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#5 Platform: Habibi
Feb. 9th, 2012 12:33 amThis is probably the prettiest book I have ever read.
Comic #2: Habibi
Author: Craig Thompson
Provenance: Borrowed from Westmount Library
I'm not really a particularly visual person, and so for other people, I think the idea that the nature and style of art can really add not just texture and flavor, but content to a story, is probably not too remarkable. I've read it a bunch of times in reviews, after all. This book, though, is the first time where I've really understand that idea. It's really a masterful piece of work, and I think the prettiest graphic novel I've ever read.
This is the story of Dodola and Zam, two people living around the fictional Arab city state of Wanatolia, and follows both of them from childhood to adulthood. Dodola is 9 years older than Zam, and was sold over as a wife at a very young age; at the early end of her marriage, she takes up Zam, an orphan, and they live in a beached boat within the desert. What follows is their story through thick and thin; for each of them, they make their way through the village, the city, the sultan's palace, an industrial zone... together and apart, the decisions they make tend to have the other in mind. Their relationship evolves over time, as well; not necessarily in the most comfortable ways, for me, but it feels realistic enough.
The story treats each of them roughly, and the reader should be prepared for that; in a lot of ways, it's not happy. But it is beautiful - all the Arabic influenced art, the rich, detailed pictures, and all the stories from the different religious traditions that Dodola tells Zam, that flesh out their story through other people's stories, and how they inflect people's lives. And this is a realm of different sorts of stories: there are caravans of camels and a sumptuous sultan's palace and eunuchs... but there are also high-rise skyscrapers and trucks and planes. I think perhaps this is meant to give it a timeless feel, but it does make it feel a bit disjointed sometimes.
All told, this was a richly told, interesting story, even with some small reservations I have for it. And oh my, is it pretty.
Next up: to review the Magician King.
Comic #2: Habibi
Author: Craig Thompson
Provenance: Borrowed from Westmount Library
I'm not really a particularly visual person, and so for other people, I think the idea that the nature and style of art can really add not just texture and flavor, but content to a story, is probably not too remarkable. I've read it a bunch of times in reviews, after all. This book, though, is the first time where I've really understand that idea. It's really a masterful piece of work, and I think the prettiest graphic novel I've ever read.
This is the story of Dodola and Zam, two people living around the fictional Arab city state of Wanatolia, and follows both of them from childhood to adulthood. Dodola is 9 years older than Zam, and was sold over as a wife at a very young age; at the early end of her marriage, she takes up Zam, an orphan, and they live in a beached boat within the desert. What follows is their story through thick and thin; for each of them, they make their way through the village, the city, the sultan's palace, an industrial zone... together and apart, the decisions they make tend to have the other in mind. Their relationship evolves over time, as well; not necessarily in the most comfortable ways, for me, but it feels realistic enough.
The story treats each of them roughly, and the reader should be prepared for that; in a lot of ways, it's not happy. But it is beautiful - all the Arabic influenced art, the rich, detailed pictures, and all the stories from the different religious traditions that Dodola tells Zam, that flesh out their story through other people's stories, and how they inflect people's lives. And this is a realm of different sorts of stories: there are caravans of camels and a sumptuous sultan's palace and eunuchs... but there are also high-rise skyscrapers and trucks and planes. I think perhaps this is meant to give it a timeless feel, but it does make it feel a bit disjointed sometimes.
All told, this was a richly told, interesting story, even with some small reservations I have for it. And oh my, is it pretty.
Next up: to review the Magician King.
