I seem to be on a graphic memoir/ visual journal reading spree at the moment, and this is one I was really looking forward to spending some time with. The author turned 50 and decided to walk the Camino de Santiago, a historic 500 mile pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. This is a walk I've had on my travel list for years so expected to really enjoy this book. I did not.
You know that Jon Kabat-Zinn saying, wherever you go, there you are? Well, that seems to be especially true for the author, who somehow manages to write a book that is both tedious and boring. How is that even possible? Think about it. The author goes on a solo walk that lasts a bit over a month, covers 500 miles, and he doesn't have a single interesting thing to say? My daily neighborhood walk, which features rabbits, seems more interesting than this book. I kid you not!
It is clear that the author is not an outdoor person, and to be fair, long walks/hikes has much repetition: putting one foot in front of the other, finding lodging, the nightly washing of socks and undies, etc. But what about all the people you meet on the way? The people who live there, and the other walkers/pilgrims? The sights, the sounds, the smells, the ambiance of the experience? When you walk, the world unfolds slowing in front of you and there is a lot of time for meditative thinking, but the author seems to be a shy introvert who barely talked to other travelers and kept mostly to himself, so much of that is lost.
I've enjoyed other books by the author, and I think this is his first foray into nonfiction, but I much prefer his fictional work. I quite like his anthropomorphic animals and illustration style, but it doesn't really work for this material. The black and white illustrations don't capture a sense of what he's looking at, or the colors of the locales he walks through. The art I liked best are on the front and back covers of the book.
We often reach milestone birthdays and do things that we think will change us one way or another, and often that doesn't happen. We are who we are, and maybe that was the point of this memoir. This book got me interested in reading about The Camino again, but this is not one I'd recommend. Rating: 2 stars.
2. Pantheon: The True Story of the Egyptian Deities
The Gods are nuts. Don't take my word for it. All you'd have to do is read about any of them. Like I said, nuts.
This comic is about the Egyptian Pantheon and their shenanigans. Oh my word, but nutty doesn't begin to describe what's going on here. Incest, murder, poison, betrayal, lots of sex - yes, I guess it is rather like Game of Thrones with these cutely drawn, chubby gods. The art is fun and colorful and cutesy, and you'd be wrong to think it might be appropriate for kids. It is not. That sex scene between uncle and nephew gave me pause, and I'll never again look at salad dressing without thinking of this book. My favorite part though was not the boys and all their bromance/murder/war dynamics, but the lovely relationship between the sisters/wives.
Save this graphic novel for when you feel like your family dysfunction makes you want to pull your hair out. No matter what is going on, reading about these Egyptian Gods and their family dynamics will make you feel better about your situation. Rating: 3 stars.
3. Dan Eldon: Safari as a Way of Life
For some reason I seem to be really into reading about creative people and their journals and sketchbooks lately.
Dan Eldon and his story is not new to me. Given the Kenya connection, I was intrigued when I first heard about him, and years ago I read a book that collected some of his journal pages. More recently I've watched a couple of biopics about the young man, his life, and his death while still in his early twenties while covering the war in Somalia.
I picked up this book to learn more about the man, and I really love the physical book format. It is a thing of beauty and love and was clearly not inexpensive to produce. There are full color reproductions of photos, his heavily collaged journal pages, letters, fold-outs, tip-ins, envelopes, pockets, etc., and part of the fun of reading this book is the tactile experience of it. The text however is rather basic and covered things I already knew, and did seem rather biased, as opposed to a true biography of the man. Given that it's written for a young adult audience that makes sense, but it didn't work as well for me. It was interesting to learn about the foundations and such that his family had started and the work they do to keep Dan's spirit/message alive.
If you are not familiar with his work this would be a good introduction, and it would be a really good book for creative teens, as Dan's story is inspirational and his art was integral to his life. Rating: 3 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment