Blankets is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel set in the Midwest that follows the story of a young man -- Craig -- through the traumas of childhood, the throes of first love, and the confusion that accompanies searching for his faith.
This huge graphic novel -- 592 pages -- is beautiful and complex. Craig is a believable, likeable character with intriguing thoughts. They're not witty, but insightful, as well as earnest, and sweet. The story itself is quiet, but paced very well: it's still a page turner.
Though Craig's interiority is the strength of the narrative, this is also where its main problem lies. After Craig's thoughts are transcribed for the whole of 500 pages, they're suddenly withheld at the climax. The result is that the reader feels distanced during the most emotionally intense, important part of the story. Writing interiority for an intense scene is hard even if the book is not semi-autobiographica; side-stepping it, however, was still authorial cheating.
Whether or not the interiority accompanies it, Thompson's animation is beautiful. It's clean and angular, looking like a black and white version of Disney's Hercules or Sleeping Beauty.
Blankets, despite its flaw, is a good read.
This huge graphic novel -- 592 pages -- is beautiful and complex. Craig is a believable, likeable character with intriguing thoughts. They're not witty, but insightful, as well as earnest, and sweet. The story itself is quiet, but paced very well: it's still a page turner.
Though Craig's interiority is the strength of the narrative, this is also where its main problem lies. After Craig's thoughts are transcribed for the whole of 500 pages, they're suddenly withheld at the climax. The result is that the reader feels distanced during the most emotionally intense, important part of the story. Writing interiority for an intense scene is hard even if the book is not semi-autobiographica; side-stepping it, however, was still authorial cheating.
Whether or not the interiority accompanies it, Thompson's animation is beautiful. It's clean and angular, looking like a black and white version of Disney's Hercules or Sleeping Beauty.
Blankets, despite its flaw, is a good read.
