by Shaun Tanages: 11+
First sentence: "When I was a kid, there was a big water buffalo living in the vacant lot at the end of our street, the one with the grass no one ever mowed."
Someone -- Tricia? Andi? Heather? -- wrote in a review I read recently that one doesn't read Shaun Tan books as much as experience them. Which I totally have to agree with: this isn't a book (it's not even really a proper graphic novel; more like a grown-up picture book; it reminded me of a more sophisticated Stinky Cheeseman) as much as it is an experience.
I also wasn't expecting this book after reading The Arrival. It's got the same surrealness, but I wasn't expecting, well, words. The stories were odd, to say the least, but that's one of the things I like about Tan: he takes the everyday and makes it fantastic. There are fifteen short stories in this collection, and all of them sound quite ordinary -- The Nameless Holiday, Alert by not Alarmed, Stick Figures, Eric, and my favorite, Distant Rain -- and yet, there's this element that turns it from the ordinary to extraordinary: the art.
As was evident in The Arrival, Tan is an amazing artist. Which is really why you should pick up this book: to marvel at the genius that is Shaun Tan.
Buy it at: Amazon, Powell's, or your local independent bookstore.
4 observations:
Oh, yeah, this one is fantastic! I liked Eric the best -- well, I liked all of them the best, almost, but I liked Eric the super-best. If we're willing to accept such a nonsensical term.
I agree. He is genius. Glad you loved it!
I am totally enjoying working my way through Shaun Tan's world and I can't wait to see what he comes out with next!
I really must read more Tan. It's been a while since I read anything by him
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