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Each panel is a gorgeous, involved world in itself. As far as purely graphic (read: wordless) novels go, this one blows the others away. The style is particularly cinematic, making it an effortless read (in the very best sense). And the story is intense and touching, without being over-the-top. I'll happily reread this treasure again and again.
(My favourite was probably the giant cyclopean men with the furnaces on their backs, and I'm still mulling over the exact meaning of the dragons in the main character's homeland).I highly recommend this to anyone who likes great artwork and a great and deeply moving story. The people he meets are frequently immigrants themselves, and share with him their own stories.The Arrival works on a number of levels, and fully appreciating it will require some thought on the part of the reader.
About half an hour later I was still standing in the exact same spot, staring at the last page and wondering if I had time to start over again.This is not a comic or a graphic novel. I picked up The Arrival expecting to, at the most, have a look at the first few pages.
He faces the same problems that any new arrival in a country must contend with, including finding a job and dealing with the unfamiliar local culture. There's no text at all, just pictures, and it's a testament to Shaun Tan's skill that the book still manages to tell an engrossing and deeply affecting story about emmigration, oppression and the difficulties inherent in leaving your family behind for a new life.
The nameless protagonist travels from his home country to a fantasy city that resembles a very whimsical interpretation of somewhere like New York. It's more than worth the effort, however, particularly when a seemingly bizarre image abruptly comes together and makes sense.
Go in with an open mind and you definitely won't be disappointed.
Gorgeous, wordless illustrations spin the story of an immigrant traveling to and settling into a new world. The beautiful strangeness of the images -- weird animals, meaningless symbols, incomprehensible tasks -- capture the disorientation of arriving in a new and alien place even as they fascinate. Adults will love this book as much as their children.
I was so intrigued with Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia that I had to get this book. It is different from Suburbia in that no words are used to tell this intriguing and mysterious tale. It is one long story with one image per page to upward of twenty images. Tan artfully uses the graphic novel form to guide the viewer through a monochromatic world that is often surrealistic and absurd, yet never threatening or overbearing.Suitable for both children and adults, and all will be enthralled with this magnificent story.
A book to take your time looking for all the large and small details to help tell the story. no words.
It has quickly become one of my very favorite books ever. The pictures are beautifully rendered and the story is an 'every immigrants' story.
I was not sure what this book was when I decided to order it. And the beauty of it all is that this graphic novel is in pictures only.
The thing that sets this aside from the average telling of a story of immigration is that it happens in a world none of us knows. There are very subtle but important differences in landscape and neighborhoods as well as animals, architecture, language, clothing etc that make you realize that though the storyline, the people, the feelings and emotions are so very familiar you can't put a finger on where the people are all coming from or where it is they have arrived.
It is a silent movie on paper. This book will remain with me for many years to come and surely be one I not only look at over and over again, but share over and over again.
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