Book Review: The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Title: The Arrival
Author: Shaun Tan
Publisher: Arthur A Levine Books
ISBN: 978-0439895293
Genre: Picture Book
Pages: 128
Source: Library
Rating: 5/5

How do you review a book which is all about pictures? It is easier to review it you might think. Even I thought so. But here I am, trying to search for words to review a book that had not a single word in it but was full of emotion and a great story to tell. The Arrival by Shaun Tan is one such book and trust me when I say that beautiful doesn’t even begin to cover it.

The Arrival is a story told in pictures and nothing else. Come to think of it, nothing else is needed sometimes to tell a story but pictures. Words but after all are secondary to emotions and if emotions can do the job, then really why speak at all? The Arrival is a story of the “immigrant experience”. There are some books that grab you by the throat and some that change the way you think, while there are others who instantly shock and awe you. The Arrival belongs to the last category. I have never read anything like this book that in essence places the reader so perfectly in the shoes of an outsider, trying to fit in and be a part of the new world, so to speak.

Shaun Tan is an illustrator to start with and what an illustrator that man is. Shaun Tan has created a world that is not only strange to us but also the protagonist. A man leaves his home for the new world. The assumption is to make money. Once he arrives in the strange world, he cannot help but be in awe of it. Everything is different. From pets (with strange tails and ways and resemble cats and dogs and butterflies and pigeons) to language to mode of transportation and the way they live in cone-shaped structures to what they eat. Here the man meets other immigrants and knows of their stories of escape and how they arrived in this land. Amidst all this, he learns more about this land and grows to love the tadpole like creature that follows him everywhere (almost like a dog). Towards the end, his family has arrived and we see how they have grown to love the city and be a part of it.

For me the beauty of the book lay in the pictures. Having said that, with every page I turned, I was fascinated by the author’s thought-process. What must have gone through the illustrator’s mind to tell a story like that? A story so fantastically real, and depicting the universal emotion of facing something strange or new. The book is remarkable and I was in total awe of it. The images are not difficult to decipher – they make you stop and wonder about how the imagery must have formed in the illustrator’s mind and with such lucidity it is put on paper.

The Arrival has been one of the best books I have experienced this year. I say experienced because there is no other way to describe it. The book takes you on a different plane. It is beyond words and thank god for it. Because there are times when you do not need words to tell everything. The Arrival is a book with a soul. Read it and experience it.

Here is a video created on the book in parts:

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Book Review: Are You My Mother? : A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel

Title: Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama
Author: Alison Bechdel
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0-224-09352-1
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 289
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

When Alison Bechdel wrote, “Fun Home”, a graphic novel about her closeted gay father and her relationship with him, it was received with great aplomb. Critics loved it and so did the regular readers. I read it last month and was in absolute love with it. At the end of the book, I wondered, “What about Alison’s mother? What about her point of view and her life?” and the wonder was put to rest when I read her new book, “Are You My Mother?”

Are You My Mother speaks of the relationship Alison shared/s with her mother. Alison’s mother was everything rolled into one – an actor, musician, lover of books and also a woman unhappily married to a gay man. Alison’s childhood simmered under all of this – her father’s constant battle and her mother’s constant shirking away from her, so much so that she stopped touching or kissing her daughter good night ever since she was seven. There was this constant tension between her parents, which led to Alison’s history of obsessive compulsive disorders which she shares in the book.

The book in itself is funny and at so many places only heartbreaking. There are moments when Alison’s relationship with her mother are for all to see – how she did not get the attention she craved for, or the relationship defined by the complete and absolute lack of intimacy. At some places she provides answers and reasons and at the others she leaves it for the reader to figure it on his/her own.

Are you my Mother contains a lot of dream analysis as well – Freud has to jump in, when it is the bigger picture and through these dreams one can also understand how detail-oriented Bechdel is with reference to her life and relationships.

As a graphic novel, I loved the drawings as much as I did in Fun Home. The lines are clear and the colour is just what this book should have – in shades of grey and tinges of red. Alison’s book is not just about her mother – it is also about introspection of her life and the way she led it before writing Fun Home.

I loved the way this book was written. More so because I am biased to graphic novels. They speak a different language of words and pictures, which also conveys a lot, like a novel would. The past and present are beautifully juxtaposed and the good thing is that there is also a sense of empathy while reading the book. There is no pity or sympathy; however it is something one can relate to, without experiencing it at some level.

“Are you My Mother?” for me was a wonderful read this month. Family relationships are beautifully portrayed in this one and that too being a graphic novel, it manages to convey a lot. Bechdel’s mother remains an enigma in most places, but that doesn’t deter the book from being what it is – brilliant. Relationships are like a prism sometimes with way too many angles and perspectives. This is one of them – from a daughter to her mother.

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Book Review: The House that Groaned by Karrie Fransman

Title: The House that Groaned
Author: Karrie Fransman
Publisher: Square Peg, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0-224-08681-3
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 208
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5

The thing about a graphic novel, actually the thing about a good graphic novel is that you can go back to it again and again. The House that Groaned by Karrie Fransman is one such graphic novel. It would have to be one of its kind –a literary graphic novel (If I can say so), that may be will find it difficult to find an audience for itself but eventually it will and people will enjoy what they will read.

The House that Groaned is about the lives of six people living in a nondescript, old Victorian house on a place called Rottin Road (presumably in England). One is a cosmetic saleswoman who has just moved in, one is a man who loves women who are diseased or disfigured, one is a hedonist, one is a diet consultant, one is a homebody, and the last one is someone who touches up photos of models.

Barbara moves in to 141 Rottin Road, and meets the other residents (well some of them) and there begins this story of the residents’ lives and its living in Rottin Road.

This is the so-called motley bunch of characters in this book. Karrie Fransman’s story is of odd-ball characters trying to live day by day and making sense of the madness that surrounds them and within them sometimes. Karrie also tells the reader something about the past of these characters and how they came to be in such a situation and what led to their oddities.

Fransman gives the characters doll-like faces and yet is able to tell her story with precise emotions and grounded realities. Fransman’s drawings set the story apart from the very beginning. She is clever with the artwork, the layering and ensuring how the scenes play themselves out originally and without giving away too much.

The book is challenging as well to read, considering the flashback aspects sometimes. The cover of the book is brilliant with the front page opening like nine windows to the apartments, giving the reader a sneak peek into every apartment before the story is told. Karrie has written a unique graphic novel and I would recommend it to all lovers of graphic fiction. It is interestingly told and catches your attention from the first page on.

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Here is a Promo of the book:

Book Review: Habibi by Craig Thompson

Title: Habibi
Author: Craig Thompson
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN: 978-0-571-24132-3
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 665
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

I remember when I finished reading, “Blankets” for the first time. I was mesmerized by the writing and the illustration prowess of Craig Thompson. I had to procure a copy of, “Goodbye Chunky Rice”, which I loved a little more than “Blankets”. I had heard of, “Habibi” sometime ago and when I received a copy of it, I started and ended the book and still reeling from its effect.

Craig Thompson as an illustrator and a writer takes risks. Habibi is very different from the other graphic novels that I have read. It reads as a novel to begin with and the sketches are intricate and magnificent. One cannot begin to think what black and white drawings can do to the heart and the soul. To realize its potential, you have to read Habibi.

Set in timeless Middle East, the book fuses legend and myths with grim realities, following the lives of Dodola, an Arab girl sold into child marriage by her illiterate parents. Her husband is kind enough to teach her the script, how to read and how to write. She is kidnapped by dacoits, runs away from the slave market with an African child who she raises as her own for nine long years (names him Zam), living a sheltered life in the desert on an abandoned ship (it is beautifully drawn in the book), whores for desert nomads in exchange for food, is help captive in a Sultan’s harem, and is in a dungeon as well. Bottom-line: Her life is not rosy. The only comfort she found was with Zam and the years spent with him and she doesn’t know where he is. She ultimately finds him and finds out about his suffering, only to reach the end where there is much positivity and love. I am putting it loosely in this review as I do not want to reveal anything about the plot and what happens in the book.

Habibi (My Beloved) is a love story. Of a girl who takes in an orphan and is representative of everything she is to him – a friend, a mother, a guide, a sister and a lover. Habibi has several sub-plots. There is the emphasis on the heritage of Islam and Christianity and its similarities, which again are beautifully expressed. There is a lot of hard-facing reality in this book. For instance, when Zam is alone and without anyone by his side, the measures taken by him to survive are raw and realistic. The visuals are marvelously done and the message is heart-felt. For instance, Zam loves listening to stories told by Dodola, and it is done fascinatingly in the book.

For me Habibi was a journey of a different kind. It taught me a lot and also made me realize that at the core of it, humanity sometimes is not what you might expect it to be. Thompson balances the points of view between spirituality and lust delicately and brings the concept of, “struggle with oneself” quite eloquently throughout the book. Habibi celebrates life through it all and for me that is the highlight of this book. A must graphic novel to adorn your shelves for sure.

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Book Review: The Death-Ray by Daniel Clowes

Title: The Death-Ray
Author: Daniel Clowes
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0224094115
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 48
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

Daniel Clowes never ceases to amaze me with his graphic novels. He is brilliant and while I say that for most authors who I read, Mr. Clowes is truly the master of graphic storytelling. I remember reading, ‘Ghost Girl’ with such fascination when I first laid my hands on it and then I was marveled by, ‘Wilson’, only to be enthralled by his latest book, ‘The Death-Ray’.

‘The Death-Ray’ focuses on Andy, a lonely boy growing up in the 70s who has one friend and is being raised by his grandfather who is likely to develop Alzheimer’s. One day while smoking a cigarette by chance, Andy discovers that nicotine activates his super-powers where he gains super strength. Coupled with that is his father’s legacy – a handheld, “death ray” that can eliminate people. This turns Andy from being an awkward teen to having the power of life and death in his hand.

The book follows the story of Andy and his friend Louie as they try to find their place in the world. They go through their phases – of picking on bullies, on people who do wrong and people who according to them deserve the death-ray experience. The plot is simple, but things get complex and more difficult to understand when Andy grows up. There was a point in time when I felt bad for Andy and his way of life, however then I realized that some people are just made for this – to go through life, pass by and experience it.

There are no spoilers in the review as the book needs to be experienced by readers. The writing is strong and Daniel Clowes as always touches upon the themes of loneliness and angst in a surreal manner. The Death-Ray is one of the best Graphic novels I have read this year. Read it!

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Book Review: Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol

Title: Anya’s Ghost
Author: Vera Brosgol
Publisher: First Second, Macmillan
ISBN: 9781596437135
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 221
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4/5

Anya’s Ghost is a great graphic novel for young teens – especially for young girls. The themes touched on this novel are universal – body image, being a part of a group or clique, the need to belong and the need to identify your roots and not let go of them, no matter what, and not to mention ghost busting as well.

Anya’s Ghost is one of the few graphic novels I have read this year and I enjoyed it to the hilt. I always have felt that writing a graphic novel is far more difficult than writing a short story or a novel for that matter. It isn’t easy. It takes a lot to add words to images and vice-versa; however Vera Brosgol does an amazing job of it.

Anya is a regular 9th or 10th grader at a lower-tier public school, who is embarrassed of her immigrant past. She has no friends at school, except for Siobhan. One afternoon, Anya has a fight with her and storms off into a nearby forest where she falls in an old well. There she makes an acquaintance of a ghost from 1918 named Emily. She has been hovering there next to her skeletal frame for years, mourning the death of her fiancé in WWII and herself at the hands of a murderer. One of Emily’s bones accidentally enters Anya’s bag and once she is out of the well, she realizes that Emily is here to stay. Before long, Emily and Anya become friends and Emily helps Anya overcome all her problems – with boys, fashion, school homework and friends. Anya’s world is idyllic till Anya realizes that all is not what it seems and what she has got herself into.

Vera Brosgol has very intelligently through a ghost story merged the issue of identity and what it means to get over one’s foreign-ness in America. Brosgol seamlessly weaves through being funny, touching and thrilling. This is a book that can be enjoyed by all and for every graphic novel lover, I would recommend it so it can take the place on the shelf close to American Born Chinese and Blankets.

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Book Review: Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi

Title: Chicken with Plums
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Publisher: Pantheon Books
ISBN: 9780375714757
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 85
Price: $12.95
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 5/5

In Chicken With Plums, Satrapi writes a biography of her great-uncle, the famous Iranian musician Nassar Ali Khan. When Khan’s tar breaks, he falls into a depression and lays in bed wishing for death for a week. At the end of that week, he dies (this isn’t a spoiler, it says so right at the beginning). Satrapi presents each day of his final week, with flashbacks to earlier parts of his life that lead up to his current predicament. Through these memories, we come to understand Khan’s heartbreak and his loss of will to live.

This is the third book by Satrapi I’ve read, after Persepolis and Embroideries, and it has earned its place at the top of the list. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the book, but as the narration twisted and I came to understand more about a lifetime of frustrations, cyclical depression, and the outpouring of soul into music, I really empathized with Khan. Then, the end twisted around in a direction that I didn’t foresee at all, and I cried. It was beautiful. The love! The passion! The pain! Oh…and the artwork…so beautiful. The second to last panel, with the Angel of Death at the funeral, staring intently at a specific mourner – oh, it made me cry so much. It was such a lovely and heartwrenching book!

I really, really love Marjane Satrapi’s work. Each new book I read, I love more. She has such a sense of character. She can take a person and strip them down to their essentials in order to splash out a portrait of them on paper. By the end of each of these books, though they aren’t long and don’t take long to read, you really feel like you know the people she discusses. You know them as individuals and you recognize in them the people you know personally. It’s brilliant. If you haven’t read any of her work yet, I highly recommend that you do. It doesn’t really matter where you start – they’re all wonderful.

Book Review: A Taste of Chlorine by Bastien Vives

Title: A Taste of Chlorine
Author: Bastien Vives
Publisher: Jonathan Cape, Random House UK
Genre: Graphic Novel
ISBN: 978-0224090964
Pages: 144
Price: £16.99
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

A man with curvature of the spine is advised to take up swimming to help with his condition. When he begins swimming he finds it hard to get into but slowly becomes better at it. A woman he meets at the swimming pool is a former swimming champion who helps him get better and the two begin a pool-only relationship. Over time it seems the man falls for the woman and that the woman might have feelings for the man – but will anything come of this? This is the premise of this graphic novel, and honestly it is beautifully portrayed.

This subtle, gentle story is told at a very leisurely pace by artist/writer Bastien Vives. The pictures look very colourful and crisp in the French style of illustration. This is a contemplative, almost zen-like storytelling style revolving around swimming in a pool with very little in the way of dialogue and mostly panels showing slight variations of the previous one. In this way it’s almost like animation and if you read it quickly it’s like watching an animated indie feature. I personally loved this method of story-telling. It is almost taking you back to the roots of telling stories without being too verbose and all through pictures.

In the end, I wasn’t sure what to make of the story. I enjoyed the book but the ambiguity made sure that I was kept in the dark. The end is like the end of “Lost in Translation” when Scarlett Johannson whispers something in Bill Murray’s ear and the audience doesn’t hear it – something is “said” which basically ends the book and it’s never explained.

Even so, the book is well drawn and intriguing if only to see how the story will play out. The ambiguity and lack of an ending continue the feeling of intrigue set out by the writer and though that might be unsatisfactory for some, I still came away from the book thinking it was worthwhile. Definitely an acquired taste but for those looking for indie comics or a comic book that has something a bit different to it, this is a decent read.

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A Taste of Chlorine

Book Review: Mister Wonderful by Daniel Clowes

Title: Mister Wonderful
Author: Daniel Clowes
Publisher: Pantheon
Genre: Graphic Novel, Comic
ISBN: 978-0307378132
PP: 80 pages
Price: $19.95
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 5/5

Once again, Clowes has demonstrated his mastery of cartooning in “Mister Wonderful”, a book previously published in installments in The New York Times magazine. In this story, we follow Marshall (the story’s protagonist) on an eventful blind date that includes a late start, a purse-snatching, a trip to the hospital, a posh party and several punches being thrown. Through it all, Marshall might actually find a happy ending after such a peril-fraught evening.

The book moves along at a good clip, neither breezing through personal details nor miring in what might be called Marshall’s maudlin life. His preoccupation with making a good impression on Natalie (his blind date) is both scathing and sad… we are often privy to Marshall’s thoughts at the expense of Natalie’s dialogue. Yet this works beautifully, as Marshall’s observations and eccentricities are often hilarious. Although Marshall might be considered a “typical Clowes character”, he usually has an air of guarded optimism and hopefulness, which differentiates him from previous Clowes creations such as Wilson.

Although not as stylistically inventive as Clowes’ previous book “Wilson”, “Mister Wonderful” shows he is still in top form, letting the narrative do the talking, so to speak. Gone is the busy cross-hatching of early “Eightball” issues, in favor of a more simplistic, pared-down style that is in service to the story at hand. This is how a true cartoonist thinks, letting words and pictures work together to tell the story instead of one overpowering the other. This is one of those books that repeated reading rewards the reader, as subtle pieces of the story become clearer after revisiting.

The surprise for some will be the optimistic ending of “Mister Wonderful”… at least, optimistic for a Clowes story. Several reviewers/critics have often complained of Clowes’ stories being nihilistic or pessimistic. Although this might be somewhat true, isn’t this how life truly is? Rarely is the pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow. I think Clowes is fearless in depicting this in his stories. Even “Mister Wonderful” doesn’t give us a flowery, false-ringing happy ending we get so often from Hollywood or more mainstream comics. Clowes’ stories ring truer than 99% of the media out there, something most reviewers/critics easily forget.

The only complaint I might have is the size of the book… it’s a bit uncomfortable as it’s wider than it is tall. A very poor fit on the bookshelf. Yet this is a minor complaint. Ultimately, content is more important than packaging, and this book is a home run in that department. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

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Book Review: Laika by Nick Abadzis

Title: Laika
Author: Nick Abadzis
Publisher: First Second Books
Genre: Young Adult, Graphic Novels
PP: 208 pages
Price: $17.95
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

Any preconception that I had about graphic novels presenting simplistic or cartoonish stories was shattered by this book. Laika, is a complex story that focuses on the deep relationships that can be formed between humans and animals. The graphics and text work in concert to portray the action and emotion in this story, especially in the dream sequences where Laika imagines that she is flying. Readers who are familiar with graphic novels will appreciate the quality of the artwork and dialogue. Readers who are new to the genre will be easily caught up in the story that is being told.

Laika is the story of the first dog to go up in space. It’s not a spoiler to tell you that she doesn’t come back. But Laika is really the story of the dog’s — and her people’s — life before she’s launched in Sputnik II’s tiny compartment. The Cold War, the space race, the USSR during that time, common human cruelty, loss, privation, powerlessness… all these provide a context and backdrop to Laika’s story, so the heavy feeling starts a few pages in and continues to the end of the story. There are compassionate and kind people throughout, of course, which only increases how sad you feel while reading it.

Laika’s entire story, as conceived by Abadzis, is heartbreaking but there are certain moments towards the end that I found particularly easy to identify with. When Comrade Yelena visits Laika for one last time she can hear the dog saying her name with every bark, even when Yelena is too far away to hear them. She dreams that Laika is calling out to her for help. That she’s scared and uncomfortable and just wants to get out and play. Anyone who has ever owned a pet will be familiar with this feeling. When the pet is missing or in pain, it’s difficult to keep from emphasizing with it. How much worse then when the dog in question is imprisoned in a capsule and shot into the sky? Abadzis doesn’t just show Laika’s plight. He makes you feel it in the core of your being.

The last page of this book contains a quote that offers a 1998 statement from Oleg Georgivitch Gazenko. In it, he laments the way that Laika was misused. “We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog.” It’s a dead dog book. Anyone who knows the story of Laika will be aware of that. But above and beyond the obvious this is an ode to dogs themselves. To the animals that we befriend and love and, ultimately, destroy. It’s also about history, humanity, and the price of being extraordinary. No one can walk away from this book and not be touched. Consider Nick Abadzis a name to watch from here on in.