A tale with an ethereal hero that’s just getting started, but profound nonetheless, and illustrative in every sense.
A murdered teen returns as an angel and wanders the Earth in search of purpose in this graphic novel debut.
Cyrus Michael is sure he’s dead. After all, someone’s just fired a bullet into his heart. So he’s understandably shocked when he later awakens in an unfamiliar place. With a brand new pair of wings on his back, he walks into town, where apparently no one can see or hear him. It doesn’t seem that anyone’s there to explain his quandary, and he believes he’ll forever be alone. One night while taking shelter in an abandoned church, Cyrus finds a boy tied to a cross and shot in the chest. He carries the boy, Pucky, to Fairweather Hospital and meets the victim’s father, who not only can see Cyrus, but initiates a conversation with him. Determined to be a better person now than when he was alive, the angel hopes that finding Pucky’s assailant will prove meaningful. He’s certain the person responsible is a strange, singing man dressed in white, who passed Cyrus on the way to Fairweather. The teen heads to the place he last saw the suspect, derelict apartments where the man in white, claiming simply to be following orders, threatens a stranger and his son. Cyrus follows the man farther into the dark building, and possibly into his mind, winding up in an alley and facing a beast sporting giant cleavers. It’s fitting that Beguesse is both author and artist, relaying much of the story visually. There’s little dialogue/narrative, while symbolic imagery proves louder than words, like Cyrus as a flea (how he believes the world sees him) and a sword he pulls from his spine. The tale’s primarily a mystery: Cyrus eventually recalls his murderer’s name, Nicholas, but readers don’t learn who the killer is until the end. A good deal is left unexplained for subsequent volumes, including the man in white’s identity and boss. Manga fans will recognize the style in Beguesse’s work, particularly Cyrus’ large eyes and exaggerated facial expressions. But the artist isn’t afraid of solid colors covering the panels: ominous shadows in the forlorn church and stark-white hospital lights.
A tale with an ethereal hero that’s just getting started, but profound nonetheless, and illustrative in every sense.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9898879-0-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
