A quirky, distinctly dark work with faltering poetry but memorable images.
Goldstein (The Second Coming, 2014) offers an illustrated story in verse about a flea searching for a safe place to live.
Finnegan T. Flea is a parasite, but this story asks readers not to hold that against him. He takes no more blood than he needs to survive, and never spreads diseases on purpose, but he’s still hated in a way that similarly predatory humans are not. He makes his home on the back of a cat in a monastery, but when the monks attempt to exterminate him, he leaps from cat to monk to donkey to head outside. At first, he’s excited by the prospect of freedom, but he soon realizes that the world is a very dangerous place for a flea, with forces that wish to harm him at every turn. The story travels to some dark places, and by the end, it’s clear that whatever the sins of a flea might be, they don’t begin to equal the rampant brutality of the world he lives in. Goldstein tells his tale in an odd, irregularly rhyming verse that seemingly attempts to evoke epic poetry and slam poetry at the same time. Although this is an attractive conceit in the abstract, the author never settles on a standardized meter or rhyme scheme, which makes it far less satisfying than it might have been. The narration feels more improvised than carefully composed, and while it might be impressive if performed out loud, it makes for a difficult, awkward read. The politics of Goldstein’s fictional world turn out to be more extreme than they appear at the outset: His larger theme is the violence that men do to animals, and to one another, and his conclusions aren’t optimistic. The author also draws connections to slavery and genocide, which may invigorate some readers, but others may roll their eyes. Grinager’s full-color artwork is the book’s highlight—an impressive mix of textures that’s alternately bright, creepy and oddly stirring. Overall, the odd power of this book lies in the contrast between its arresting imagery and its inherently light verse.
A quirky, distinctly dark work with faltering poetry but memorable images.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-1503091474
Page Count: 50
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced...
A pairing of the text of the Scottish Play with a filmed performance, designed with the Shakespeare novice in mind.
The left side of the screen of this enhanced e-book contains a full version of Macbeth, while the right side includes a performance of the dialogue shown (approximately 20 lines’ worth per page). This granular focus allows newcomers to experience the nuances of the play, which is rich in irony, hidden intentions and sudden shifts in emotional temperature. The set and costuming are deliberately simple: The background is white, and Macbeth’s “armor” is a leather jacket. But nobody’s dumbing down their performances. Francesca Faridany is particularly good as a tightly coiled Lady Macbeth; Raphael Nash-Thompson gives his roles as the drunken porter and a witch a garrulousness that carries an entertainingly sinister edge. The presentation is not without its hiccups. Matching the video on the right with the text on the left means routinely cutting off dramatic moments; at one point, users have to swipe to see and read the second half of a scene’s closing couplet—presumably an easy fix. A “tap to translate” button on each page puts the text into plain English, but the pop-up text covers up Shakespeare’s original, denying any attempts at comparison; moreover, the translation mainly redefines more obscure words, suggesting that smaller pop-ups for individual terms might be more meaningful.
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced e-book makes the play appealing and graspable to students . (Enhanced e-book. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The New Book Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
Immensely enjoyable.
The debut graphic novel from Mohamed presents a modern Egypt full of magical realism where wishes have been industrialized and heavily regulated.
The story opens with a televised public service announcement from the General Committee of Wish Supervision and Licensing about the dangers of “third-class wishes”—wishes that come in soda cans and tend to backfire on wishers who aren’t specific enough (like a wish to lose weight resulting in limbs falling from the wisher’s body). Thus begins a brilliant play among magic, the mundane, and bureaucracy that centers around a newsstand kiosk where a devout Muslim is trying to unload the three “first-class wishes” (contained in elegant glass bottles and properly licensed by the government) that have come into his possession, since he believes his religion forbids him to use them. As he gradually unloads the first-class wishes on a poor, regretful widow (who then runs afoul of authorities determined to manipulate her out of her valuable commodity) and a university student who seeks a possibly magical solution to their mental health crisis (but struggles with whether a wish to always be happy might have unintended consequences), interstitials give infographic histories of wishes, showing how the Western wish-industrial complex has exploited the countries where wishes are mined (largely in the Middle East). The book is exceptionally imaginative while also being wonderfully grounded in touching human relationships, existential quandaries, and familiar geopolitical and socio-economic dynamics. Mohamed’s art balances perfectly between cartoon and realism, powerfully conveying emotions, and her strong, clean lines gorgeously depict everything from an anguished face to an ornate bottle. Charts and graphs nicely break up the reading experience while also concisely building this larger world of everyday wishes. Mohamed has a great sense of humor, which comes out in footnotes and casual asides throughout.
Immensely enjoyable.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-524-74841-8
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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