GlassIsland
"The Language of Beautiful Images"
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A textless graphic novel by Shaun Tan that tells the story of an immigrant's journey to a new and strange country.
< read all 4 reviewsThe Language of Beautiful Images
-
Jan 4, 2009
- by GlassIsland
- posted in Love of Comics & Graphic Novels!
Rating:
I am so lucky. I have an excellent friend, a best friend, who knows I appreciate unique stories and beautiful things, and when you put the two together you have something really special. She saw 'The Arrival' and knew I would love it and gave it to me. And she was right -- I never expected it, but I absolutely love it.
+5
On one level, 'The Arrival' is a simple, fairly common story, one we've heard many times before in other ways, from other people. A man leaves his home and family in a frightening place to try and make his way in the world, and to support the ones he loves best. He moves to a new country, a bustling metropolis of hope. He struggles. He meets new people and experiences new things. He learns. Things change and he adapts. It is a familiar story, to be sure.
What makes 'The Arrival' different is Shaun Tan's beautiful illustrations, and the way he uses the images to tell the story without the needs for any words -- no narration, no dialogues, no accompanying text. Even the words seen on signs and books are written in an unrecognizable language, which only help you, the reader, share the main character's initial frustration as he makes his way in a new place. But the illustrations are of such beauty...in many cases I found myself getting lost in the details of Tan's remarkable black-and-white pictures, exploring these cities and landscapes and pathways, noticing details, marveling at wonders. The illustrations are simple yet powerful, suggestive of much greater depths than 10,000 words might have conveyed in the same space. Shaun Tan found a new way to tell an old story...with strong, fanciful, imaginative art. And for this, it works perfectly.
Can a story be told without words? Can ideas be conveyed without sentences and grammar? Shaun Tan not only proves that they can, with 'The Arrival' he proves that it can be done elegantly and beautifully, and that the use of words would only take away from the story he's told, and the way he has told it.
This is powerful imagining, and I am so very lucky that my friend knew to share it with me.
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More The Arrival reviews
A wonderfully poignant and artistic graphic novel that tells its story entirely through images and without text. The plot is about a nondescript man who must leave his family behind in order to journey to a strange foreign country where he must find work and secure enough money to send for them. The characters are vividly brought to life despite the lack of dialogue and the visual poetry with which author/illustrator Shaun Tan brings the pages to life is extraordinary. Using expressionistic, … more
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What more can I say about this book that has been raved about a lot already? I think... When I first decided to read this, I wasn't sure exactly how I will find it. In spite of all the praises heaped on this book, I wasn't sure if I will be in the same camp. Not because I doubted its effectiveness but rather I worried if I would even grasp it. A story told only in pictures? You've got to be kidding me! How can the emotions of the character be even … more
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A man leaves his wife and child behind to prepare a life for them in a new land. He faces strange customs and a strange language in a strange world. Gradually, he is able to find work and make friends among other newcomers, who have their own stories to tell of why they had to leave their home countries. How do you depict the strangeness and wonder of a new place without words? Shaun Tan's "The Arrival" is an astonishing and surreal depiction of the immigrant experience, … more
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About the reviewer
Rich Stoehr (GlassIsland)
Ranked #22
Ranked #22
I often hide behind a pithy Douglas Adams quote or maybe some song lyrics. I guess it makes sense that much of what I share is reviews of things I like (or don't). People … more
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Starred Review.Grade 7 Up—Tan captures the displacement and awe with which immigrants respond to their new surroundings in this wordless graphic novel. It depicts the journey of one man, threatened by dark shapes that cast shadows on his family's life, to a new country. The only writing is in an invented alphabet, which creates the sensation immigrants must feel when they encounter a strange new language and way of life. A wide variety of ethnicities is represented in Tan's hyper-realistic style, and the sense of warmth and caring for others, regardless of race, age, or background, is present on nearly every page. Young readers will be fascinated by the strange new world the artist creates, complete with floating elevators and unusual creatures, but may not realize the depth of meaning or understand what the man's journey symbolizes. More sophisticated readers, however, will grasp the sense of strangeness and find themselves participating in the man's experiences. They will linger over the details in the beautiful sepia pictures and will likely pick up the book to pore over it again and again.—Alana Abbott, James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ISBN-10:
0439895294
ISBN-13:
978-0439895293
Author:
Shaun Tan
Genre:
Children's Books,
Comics & Graphic Novels
Publisher:
Arthur A. Levine Books
Format:
Graphic novel
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