This GNF selection is David Mazzucchelli's Asterio Polyp. ISBN: 978-0-307-37732-6. New York: Pantheon Books, 2009.What Caught My Eye: Asterios Polyp made the Top 10 list on Booklist for 2010 and I had read a couple of reviews that this is one of the top graphic novels to come out so I thought I would order it for the collection.
Why I Didn't Put It Down: The book opens up with a image of the cosmos, centered on the page. It continues with images of storm clouds and on a full page, lightning heading down into what looks like a city. There are images of an apartment, ransacks, dirty pots and dishes piled in a sick and a disheveled man watching dirty videos on a TV. From that moment on, I needed to see what brought this man, Asterios Polyp, to such a state of disarray and depression. We learn that he was highly regarded. That he was married once and that he was successful. But what happened? Mazzucchelli takes the reader on a wonderful journey about a man who has fallen and then eventually redeems himself. It is all about the journey and what he learns and who he meets along the way. The images are sometimes manneristic, abstract, conventional and are so expressive in their sometimes austere style. You just do not want to stop reading.
Who Would I Recommend This To: This is a very interesting novel, but there are some images of people have sex in it. I would say a mature 9th grader to adult would appreciate this story. I really hate that people take one part of a book out of context but that's why I had to mention it. It is a really amazing story about this character and how his life changes from good to bad to good to...who knows? it's just life.
After you've read it...read this great post by Scott McCloud on it.
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