Publisher: NBM
Release Date: September 21, 2016
Price: $44.99
Creator: Cyril Pedrosa
Format: 336 pgs., Full-Color, 9"x12", Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-6811-2080-5
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5
Technically this is a hybrid book due to its lengthy prose sections. This massive tour-de-force of a book consists of four separate sections, several different artistic styles, and a complex main plot, along with a beautiful set of seasonal framing tableaux that won’t make a lick of sense until you get through the main story. Then it all comes together, and is ten times richer.
Some of the main story is about a clash between modern commerce and local sensibilities, and other parts of the main story are about how even the avid supporters of a political ideal can just get tired. Or, maybe it’s about how life can move on at a different pace than the people living it. Or, it could be about something else entirely. Or maybe it’s about literally leaving your footprints in the sands of time. It’s that kind of book. Whether you feel that you understand it or not, it will be hard to put down.
The dialogue ranges from dry wit interactions between the characters to semi-sober rantings over a bottle of wine, and every once in a while there’s an entire prose section which tells either part of the main story or something different that Pedrosa wanted the reader to know.
Adults, and perhaps some mature teens, will be the audience for this book, due to its complex structure, both narratively and physically. It’s serious without being depressing, but this is not light reading, and is a fine example of how graphic fiction can indeed be literature.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.