It took me a while to get into this book. I did immediately love Paul Hornschemeier's art however. He kind of bounced between a more sketchy art he used in dream sequences with thinner inklines, to a more fully-realized style that's really just beautiful. The coloring in particular is great. The story follows a young boy who watches as his father falls apart in the wake of his wife's death. He has to grow up quickly to take care of things around the house and his father, while dealing with his mother's death on his own and resenting the treatment he receives from relatives and teachers. I'm not sure exactly why it took all the way through part one of the book to finally get into the story, but I think it was a combination of being turned off by the father's behavior and the tedious explanations given through the child's thoughts. You have to do a bit of work to transform a child's confused rationale and half-truths into something more coherent and meaningful. Hornschemeier really gives his readers a lot of credit, leaving things unsaid for us to draw conclusions about and make connections. It's really a fascinating read about the grieving process of this child and I assume, it was very therapeutic for the author to have written. All in all, a very satisfying read once you get into it.
It took me a while to get into this book. I did immediately love Paul Hornschemeier's art however. He kind of bounced between a more sketchy art he used in dream sequences with thinner inklines, to a more fully-realized style that's really just beautiful. The coloring in particular is great. The story follows a young boy who watches as his father falls apart in the wake of his wife's death. He has to grow up quickly to take care of things around the house and his father, while dealing with his mother's death on his own and resenting the treatment he receives from relatives and teachers. I'm not sure exactly why it took all the way through part one of the book to finally get into the story, but I think it was a combination of being turned off by the father's behavior and the tedious explanations given through the child's thoughts. You have to do a bit of work to transform a child's confused rationale and half-truths into something more coherent and meaningful. Hornschemeier really gives his readers a lot of credit, leaving things unsaid for us to draw conclusions about and make connections. It's really a fascinating read about the grieving process of this child and I assume, it was very therapeutic for the author to have written. All in all, a very satisfying read once you get into it.
Comments