Johnson and Kumar revisit Daniel Defoe’s classic castaway tale for the PlayStation generation, creating a survival story told through fast-paced action sequences that barely scratches the surface of the original. This graphic adaptation is off-balance: too much show, not enough tell. The narrative pacing is turgid in parts, paring down the original into stilted language with clunky transitions. The interminable preamble doesn’t even shipwreck Crusoe until page 23 of 68. The author also pays little to no attention to the character’s internal life as the sole inhabitant of the island, save for strange eruptions of religiosity that are jarringly out of place in an adaptation that otherwise reads as a superficial thriller. The illustrations are captivating, but the sequence of the panels is frequently muddled. Text includes an introductory biography of Defoe and an endnote on famous shipwrecks throughout history. Passable for young readers fond of action-packed video games but unlikely to inspire interest in the original. (Graphic classic. 10 & up)
Pub Date: July 6, 2010
ISBN: 978-93-80028-20-0
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Campfire
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
And now for something completely different . . . from the acclaimed Greek author of the suavely Ovidian Eroticon, this 1974 novel (his first) employs the currently obscure form of the “spiritual biography” (roughly akin to the saint’s life) to relate the adventures of Theodore P., a teacher of humanities assigned to a remote Greek island. Addressing his tale to the women in his life (a former and current lover, plus his sister), Theodore tells of being swallowed and regurgitated by a whale, being thrust into reprises of famous battles and acquaintance with eminent military and political figures (not to mention modern poets George Seferis and Yannis Ritsos), and residing in a city totally submerged by a catastrophic flood (though his fellow residents seem unperturbed, and go about their business as usual). A knowledge of Greece’s modern and recent history would doubtless enrich the reader’s understanding. But the amusing mix of dream vision, condensed history, magical realism, and sociopolitical satire keeps us happily bedazzled, and eagerly reading all the same.
Pub Date: July 4, 2000
ISBN: 1-873982-44-5
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Dedalus
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
A gently assured, low-key pastoral of lost souls who find, in banal evil and thwarted altruism, the inspiration for human...
Delightful debut novel about American innocents abroad (“a thief and two Peace Corps volunteers”) and the Guatemalans whose lives they inevitably change.
Ed and Rachel joined the Peace Corps to do good, but now they can’t quite make contact with the people they’re supposed to help. They’ve become lovers, know each other so well they almost don’t have to talk, and have great sex; things, in short, have become so easy between them that neither is quite sure that the relationship will last. Carlton, meanwhile, is a gloomy professional thief who left New York because he was just too good at robbing people and wasn’t sure what he thought about his bisexuality. Able to support himself in luxury anywhere in the world, he stopped wandering when he found a beautiful lakeside villa in the small Guatemalan town of Panajachel, where he now tries—unsuccessfully—to stop stealing. When Rosario, the beautiful native Indian woman who cleans his villa, discovers the source of his wealth, Carlton makes her his partner in crime. Living in the same town is Ramiro, a native Indian farmer who quit his job as detective because he disliked working for the perversely brutal Hispanic police who he felt were exploiting other Indians (now, he’s learning English from Ed). When Carlton cleans out the sleeping Ed and Rachel, Ramiro dusts off his detective skills but wonders whether he suspects Rosario because of anti-Indian prejudices he acquired from his former cops, or whether she’s truly involved with the thief. As his characters cross paths, former Peace Corpsman Brazaitis, whose The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala (not reviewed) won the 1998 Iowa Short Fiction Prize, wisely lets them meander through their loneliness and frustrations while feelings of alienation and uncertainty gradually change into mutual respect, gender-bending love, and selfless sacrifice.
A gently assured, low-key pastoral of lost souls who find, in banal evil and thwarted altruism, the inspiration for human kindness.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-9657639-8-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
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