Bittersweet and elliptical, a narrative in which not much happens but everything changes.
A rites-of-passage portrait of the graphic artist as a young man.
For more than 20 years, French Canadian cartoonist Delisle has chronicled his experiences as a vagabond traveler, with graphic narratives taking readers to Burma, Jerusalem, North Korea, and elsewhere. Here, he provides a kind of origin story of his formative years in Quebec City, when he was drawing for fun and unsure how to translate his talent into a career. Beginning at the age of 16, he spent his first of three summers working at the local paper mill, which produced newsprint for the likes of the New York Times. His father had spent his professional life as an engineer at the factory, but the author rarely saw him. Most of what’s important in the narrative goes unsaid, or barely said, with Delisle and his father failing to connect. In the drawings, which any Delisle fan will appreciate, the mill and its machinery exert a greater physical presence than any of the characters. The author remembers himself as a “loner,” more interested in going to the library than interacting with his fellow workers, some of whom are overly friendly, others brutish and ill-tempered. Those with whom he formed any sort of bond could be gone the next summer, and he chronicles how he visited his father, who no longer lived with the family, only once each summer. During the rest of the year, Delisle pursued an education as an animator, and though he was prepared to return for a fourth summer at the mill, an employment offer provided the pathway to his career in cartooning. He and his father never discussed his art, at least as portrayed in these pages, but when he died, the author discovered his father kept much of his work.
Bittersweet and elliptical, a narrative in which not much happens but everything changes.Pub Date: June 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77046-459-9
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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