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Feb 12, 2008
Lisa Vegan
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
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This book is amazing and brilliant and unique, and a challenge to classify. (I’m putting this on my art and picture-books, but not my comics, shelves; I don’t have a graphic-novels shelf.) It’s a novel told through (mostly monochromatic black/gray/brown) pictures (not comics as I think of them) and they’re unusual and wonderful pictures. The story is of an immigrant, a man who’s trying to create a better life for his family, but it’s really a universal immigrant story. The man and book communica
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Walking through the library I stumbled upon The Arrival by Shaun Tan. I remember seeing a few friends reviews and after scanning the back cover and seeing such great reviews from top notch authors as Brian Selznick (The invention of Hugo Cabret), Craig Thompson (blankets), Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), and Art Spiegelman (Maus: A Survivor's tale), I was attracted to this book and needed to consume it instantaneously. What a beautiful wordless book. This book is simple, lavish, and very imaginati
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Just lovely. Tan's subtly shaded pencil art reminds me of Chris Van Allsburg's, as does the whimsical feel of discovering the story. It's a picture book for grown-ups, though, as one slowly realizes that Tan is recreating the immigrant experience for all readers, regardless of their language or culture, through his strange, wonderful and utterly alien world. The beautiful, mysterious intricacy of his creation is so engaging I want ten more books on it, except that would destroy the frail magic o
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Having just moved from one international posting to another, I felt the immigrant's bewilderment and incomprehension of his new home. This would make a great addition to a literature study for middle school students on migration and its challenges.
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An extraordinary book about the immigrant experience. I'm not a very visual person, so I was a little wary of a wordless book, but the images and story are so evocative that I fell in love with it. Alternately funny, sweet, and heartwrenching.
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Loved everything about this.
Just because it's a picture book, doesn't make it a children's book.
In fact, I think you definitely need a more mature view to be able to fully appreciate this.
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Just because it's a picture book, doesn't make it a children's book.
In fact, I think you definitely need a more mature view to be able to fully appreciate this.
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Beautifully illustrated and conceived wordless graphic novel that puts a fantastic spin on the immigrant experience. Tan makes the new world his immigrants arrive in seem wonderfully—and suitably—alien by filling it with mysterious creatures and exotic architecture; the whole thing has a slight steampunk vibe. And his use of flashbacks is stunning. Tan’s pictures really are worth a thousand words and more.
A beautifully illustrated picture book--and I mean there are no words at all. However, the lack of words puts you in the shoes of the characters, who are immigrants to a strange new world. The homeland looked quite a bit like the Jewish ghetto in Nazi Germany, but has become overtaken by dragons. The new world is quite alien, with strange symbols as their language and interesting creatures.
I don't know how I missed this when it came out - maybe I dismissed it as just a graphic novel. There is no "just" about it. This is an impressive work of art, delivering its story of the immigrant experience with imagination and beauty.
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It's fantastic. I've never really been one for graphic novels, but if ever there was a storyline that was suited for this medium, I imagine it to be this story since immigrants are often unfamiliar with their new language.
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Gorgeous realistic pencil illustrations convey a story of the strangeness and confusion experienced by a newly arrived immigrant in this wordless book set in a fantastic reality.
Moving. I hope to use this in the classroom.
Jun 14, 2012
Hannah
added it
Wow. Beautiful. Haunting. Complex.
Jan 26, 2008
dirt
marked it as to-read
Nov 04, 2015
Belle
marked it as to-read
