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One Week in the Library
Welcome to the Library.
It's here that every story ever written is catalogued and monitored by a single man, who's begun to notice something strange: the books are rebelling. Image Comics proudly presents this experimental graphic novella from writer W. Maxwell Prince and artist John Amor, which recounts a troublesome week in the Library via seven short stories—one for each day—that use comics, infographics, prose, and poetry to play with the graphic medium and explore the multivalent world of living narrative.
It's here that every story ever written is catalogued and monitored by a single man, who's begun to notice something strange: the books are rebelling. Image Comics proudly presents this experimental graphic novella from writer W. Maxwell Prince and artist John Amor, which recounts a troublesome week in the Library via seven short stories—one for each day—that use comics, infographics, prose, and poetry to play with the graphic medium and explore the multivalent world of living narrative.
96 pages, Paperback
First published December 13, 2016
8 people are currently reading
734 people want to read
About the author
W. Maxwell Prince
106 books181 followersW. Maxwell Prince writes in Brooklyn and lives with his wife, daughter, and two cats called Mischief and Mayhem. He is the author of One Week in the Library, The Electric Sublime, and Judas: The Last Days. When not writing, he tries to render all of human experience in chart form.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 203 reviews
August 22, 2022
"I wrote you, Allen, because I want people to think I'm smart," Prince says in his authorial self-insertion.
And, you know, Prince does come across as smart, and probably a thoughtful and well-educated person. What he doesn't come across as is a good story-teller.
There are interesting tidbits here and there, but overall this a confused and pretentious mess populated by bland characters.
Our main character has apparently lived in the library always, not knowing how he got there or how to leave. He doesn't seem to care much about this or anything else that happens. He is boring and has no facial expressions. He meets passing characters who say things like,
"Do you want to know why I did it? Why I took out my eyes? [...] books! There are so many words! So many angles from which to view a fact. One million insects--all with their own names [...] Three lovers my brain refuses to forget. One of whom I run into weekly at the grocery store... The infinity of ways my little girls might die tragically. [...] How am I supposed to make sense of it all? How do you put it together? [...] I don't want to see anymore. But it's all there, right in front of me. Burned into my brain, filling my ears."
First of all, this is simply dumb, no one gauges out their eyes in front of their playing children for this reason. Secondly, those complaints don't even have anything to do with books. Books have zilch to do with you running into your ex or worrying about your kids.
After this we never meet that guy again. Ditto most other characters, they come out of books or appear in dreams and give their banal monologues and then depart.
There are some alternate format pages with mazes or graphs which are sort of interesting as an approach, but not actually to look at or read.
It ends on Ash Wednesday, because symbolism.
This reminded me of some workshopped novel where the author is too worried about what the others in the group will think of him.
And, you know, Prince does come across as smart, and probably a thoughtful and well-educated person. What he doesn't come across as is a good story-teller.
There are interesting tidbits here and there, but overall this a confused and pretentious mess populated by bland characters.
Our main character has apparently lived in the library always, not knowing how he got there or how to leave. He doesn't seem to care much about this or anything else that happens. He is boring and has no facial expressions. He meets passing characters who say things like,
"Do you want to know why I did it? Why I took out my eyes? [...] books! There are so many words! So many angles from which to view a fact. One million insects--all with their own names [...] Three lovers my brain refuses to forget. One of whom I run into weekly at the grocery store... The infinity of ways my little girls might die tragically. [...] How am I supposed to make sense of it all? How do you put it together? [...] I don't want to see anymore. But it's all there, right in front of me. Burned into my brain, filling my ears."
First of all, this is simply dumb, no one gauges out their eyes in front of their playing children for this reason. Secondly, those complaints don't even have anything to do with books. Books have zilch to do with you running into your ex or worrying about your kids.
After this we never meet that guy again. Ditto most other characters, they come out of books or appear in dreams and give their banal monologues and then depart.
There are some alternate format pages with mazes or graphs which are sort of interesting as an approach, but not actually to look at or read.
It ends on Ash Wednesday, because symbolism.
This reminded me of some workshopped novel where the author is too worried about what the others in the group will think of him.
August 21, 2022
I’m not really shocked by the overwhelmingly negative reviews towards this book, but I didn’t hate it like others did. Maybe I would be agreeing with others more if this was the first comic I’d read by W. Maxwell Prince, but this was such a fascinating read since I just finished his other books like Ice Cream Man, HaHa, and King of Nowhere.
Here we see a librarian, who’s basically just Henry Bemis from the “Time Enough At Last” episode of the original Twilight Zone, watching over a library where every book ever written or to be written is held. We then follow him through 7 different short stories, one taking place during each day of the week.
W. Maxwell Prince writes, Jon Amor handles art duties, Kathryn Layno colors, Good Old Neon letters, and Ashley Walker helps design the charts for a certain short in here. All the other collaborators bring their A-game to this OGN, but this is mainly Prince’s show.
Pretentious and self-indulgent are the main two words I’ve seen describe this work, and while I agree, I think there’s a third word that sums up why I loved this so much: Honest. This is W. Maxwell Prince basically admitting his shortcomings as a writer to everyone reading it, and I kinda respect the fuck out of that.
It’s almost like he needed to write and publish this book so he could start having fun writing comics again, and you can see he does just that with his other books that came after. I’m grateful this exists because I feel like without it, we wouldn’t have gotten those books. And if we did get them before he wrote this, then they probably would’ve been way different in a presumably not-so-great-way.
I’m also very intrigued to see how Prince ends Ice Cream Man and handles the trial of Riccardus now, because he basically admits throughout this whole book that he can’t write endings for shit. Makes sense since most of the short stories and even the book itself have open endings.
Even with all of it’s flaws, I had a fine enough time with One Week in the Library, and I’d recommend it to anyone who has read any of Prince’s other work. It’s not amazing or anything, but you just might appreciate this like I did if you are a fan of the guy’s other work. Can’t see others getting much out of it though.
Here we see a librarian, who’s basically just Henry Bemis from the “Time Enough At Last” episode of the original Twilight Zone, watching over a library where every book ever written or to be written is held. We then follow him through 7 different short stories, one taking place during each day of the week.
W. Maxwell Prince writes, Jon Amor handles art duties, Kathryn Layno colors, Good Old Neon letters, and Ashley Walker helps design the charts for a certain short in here. All the other collaborators bring their A-game to this OGN, but this is mainly Prince’s show.
Pretentious and self-indulgent are the main two words I’ve seen describe this work, and while I agree, I think there’s a third word that sums up why I loved this so much: Honest. This is W. Maxwell Prince basically admitting his shortcomings as a writer to everyone reading it, and I kinda respect the fuck out of that.
It’s almost like he needed to write and publish this book so he could start having fun writing comics again, and you can see he does just that with his other books that came after. I’m grateful this exists because I feel like without it, we wouldn’t have gotten those books. And if we did get them before he wrote this, then they probably would’ve been way different in a presumably not-so-great-way.
I’m also very intrigued to see how Prince ends Ice Cream Man and handles the trial of Riccardus now, because he basically admits throughout this whole book that he can’t write endings for shit. Makes sense since most of the short stories and even the book itself have open endings.
Even with all of it’s flaws, I had a fine enough time with One Week in the Library, and I’d recommend it to anyone who has read any of Prince’s other work. It’s not amazing or anything, but you just might appreciate this like I did if you are a fan of the guy’s other work. Can’t see others getting much out of it though.
December 23, 2016
Bllleeeeeeeecccchhh. As a librarian, I'm obviously compelled to purchase all library related titles (except the sleazy romance ones - trust me, your librarian does NOT want to fuck you). I fell prey to this with One Week in the Library and it was so bad I'm actually mad about it.
This was complete masturbatory white man in his 30s circle jerk writing. I thought the illustrated easter eggs were fun until I realized they were predominantly movie references. Why not call it One Week in the Blockbuster if your point is to show off what you imagine to be your esoteric knowledge of pop culture in what you presume to be an archaic institution?
The appearance of the author in the story makes certain what you will surely suspect by that point, the fact that this story is going nowhere, never had a plot, and is as self serving as an uninvited dick pic.
I repeat, BLLLLEEEEEECCCCCHHH.
This was complete masturbatory white man in his 30s circle jerk writing. I thought the illustrated easter eggs were fun until I realized they were predominantly movie references. Why not call it One Week in the Blockbuster if your point is to show off what you imagine to be your esoteric knowledge of pop culture in what you presume to be an archaic institution?
The appearance of the author in the story makes certain what you will surely suspect by that point, the fact that this story is going nowhere, never had a plot, and is as self serving as an uninvited dick pic.
I repeat, BLLLLEEEEEECCCCCHHH.
April 19, 2018
This reads like a rejected submission from Vertigo circa 1994. It's just a bunch of short story fragments sandwiched in an endless library framework. It is just one writer's self-indulgence. I did like John Amor's art though.
August 13, 2017
This is one of those books that's very concerned with what people think of it. It desperately wants to be thought of as terribly clever, forgetting that the best way to achieve that is to simply be clever. All clear? No? I suppose a bit more detail is in order.
So there's this library. It's a magical library, seemingly infinite, where anything can happen. Its sole inhabitant, a man whose name isn't given, apparently wants to escape. Each of the seven chapters is named for a day of the week--Seven Days in the Library, see? Actually, not a lot happens. We get glimpses of various books, riffs on classics like Charlotte's Web and Pinnochio, for instance, as well as glimpses of the library itself. The last chapter includes a bit of self insertion as W. Maxwell Prince himself shows up to explain a few things to our unnamed hero. He even explicitly states, "I'm so worried about how to end this thing ... about whether the project as a whole will seem smart." See what I told you about the book being concerned about what people thought of it? You thought I was just being metaphorical. The ending ... I suppose I shouldn't spoil anything, but it was less than satisfying.
About my favorite part of the whole book was the chapter where he's reading about portals to other worlds--one of the pictures shows the wardrobe into Narnia, for instance--and finds a certain door. And suddenly he's in an office, with a boring job and even a name, and the library all seems like a dream. It's very well done. The rest of the book pales in comparison.
In the end, this is a pretty forgettable book. It wants to be terribly clever, but is, at best, only moderately clever. It relies a bit too frequently on references to TV and movies, which clashes with the literary theme. Contrast it with, for instance, Jim Hines' Libriomancer books, which also abound with pop culture references, but manage to keep them more firmly grounded in the literary world. There were also times when it reminded me a bit of that Borges story about the library, and you'd really be better off skipping this book and reading Borges instead.
So there's this library. It's a magical library, seemingly infinite, where anything can happen. Its sole inhabitant, a man whose name isn't given, apparently wants to escape. Each of the seven chapters is named for a day of the week--Seven Days in the Library, see? Actually, not a lot happens. We get glimpses of various books, riffs on classics like Charlotte's Web and Pinnochio, for instance, as well as glimpses of the library itself. The last chapter includes a bit of self insertion as W. Maxwell Prince himself shows up to explain a few things to our unnamed hero. He even explicitly states, "I'm so worried about how to end this thing ... about whether the project as a whole will seem smart." See what I told you about the book being concerned about what people thought of it? You thought I was just being metaphorical. The ending ... I suppose I shouldn't spoil anything, but it was less than satisfying.
About my favorite part of the whole book was the chapter where he's reading about portals to other worlds--one of the pictures shows the wardrobe into Narnia, for instance--and finds a certain door. And suddenly he's in an office, with a boring job and even a name, and the library all seems like a dream. It's very well done. The rest of the book pales in comparison.
In the end, this is a pretty forgettable book. It wants to be terribly clever, but is, at best, only moderately clever. It relies a bit too frequently on references to TV and movies, which clashes with the literary theme. Contrast it with, for instance, Jim Hines' Libriomancer books, which also abound with pop culture references, but manage to keep them more firmly grounded in the literary world. There were also times when it reminded me a bit of that Borges story about the library, and you'd really be better off skipping this book and reading Borges instead.
March 21, 2019
This was way better than Ice Cream Man in some ways, and for me, it was probably the best comic book I have read in this year so far (okay, maybe second best after Infinite Vacation). I understand, why so many people don't like it, wait actually, I don't. It's creative, it's something different, it's funny and mysterious and probably nothing makes sense to you, but come on! You can't rate this lower than 4.
December 4, 2019
Read because it was nominated for an Eisner award (best short story). I thought it started strong. The narrator is stuck in a magical library and reads books that leap into his reality. From the printed into physical reality. I thought, this is something Borges would write if he wrote comics! But it quickly becomes apparent that Prince doesn't really have a strong grasp of literature. All the references are to the typical stuff: Alice in Wonderland, Goldilocks, Pinocchio. Actually, the most used reference in the whole book is The Matrix. I mean nothing wrong with that, but if Prince is a big film fan - why not do this exact same story structure but in a cinema or something?
The story comes off the rails when he breaks the fourth-wall and inserts himself as a character in the story. He admits he wrote the book so he comes off as intelligent. And he's super worried people won't think he's smart. I kind of like that level of honesty... but why write the book if that's the conclusion? To me the conclusion of the book precludes the books existence. The book shouldn't exist if the author took his own advice. Ooooh... maybe he's being really deep. Probably not.
I was left with a big 'who cares?'
Some of the segments were entertaining enough and the art was well done especially when depicting abstract concepts. There was potential here and I can understand why the Eisner nominators would have selected this. (Sort of similar to when the Oscars chooses films that reference the film industry).
The story comes off the rails when he breaks the fourth-wall and inserts himself as a character in the story. He admits he wrote the book so he comes off as intelligent. And he's super worried people won't think he's smart. I kind of like that level of honesty... but why write the book if that's the conclusion? To me the conclusion of the book precludes the books existence. The book shouldn't exist if the author took his own advice. Ooooh... maybe he's being really deep. Probably not.
I was left with a big 'who cares?'
Some of the segments were entertaining enough and the art was well done especially when depicting abstract concepts. There was potential here and I can understand why the Eisner nominators would have selected this. (Sort of similar to when the Oscars chooses films that reference the film industry).
January 13, 2018
WTF?
I mean...the thought of a librarian dealing with books that are rebelling in his surreal library sounds pretty cool, right?
Well - that's not what this was.
Instead, we got 7 short stories (one for each day of the week) that really had absolutely no impact on me whatsoever. I guess the Wooden Boy story was kinda cool...but other than that all I was left with at the end of this was the feeling of having wasted my time.
The writer even inserts himself into the book saying how he hopes people will 'get' his story and think him 'smart'. For the record...I didn't think he was...not even once.
There were some cool panel layouts and some experimental art for a comic that I thought was cool...which is why I bumped it up from 1 star to 2.
Other than that...
January 13, 2020
Schade, aber das hat mir nicht gefallen. Banal und uninspiriert. Hoffe, der ICE CREAM MAN ist deutlich besser.
April 9, 2021
TW for eye trauma and insects
I checked this out because I’m a librarian and I read the title at work and was immediately intrigued. Now having finished it, I’m so annoyed with what I read that I’m leaving a review for my other librarian friends so that they don’t do what I did.
One Week in the Library is, quite frankly, outrageously pretentious and nowhere near interesting enough to come close to making up for that fact. What’s worse, it’s not even pretentious for the right reasons! It’s meant to come off as this smart, thought provoking piece of art, but is just an amalgamation of pop culture references (mostly movies!!) and tidbits of classic fairytales and stories. To be blunt, it’s not a smart piece of writing; it’s confusing, poorly paced and simply boring. There’s also no actual plot to this book; something that a good writer can make interesting, but Prince just did not. It’s frustrating how much this let me down; the general idea of this has potential, but the execution couldn’t have been worse.
To top it all off, the ending section of Prince literally making himself a self insert to talk to his (incredibly bland) protagonist? And outright admit to writing this to come off as smart? I got enough white male ego in my college film class, I don’t need it in my graphic novels, thank you. It felt like a lazy out to not writing an actual ending. Also, this isn’t a long graphic novel, and this self insert jerk off sesh took up too many pages.
I checked this out because I’m a librarian and I read the title at work and was immediately intrigued. Now having finished it, I’m so annoyed with what I read that I’m leaving a review for my other librarian friends so that they don’t do what I did.
One Week in the Library is, quite frankly, outrageously pretentious and nowhere near interesting enough to come close to making up for that fact. What’s worse, it’s not even pretentious for the right reasons! It’s meant to come off as this smart, thought provoking piece of art, but is just an amalgamation of pop culture references (mostly movies!!) and tidbits of classic fairytales and stories. To be blunt, it’s not a smart piece of writing; it’s confusing, poorly paced and simply boring. There’s also no actual plot to this book; something that a good writer can make interesting, but Prince just did not. It’s frustrating how much this let me down; the general idea of this has potential, but the execution couldn’t have been worse.
To top it all off, the ending section of Prince literally making himself a self insert to talk to his (incredibly bland) protagonist? And outright admit to writing this to come off as smart? I got enough white male ego in my college film class, I don’t need it in my graphic novels, thank you. It felt like a lazy out to not writing an actual ending. Also, this isn’t a long graphic novel, and this self insert jerk off sesh took up too many pages.
March 9, 2017
This one started slow, and confusing, so I ended up abandoning it midway, until I picked it up again after a couple of months. Only when I started reading it again, that pace picks up on the approach to the ending.
This would have been served better if there was a writer's commentary on the stories as a supplement. It's a book about stories and so it has a few of the popular properties (i.e. Alice and Wonderland, Narnia books, and The Matrix), but I really wanted to understand what the author was trying to say in the first three stories.
The ending was pretty disappointing. It's something Grant Morrison has done in his past work but the author is no Morrison.
The only bright spot here is John Amor's gorgeous art. As a reader, I would definitely want to see his work on more comics.
This would have been served better if there was a writer's commentary on the stories as a supplement. It's a book about stories and so it has a few of the popular properties (i.e. Alice and Wonderland, Narnia books, and The Matrix), but I really wanted to understand what the author was trying to say in the first three stories.
The ending was pretty disappointing. It's something Grant Morrison has done in his past work but the author is no Morrison.
The only bright spot here is John Amor's gorgeous art. As a reader, I would definitely want to see his work on more comics.
February 19, 2017
Wankfest.
January 13, 2017
I just read some of these reviews and discovered I am not alone here! I requested the library I work at purchase this and was so excited when I started reading it. Short stories as graphic novels about rebellious books?! What a fun sounding premise. But that ENDING. Will had me the whole time until he literally abandoned his reader at the end.
Anyway, I get it. This probably wasn't really about the plot, but damn it I love plots!
I wanted to like this badly. I HOWLED when I saw a Douglas Adams reference in here. But I'm just so disappointed with this ending. I'd also like to add that the art is pretty sick.
Anyway, I get it. This probably wasn't really about the plot, but damn it I love plots!
I wanted to like this badly. I HOWLED when I saw a Douglas Adams reference in here. But I'm just so disappointed with this ending. I'd also like to add that the art is pretty sick.
December 12, 2024
"One Week in the Library" is a deep and cerebral, - perhaps pretentiously so - , meta fiction romp that challenges the reader to define its purpose for existence. This book is not pointless, yet it is not clear what the point is. This book is recommended for anyone who likes clever literary devices and allusions and is more intrigued with the journey of a literary vehicle than concerned with its destination.
February 7, 2017
A book I liked that I could have loved, if not for the utterly abysmal, abandoned, deus ex machina ending.
April 19, 2017
I was interested by the concept, but the execution didn't really measure up. And the last collected issue goes outside of the box, only to lose sight of the box and wander off into the dark in one of the most uninspired endings ever, which is made even worse by the author full on admitting that he ran out of ideas. The earlier issues, with somewhat dark interpretations of fairy tales and famous stories are almost worthwhile, but seem to glory in despair (Monday is especially dark), which is not an emotion I usually relate to a library. At least the art is workable, with a couple of creative frames strewn throughout. But it's not enough to make this something to be recommended.
May 9, 2019
This went from a potential three star book—the premise is compelling; I loved Unwritten, and the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid, and am still (mostly) enjoying Fables—to two, to a solid one. It was pretty bland throughout, but that ending was absolutely terrible, and destroyed whatever merits the rest of the book might’ve had.
I was previously kinda curious about Ice Cream Man, but I have no confidence whatsoever that Prince can pull his head sufficiently out of his ass to write a decent story.
I was previously kinda curious about Ice Cream Man, but I have no confidence whatsoever that Prince can pull his head sufficiently out of his ass to write a decent story.
July 10, 2019
This is really pretty bad. Just a bunch of disconnected story fragments that revolve (loosely) around a gigantic, magical library. Prince even writes himself into the story, for no real reason. The badness of this actually has me retrospectively wondering just a bit about Prince's work on The Ice Cream Man--is that series really as good as it seems, or is it just a bunch of nonsense, too? The artwork is decent, but I can't recommend this.
November 17, 2016
A fascinating series of stories covering a week inside of a surrealistic library. We interviewed Will and John recently for The Comics Alternative, and it was fascinating to talk with them about the genesis and development of this project.
February 18, 2017
More like a 2.5.
This wasn't anything like I expected. It had a lot of potential, but it didn't hit the marks for me.
This wasn't anything like I expected. It had a lot of potential, but it didn't hit the marks for me.
April 3, 2024
(3 of 5 for this confusing meta-something librarian fantasy bookporn introspective)
There are two opposite ways how to tell a story, one is to show the reader the world and then plant the seed of the story in it and let it grow. Or give them a sprouting story and let them discover the world along the way. This comic goes for the second. But it omits that in that case reader needs to have some solid point, which he knows, usually the main character or general location. But here you got a weird overthinking librarian and an even weirder library and books around him and to that things just apparently randomly happen. So there is nothing to grab on to start chaining the other elements and fitting together the puzzle pieces of the world. And when you finally surface from drowning in all those chaotic elements and grab on to something, guess what? It's the end of the "book" because it's under a hundred pages long. And that attempt of "it's something then big reveal - it's something else"? Thad doesn't really work if you didn't bait on the first "it's something". I can imagine this could work, the idea is far from bad, but the initial execution is lacking and the "talking it out" end won't help the cause (even though it was the most interesting thing since the beginning which wasn't constantly losing my focus). Maybe space, maybe a better start would help here. Who knows. But the art is really nice here, with decent colouring. But getting me through 80 confusing pointless pages just to make a point on the last 10? No, thanks. But I appreciate the experiment here. But it could be less pretentious.
There are two opposite ways how to tell a story, one is to show the reader the world and then plant the seed of the story in it and let it grow. Or give them a sprouting story and let them discover the world along the way. This comic goes for the second. But it omits that in that case reader needs to have some solid point, which he knows, usually the main character or general location. But here you got a weird overthinking librarian and an even weirder library and books around him and to that things just apparently randomly happen. So there is nothing to grab on to start chaining the other elements and fitting together the puzzle pieces of the world. And when you finally surface from drowning in all those chaotic elements and grab on to something, guess what? It's the end of the "book" because it's under a hundred pages long. And that attempt of "it's something then big reveal - it's something else"? Thad doesn't really work if you didn't bait on the first "it's something". I can imagine this could work, the idea is far from bad, but the initial execution is lacking and the "talking it out" end won't help the cause (even though it was the most interesting thing since the beginning which wasn't constantly losing my focus). Maybe space, maybe a better start would help here. Who knows. But the art is really nice here, with decent colouring. But getting me through 80 confusing pointless pages just to make a point on the last 10? No, thanks. But I appreciate the experiment here. But it could be less pretentious.
November 18, 2017
I was prepared to have fun here. Instead I got pop culture white dude worrying about whether or not he'll seem intellectually valid. So basically, just white guy pop culture litfic. Which is, as one knows, my least favorite genre ever. EVER. EEEVVVEEEEEEERRRRRRRR. So in the end, I was annoyed, despite the potential to be charming or Neil-ish.
Well, I guess I'm glad he was honest in the end. But that ending really got my goat.
Well, I guess I'm glad he was honest in the end. But that ending really got my goat.
June 17, 2021
My favorite part in this was the fly bit or “Monday.” Other than that, it was just okay. I’m torn on the ending. It does seem like a cop out and anyone who drops David Foster Wallace in a self-aware monologue gets an eye roll from me.
It’s supposed to be experimental, though. If I’d read this before the Ice Cream Man comics, which I love, my opinion might be different.
It’s supposed to be experimental, though. If I’d read this before the Ice Cream Man comics, which I love, my opinion might be different.
February 1, 2020
I.... what?
July 18, 2019
Krátké povídky zabalené do prostředí jedné knihovny a jejího knihovníka.
Nebýt konce a jisté rozháranosti, tak bych klidně šel i na čtvrtou. Malováno je to pěkně, místy je to má oblíbená hra s žánry, ale pak bohužel to jednak sráží konec a pak se mi špatně přenáší přes srdce nevyrovnaná kvalita jednotlivých povídek.
Jednou s třešinek na dortu budiž fakt, že se sice knížka jmenuje One Week in the Library, ale celkem často Prince přistihnete spíše u využívání motivů z filmů.
Na druhou stranu jsem teď mnohem více nalákaný na Ice Cream Mana, protože věřím, že když se zrovna nebude Prince snažit předstírat, jak moc má nakoukáno a načteno, tak to může dopadnout jenom a jenom mnohem lépe.
Mohlo by se vám líbit, pokud:
- máte rádi krátké příběhy a nepotřebujete k životu třeskutou pointu
- máte taky slušný přehled o popkultuře a chcete se s autorem navzájem poplácat po ramenou
Spíš vás zklame, pokud:
- moc nemusíte, když se autoři projektují do svých děl
- už jste přečetli v životě zbytečně moc povídkových záležitostí
Nebýt konce a jisté rozháranosti, tak bych klidně šel i na čtvrtou. Malováno je to pěkně, místy je to má oblíbená hra s žánry, ale pak bohužel to jednak sráží konec a pak se mi špatně přenáší přes srdce nevyrovnaná kvalita jednotlivých povídek.
Jednou s třešinek na dortu budiž fakt, že se sice knížka jmenuje One Week in the Library, ale celkem často Prince přistihnete spíše u využívání motivů z filmů.
Na druhou stranu jsem teď mnohem více nalákaný na Ice Cream Mana, protože věřím, že když se zrovna nebude Prince snažit předstírat, jak moc má nakoukáno a načteno, tak to může dopadnout jenom a jenom mnohem lépe.
Mohlo by se vám líbit, pokud:
- máte rádi krátké příběhy a nepotřebujete k životu třeskutou pointu
- máte taky slušný přehled o popkultuře a chcete se s autorem navzájem poplácat po ramenou
Spíš vás zklame, pokud:
- moc nemusíte, když se autoři projektují do svých děl
- už jste přečetli v životě zbytečně moc povídkových záležitostí
December 20, 2016
I don't know what I expected going into this book but I was very entertained. It honestly reminded me of my Creative Writing class. It's a graphic novel novella told in short stories per chapter for each day. It's rather dark (definitely not for children) but so good. It does some really interesting things and I'd love to hear what some of my friends would say about it. It's a super quick read and worth it, I think. It's really weird and I liked it a lot.
December 5, 2017
Yet another book that I wanted to like, but didn't -- there's not much here that's new, thought-provoking, nor original. Seven stories ("days") illustrate the life of a one-dimensional "librarian" and his experiences interacting with stories that seem unwilling to stay on their shelves nor on the pages. Sadly, these short tales fail to get the reaction they aim for -- the horror isn't horrifying, the twisted fairy tale isn't really all that twisted, and so on. The constant homages and shout-outs to pop culture didn't help this feel any more unique, the art is oddly lifeless, and the attempt to provide a framing story for the whole mess in the final section just came across as self-indulgent, even borderline onanistic.
April 1, 2021
Such an interesting idea (vignettes capturing a week in the life of a librarian managing sentient books!) with some genuinely beautiful art (Heads-up: it gets rather unpleasant during one mercifully brief sequence). It has such promise, playfully incorporating familiar literary works into its narrative. Lots of pop culture easter eggs hiding in the art, which were fun to catch (although I'm sure I missed a bunch). Some experimenting with format and tone-shifts as well, including a section in prose, reminding me of Watchmen or the sublime and sadly unfinished Nowhere Men. And I always love seeing infographics pop up in comics.
A lot of hard work clearly went into this, but unfortunately this ended up being more about style than substance for me. There's nothing particularly profound happening with the referenced works (which are clearly informed by the movie versions anyway). The ending wasn't nearly as clever as it wanted to be, leaving this book as a shoulder-shrugging reading experience.
A lot of hard work clearly went into this, but unfortunately this ended up being more about style than substance for me. There's nothing particularly profound happening with the referenced works (which are clearly informed by the movie versions anyway). The ending wasn't nearly as clever as it wanted to be, leaving this book as a shoulder-shrugging reading experience.
October 18, 2018
Maybe 2.5⭐️? When I first added this to my currently reading and saw the low rating I was so confused. Graphic novels never have ratings this low.
I started reading and could see why some people wouldn't enjoy it: a little pretentious, a few messed up versions of childhood stories, but despite the weird plot and the few stories I didn't enjoy as much as others, I was still prepared to give this 3 stars because the artwork was gorgeous and the little references were fun.
Then I got to the ending........what a ridiculous "plot twist", if you can even call it that. And while I understand what the author was trying to do, I think there were definitely ways he could have got across the same message without doing such a ridiculous cop out.
I started reading and could see why some people wouldn't enjoy it: a little pretentious, a few messed up versions of childhood stories, but despite the weird plot and the few stories I didn't enjoy as much as others, I was still prepared to give this 3 stars because the artwork was gorgeous and the little references were fun.
Then I got to the ending........what a ridiculous "plot twist", if you can even call it that. And while I understand what the author was trying to do, I think there were definitely ways he could have got across the same message without doing such a ridiculous cop out.
February 8, 2023
I was really excited to read this one because of the author having written one of my favorite comic series, Ice Cream Man. And then I read the reviews that mostly trashed this book, so I was a little bummed out. But having read this one myself, I loved it! This felt just like another issue of Ice Cream Man and maybe exists as the precursor to the series. Prince takes a look at books and stories and comics and plays with the idea of those things beautifully in this book. I’ll trust this author with anything else he puts out or already has out!
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