The Arrival
by Shaun Tan
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Book Reviews of The Arrival
Book Review: Withstands Repeated Readings Well
Summary: 5 Stars
The Arrival works on so many levels that it's hard to peg it to just one. Perhaps at its heart it is a children's tale, an illustrated epic easy to follow along in pictures. But the idea of loss--from the opening montage of a man leaving his family behind while he goes off in search of something new in a foreign land--and the emotion behind it will resonate more with adults. Tan, whose previous works include the excellent The Red Tree and The Lost Thing, gives life to his protagonist's fears and trepidations through a rich symbolism invented in the artwork: shadows, lettering, strange creatures. What it all means adds up to the fear of the unknown every stranger in a strange land faces. What lies around any given corner may be amazing opportunity or danger . . . and there's no way to find out until you make the journey.
That kind of uncertainty is depicted in the odd-looking little creature who greets the protagonist in this new land (shown on the cover). Is it a friendly type of dog or some vicious animal?
Tan's gift for creating shading and depth gives each image a lush, 3D quality, and he even creates playful, moving connotations by arranging the panels of the book's opening like a photo album, complete with slightly rounded corners. They look almost taped into place. The reader reminisces about generations gone by, parents, grandparents, or even further back into history, to think of the many heartbreaking ways people leave their families behind in search of a new life and a opportunity to create a new family elsewhere.
Every one of Tan's images is a story unto itself, so words are hardly necessary here. What would they add to, say, the delicate rendering of the young girl regarding the protagonist's suitcase on the morning he is about to leave? The picture alone conveys everything that needs to be said.
The Arrival is one of those works that withstands repeated readings well. There's always something new or unexpected to be encountered, something you missed the last time around. It never loses that sense of magic and wonder either.
-- John Hogan
Book Review: The Language of Beautiful Images
Summary: 5 Stars
I am so lucky. I have an excellent friend, a best friend, who knows I appreciate unique stories and beautiful things, and when you put the two together you have something really special. She saw 'The Arrival' and knew I would love it and gave it to me. And she was right -- I never expected it, but I absolutely love it.
On one level, 'The Arrival' is a simple, fairly common story, one we've heard many times before in other ways, from other people. A man leaves his home and family in a frightening place to try and make his way in the world, and to support the ones he loves best. He moves to a new country, a bustling metropolis of hope. He struggles. He meets new people and experiences new things. He learns. Things change and he adapts. It is a familiar story, to be sure.
What makes 'The Arrival' different is Shaun Tan's beautiful illustrations, and the way he uses the images to tell the story without the needs for any words -- no narration, no dialogues, no accompanying text. Even the words seen on signs and books are written in an unrecognizable language, which only help you, the reader, share the main character's initial frustration as he makes his way in a new place. But the illustrations are of such beauty...in many cases I found myself getting lost in the details of Tan's remarkable black-and-white pictures, exploring these cities and landscapes and pathways, noticing details, marveling at wonders. The illustrations are simple yet powerful, suggestive of much greater depths than 10,000 words might have conveyed in the same space. Shaun Tan found a new way to tell an old story...with strong, fanciful, imaginative art. And for this, it works perfectly.
Can a story be told without words? Can ideas be conveyed without sentences and grammar? Shaun Tan not only proves that they can, with 'The Arrival' he proves that it can be done elegantly and beautifully, and that the use of words would only take away from the story he's told, and the way he has told it.
This is powerful imagining, and I am so very lucky that my friend knew to share it with me.
Book Review: A Memoir in Silence
Summary: 5 Stars
When I read Shaun Tan's 'The Arrival' I felt as though I had been transported into a different world. All the sounds around I dimmed to a muted silence as I was immersed in the quiet reality of the book. Using solely pictures to tell the tale of one man's journey from his oppressed country into the free world, Tan forces the reader to look beyond the drawn image and hear the sounds, feel the emotions, touch the pavement, and share in the confusion and discovery.
As the daughter of immigrant parents, I was truly able to appreciate Tan's attention to the simple details of the immigrant experience. Inventing a new language based on symbols beautifully portrayed the feeling of confusion my parents described to me when they first arrived in the United States. It was all there in this story: the medical exams, the labeling, the misunderstanding, the moments of distraught fear, the unexpected helping hand, the exchange of stories, the slow adaptation to new life, the reunion, and finally, the complete sense of belonging - it was both foreign and familiar.
Tan also masterfully makes this book a universal experience; his characters can be from any ethnic background and their oppressive countries could be anywhere in the world. This universality also extends to the 'land of freedom' where the bizarre foods, transportation, monuments, animals, and language make even the reader feel like they are on a distant planet. Moreover, his stunning drawings perfectly illustrate the main characters emotions; transporting the reader into this silent journey and making them part of the story - at times as a silent witness, others as another character.
Although 'The Arrival' is a beautiful and detailed picture book, I would not read it to children under 11 years of age. It has a very mature content which palpably evokes emotions of fear, confusion, and distress that might be shocking for a young audience. Shaun Tan has written a memoir in silence, but the silence should not be considered a lack of communication, only a different medium.
Book Review: FEELS LIKE TRAVELING in a FAR-AWAY-LAND
Summary: 5 Stars
ANYONE WHO HAD TRAVELED...
...away from their family, culture, and land will find comfort in this book. It provides with rich metaphors and imagery of departure, culture shock, misunderstandings, confusion, adaptation--you name it!--all of those experiences an immigrant or a long-distance traveler is going through.
Likewise, ANYONE WHO'D EVER MET A FOREIGNER...
...and had difficulty communicating, or had ever occupied oneself with a thought of what it means "to arrive somewhere" and what an experience of arrival to a land of no known customs and language may be like--will also benefit greatly from this presentation.
The book's presentation:
The medium of the story delivery through a series of pictures (wonderful illustrations in their own right!!!) allows for multiple interpretations of the content and is adaptable to any travel/immigration situation. The story itself has depth in its many layers, depending on whose side of it you are following: the Daughter's, the Wife's, or the Man's, or perhaps--some other character in the book :-)). Detailed illustrations make me return to these pages again and again, finding some new twist, or making new interpretations.
Both, children (as young as 4) and adults I have shared this book with, loved at least something about it. Younger children, unless familiar with the experience, will probably not understand all the complexity of it, however, the very idea of presenting these experiences through pictures allows them to stay with the story and enjoy it just the same. As far as adults, I cannot think of anyone whom this book may leave untouched or indifferent.
This is by far one of the most MOVING, THOUGHT PROVOKING, INSPIRING, and beautifully done books! I never stop hunting for good volumes out there, and this one is A TREASURE for book lovers and collectors alike.
Book Review: Dreamlike Epic With No Words
Summary: 5 Stars
Have you ever wakened from a dream so real that you were actually shocked when you woke up? Upon further thought as you think about your recent dream episode, things were not as they should be. Such aberrations as flying boats and buildings that seems to be in New York City but possess a strange combination of oriental and occidental architecture. This appears to be familiar territory but in the same breath also very strange and different.
Welcome to Shaun Tans' epic dreamlike journey in "The Arrival" a story of a man leaving his home and family to migrate to a new world. The artist goes into an explicit graphic narrative to describe the strangeness of immigrating to a new land. One gets the sense that this planned migration has been instigated by a government of totalitarian ilk as evidenced by the Artist's drawing of a shadow of a "tale of a dragon" which gives evidence of sinister governance.
The Author takes us into a world of epic art deco like scenery which is neither totally western nor eastern; in fact I see traces of Native American Indian influence. Our hero has to deal with a culture which is strange and different and we learn how he copes with dealing with people in a new land. His final hope is to finally reunite with his family in a land which he finds to be a refuge to many people from far and away.
This graphic depiction shows how an artist can convey an idea using simple pencil drawings and not using one word. Shaun Tan's art is not impressionistic, however the theme and structure of his story in the world of graphic literature is indeed impressionistic. This novel should never be thought of as a child's picture book. It uses advanced imagery and a high level nuanced story line using no prose. In reality it is the art of mime in the world of graphic imagery which in and of itself creates its own unique genre. Fanastic! 5 Stars!!