The Brattychick

This whimsical coming-of-age novel was so beautiful. The story is told through photographs, youtube videos, snippets of text messages, newspaper clippings and other odds and ends. The harder you look, the more you glean from its pages. It could stand alone as a coffee table book. You could almost flip through the pretty pages absentmindedly and not take in the story, almost. There is a story there though. Frank and Glory fall in love. From his drawings and almost brutish persistence, I have trouble knowing if he is in love or just lonely and in seventeen-year-old-boy lust. At times Glory is vacant and distant. Their love seems to ebb and flow, like love does. I enjoyed listening to the various songs on the mix cds that the lovers made for each other while I was enjoying the novel. That really added an extra layer to multimedia experience that this book was trying to produce. It really gave you a very tactile experience. There were some links that did not work, which was disapp

Although I went into reading this book knowing that it was a graphic novel about the Holocaust, I really could not fathom how that was going to play out. I wondered if the seriousness of the event would be dampened or if it would be some sort of dark comedy. The book is definitely not a comedy and never makes light of its tragic subject. Maus was generally a critical success and won many awards including the 1992 Pulitzer Prize. I have to admit that this was my first graphic novel. Being a virgin, I did find that I primarily focused on the words rather than the pictures. I had to train myself to take the drawings into account. I eventually was able to read it effortlessly the way I believe it was intended. Maus’ author, Art Spiegelman, has received a some criticism over the way is father is portrayed. There has also been much discussion over the use of animals to portray humans and more specifically which animals are used to depict particular races. I did not find this to be a s

I was at a bar with Michelle. David came in and said hi, that he was surprised to see me and that he was waiting for my dad and brother. Then he went and stood nearby,  but not with us. Then Thomas came in. He was loud and very happy to see David. I felt angry that they hadn't told me they were in town. Thomas said something to David like "it's good to see you,  man. I really wanted to catch up with you while I was in town." I turned around and said,  "Hi Thomas." And he looked surprised and confused,  wondering if I'd been invited or if I just happened to be there. And I said something like,  "Imagine! Running into your sister, at a bar in the city that she lives when you were just trying to catch up with the rest of your family!" Thomas rolled his eyes and looked pissed off. I introduced them to Michelle briefly and they hugged her awkwardly. Thomas and David went to another part of the bar because they didn't want to hang out with me

This self-proclaimed documentary novel was comprised solely of conversation snippets,  letters,  telegrams, memos and journal entries. Cleverly, Nothing but the Truth was just cold hard facts with a very objective eye.  Although the story was an upsetting one,  I really liked this method of story telling. There are no judgements made. The facts are laid upon the table and you may do with them what you will.  This leaves room for a vast array of feelings for the reader and treats each character with fairness and shows them in a fairly unbiased light. I could sympathize with each character and I enjoyed being the only one holding all the information. Each character had flaws,  just like everyone does,  but it did not seem like any one character was villianized. They were all just very understandable. The theme of the novel could be "the truth is in the eye of the beholder," but I think more is being said about knee-jerk reactions, and jumping to conclusions. Therefore, 

This book was a lighthearted breath of fresh air.  It was very playfully written, with characters named Thursday Next, Jack Shit and Acheron Hades. The narrative uses Jane Eyre as a backdrop for part of the story, adding a new meaning to "getting lost in a book". The story was so creative with its alternate universe that I was amazed that the author was able to keep so many complicated ideas in his head. Some of the action sequences seemed complicated and hard to follow to me. There is a very good reason car chases and fist fights work better on film. I do not think I felt the sense of excitement during those moments in the book that I believe the author was trying to convey. It was clear that he had a well thought out idea, and the writing was concise, but it was still not easy to follow.  In spite of this, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was a sci-fi, fantasy,  action novel that I have never seen the likes of before.