abused pet, then a stray, and finally one of the test subjects for the Sputnik program. He was identified as a resilient and good-natured animal, and was sent into space knowing he would not return to earth alive.

This graphic novel weaves the stories of these three characters into a part fiction, part non-fiction account of Laika's legacy.

My thoughts: In almost every book I read, somebody dies and I just tool along like it is expected. An innocent dog dies, for the sake of Russian glory, and I fall apart. I would dare you to read this one, even knowing the ending, and not shed a tear or two.

The illustrations are not necessarily outstanding, but what sets this graphic novel apart from the rest is the emotion that is rendered. When Abadzis provides the thoughts of Laika and her other test subjects, or repeats various phrases like "Good dog", "Don't worry" or "You can trust me", I thought my heart would break into a million pieces. Never mind that this is the poetic license that Abadzis adds to the facts of the true story, it resonates as completely believable.

Abadzis also delves into the personal histories of the main characters of Korolev, Yelena and Laika, which gives the story some depth, something most people might think is impossible for a graphic novel. Korolev wasn't just a task-master dooming a dog to death, he was a man who had nearly died in Siberia, had a strong will to survive, and had a soft spot for canines. It was hard to be angry at him. Laika's life as an abused stray, in one situation was dumped into the river by a former owner, tested my desire to finish the book. But I'm glad I did. Laika's story deserves to be told. Good dog.

4.5 out of 5 stars