The Arrival
by Shaun Tan
|
List Price: Our Price: $12.16 You Save: $7.83 (39%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $9.98 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Arrival
Book Review: Amazingly, Shaun Tan Shows Us Our Own World Through a Newcomer's Eyes
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Arrival" is a genre-connecting hardback picture book that took Shaun Tan four years to create based on narratives of immigrants coming to the U.S., combined with visual references he studied from antique post cards, historical photographs and even paintings and etchings by earlier artists.
This is a very, very carefully designed work that may remind readers of the stunning experience the first time you read "Maus: A Survivor's Tale," the famous graphic novel about the Holocaust by Art Spiegelman. (In fact, Spiegelman's praise for "The Arrival" appears on the back cover of the book, calling this "something new and exceptionally worthy.")
"The Arrival" tells the story of a young father who leaves his wife and daughter behind in their impoverished and dangerous homeland to journey to a distant city based on the New York City of an earlier era. Like millions of immigrants over the past two centuries, he is the patriarch of a family bravely going on ahead to establish a home for his family in a new world.
Many of the beautifully rendered images in the book are straight out of Ellis Island historical materials. HOWEVER, the stunning innovation Tan adds to the story is the way he moves from those historical snapshots of the immigrant experience -- to a wildly off-kilter New York City in which the Statue of Liberty looks oddly like a pair of welcoming giants in exotic costumes. New York's pigeons become strangely beautiful flying fish. The English language of advertisements, newspaper headlines and grocery store packaging becomes a bizarrely cryptic new alphabet that we can't quite understand.
Common American foods take on exotic, fanciful shapes and textures. Even ordinary American pets become exotic animals that seem to have fallen to earth from a science fiction novel.
Are you glimpsing the point of this visual slight of hand? As we follow the story of this immigrant -- we SEE America through the eyes of an immigrant. The strangeness of our skylines, our symbols, our language, our foods, our pets, our architecture -- actually looks strange to us, as readers.
This is what makes this book ideal for reading over and over with young readers -- spotting the dozens of subtle ways Tan twists and turns elements of the tale to help us not only empathize with the immigrant and his family -- but to actually feel his disorientation as we read the book!
Some chapters of the book are very dark. As immigrants meet in this new land, across the cultural and religious chasms that may separate them, they share stories of danger and oppression in their homelands. One immigrant tells a horrifying story of a war that left him crippled and homeless. Another immigrant tells a tale of what seems to be ethnic cleansing in his homeland.
Once again, Tan's imagery is rooted in stories we know -- but he enlarges and re-imagines the visual grammar of these stories until the ethnic cleansing becomes a terrifying tale of gigantic, faceless technicians with flame throwers who tromp through the streets of a village.
Although the story becomes dark at several points, there is nothing in the book that is more troubling than scenes in "The Chronicles of Narnia." And each moment of darkness throws into dramatic relief a moment of great joy as the immigrants realize how much they are thankful for in their new community. There's even a strange kind of Thanksgiving dinner at one point in the book.
Wherever you live in the world, as you read this, "The Arrival" is the story of someone you know -- a friend, a neighbor, a relative -- or perhaps this is your story captured vividly in a new form for a new century.
Book Review: Culture Shock!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ethereal, yet poignant; enigmatic, yet universal--Shaun Tan's graphic novel "The Arrival" draws the "reader/viewer" into a strange and foreign world as seen from the viewpoint of a man who leaves his poor family and home country, and travels to a new world looking for better life. The nameless man in this wordless novel must learn to cope in this odd and confusing world where he doesn't understand the language, or even weird foods and creatures. He encounters a bizarre-looking tadpole-shaped white animal who loyally remains with him throughout all of his adventures. He takes on the daunting task of finding lodging, food and employment in a huge industrialized city unlike anything he has ever seen. Or could imagine!
Along the way he meets up with some fellow emigrants who share their own stories with him, and, in that way, they form a bond of understanding. Each fellow traveler has apparently escaped from his or her own terrifying and dangerous situation to come to this "new world". Some of these pictures depict a landscape reminiscent of post-war Europe. I noticed that the three to six page mini-bios of the others is set off in the book with a darker frame. This helps keep the "flow" of the story comprehensible. One family in particular befriend the "arriver" in the book, and extend to him a sense of belonging which, after all, is the human need that every person in every country needs most.
I love the art work. The elaborately detailed pencil drawings communicate the overwhelming plight that the immigrant must deal with in a way that words could not, I think. Tan obviously put a tremendous amount of thought and work into these astonishingly imaginative illustrations. Some of the frames are like stop-action film. They slow the narrative down so that one can focus in on the process he goes through. Some offer a meditation of small details along his travels--such as twenty-five small frames of clouds seen along the boat trip. Then, again, some offer huge sweeping vistas of the confusing new world--vast city-scapes.
Eventually his wife and daughter are able to rejoin him. This helps him further to establish roots in his new home. Soon thereafter, he sends daughter out to buy some food (with the doggy-like friend)and she encounters a woman puzzling over a map. The girl, who by now is somewhat acclimated, stops to help the woman, who is a new "arrival", and points the way for her, and thus the cycle repeats. It is, for me, a very satisfying way to end the story.
This is a book to be savored and re-read. The stark and often dark pictures belie a beautiful story that puts the reader into a frame of contemplation. Mr. Tan confronts the universal issue of "strangers in a strange world", and how we form a sense of belonging as we connecting with each other and learn to negotiate the strangeness of the world.
Book Review: Stranger in a Strange Land
Summary: 5 Stars
The thing I really like about graphic novels is that you can usually read them in less than an hour. There are notable exceptions, of course, such as Alan Moore's The Watchmen. But most of the time, they read fast. I finally gave The Arrival a viewing, and it's quite an intriguing read.
The problem with describing it is that it's wordless. Much of the content is up to the viewer. You can make a guess as to what is happening or what is represented. Then, in about a year, you could look at it again and have a new take.
From what I can tell, this is the story of an immigrant that comes to a new land. We don't know why, only that he decides to pack up his bags and travel to a new home. He leaves a spouse and a daughter behind with great sadness. You can tell this parting brings them all pain. You can tell because of the drawings Shaun Tan made. Each one is packed with emotional punch.
I can only assume the immigrant is coming to America, although you wouldn't know it at first glance. To give us a sense of what it must be like for an immigrant, Tan creates a world in which nothing makes sense. There are strange symbols, pets, and foods. As the people on the boat arrive at the dock, they don't see the Statue of Liberty. Instead, they see a statue of two men shaking hands. On their shoulders are two animals, and one man holds a fruit. This is Tan's stroke of genius. He allows us to feel what immigrants must feel when they enter a strange country. No words are readable; no speech can be understood. Every vision is unfamiliar and sometimes scary. The man must use crude drawings he makes to communicate his needs for shelter or food.
We follow this man around as he tries to make sense of his new home. The reader will have many questions. For instance, why are there dragon scales following the man as he leaves his home? Why does he see the creature that follows him around as an alien baby? Is this because to immigrants, dogs and cats would not be common pets? What are the spaceships flying around supposed to represent? Buses? Planes?
I suppose that Tan could be going for a non-literal translation. In other words, maybe every item viewed on the pages isn't supposed to represent a counterpart that would be identifiable in America. Maybe the spaceships just represent transportation, and the alien creature just represents another life form, rather than a literal dog or cat.
The drawings are certainly beautiful, and readers will enjoy following the man's story. This is recommended for all ages.
Book Review: "The Arrival"
Summary: 5 Stars
Shaun Tan was born and grew up in Australia. He has illustrated The Red Tree, The List Thing, and The Viewer and Memorial written by Gary Crew. Using a unique art style and form that seems modern but still comprehensible, it immediately catches the eye, making the viewer "read" on. In Tan's latest work, The Arrival, he has outdone himself with a unique story of immigration and insertion into a new and very different culture.
The world is filled with different and diverse cultures, and when people immigrate to another culture, it is a very hard and trying life event to either be assimilated, or simply to fit in with this new culture. The many citizens of the United States have known this for centuries, while many these days are still dealing with the problem of how to keep their own culture alive, but to also be a part of the culture they live in. While some can understand and sympathize with people of different cultures who go through this great change, it varies from culture to culture as to what their lives will be like.
Tan has taken a unique step here in making The Arrival a story of immigration into a new culture universal and understandable to everyone, whatever cultural background they come from. A father must leave his wife and children and journey to a new country, get a job, and begin his life there. When he is ready, the rest of his family will join him. Except this is an alien world, with weird shapes and objects, people look strange, there are unusual creatures everywhere, and travel is done somehow by hot air balloon. There is a type of symbolic writing that seems uninterpretable to the naked eye. So the reader begins the journey with the man, trying to comprehend what is going on, what people are saying to him, trying to get by each day with some kind of understanding.
The result is a very special story that has incredible art from an alien world which is fascinating and enchanting, but at the same time is telling the story of the plight of the many over hundreds of years who have immigrated and begun their life over in a new culture with new and different ways.
Originally written on December 2nd, 2007 ŠAlex C. Telander.
For over 500 book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to [...].
Book Review: An intriguing and beautiful story on many levels
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I wasn't expecting it to be all pictures and no words; not to say that detracted from the book. This was actually a wonderful and thought provoking book, and it was better for its lack of words. Without language as a barrier I think anyone from any culture could get some understanding from this book. In the epilogue it mentions that Tan spent 4 years researching all of the drawings and stories that made up this book and it shows.
This book depicts the story of a man who leaves his family to travel to a fantastical alien place. He is trying to find work at that place, and have many of the problems you would expect of a person plopped into an alien society.
The pictures in the book are beautiful and the land the man visits truly fantastic. Despite all the alien-ness of the place though you see the main character gong through many troubles that any immigrant goes through. The book is surprisingly griping and you really feel for the characters. Even more surprising are the little bits of humor throughout, they make the book even more human.
To add depth to the story a number of the characters that the main character bumps into also have their back-stories depicted. It really is proving a point about how people end up in the beautiful alien world and what they've suffered to get there.
So I liked this book on a number of levels. All by itself it is an interesting story depicted with beautiful pictures; a tale of a journey to a far away land. On another level it makes a statement about immigration and what people who immigrate to a new world have suffered through and continue to suffer. The story is by no means depressing through, it is humorous and heartfelt. The lack of words makes it enjoyable to all ages. My 2 year enjoyed looking through it with me (although I don't think he got as much out of it as I did) he found the different worlds interesting and had lots of questions to ask about the characters. Believe or not he made it through the whole thing with me.
I got this from the library but I will definitely be acquiring a copy to keep in my library. I will definitely be checking out more of Shaun Tan's works.