Blankets, by Craig Thompson

Graphic novel about a lonely-ish boy growing up and finding love. "may well be the single largest graphic novel ever published without being serialized first" says Amazon.

This was a recommendation from A Good Read. And it really was a good read, although a very quick one: despite being ~600 pages long, I finished it in a couple of hours. That's because it was such a pleasure to read, although a problem was that I was pulled forward by the story so much that I didn't stop and relish the drawing enough. And then I lent it to Ella in case she'd like it, and by the time she'd decided she didn't, it was due back at the library.

A criticism I'd have is that both the main protagonist (who is based on Thompson himself), and the girl he falls in love with, look really attractive. This is despite the fact that in the story, the guy is a loner who finds it hard to make friends, and the girl is unattached. It's hard to believe (outside of fiction) that such people would have trouble finding love. But I suppose it's fine to allow Thompson some artistic license here.

I think I would like to borrow it again and read it more slowly.

Completed : 17-Aug-2013

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