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Île Bourbon 1730 (2011)

by Lewis Trondheim(Favorite Author)

3.51 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

2756026654 (ISBN13: 9782756026657)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Delcourt

review 1: I really enjoyed Lewis Trondheim's autobiographical comics, so I thought I'd give this one a try. He uses the same illustrative style that he used with his autobiographical work. This story was written by a famous French writer, who works with cartoonists, named Appollo. There were many historical references to this story about retired pirates on Bourbon island in 1730, which I found interesting. However, I don't know if something was lost in the translation or not, but the story was a bit flat. I know this is not Lewis' fault, since he didn't write the story. It was a decent book, but fell short of my expectations.
review 2: This book gained its second star in the last 50 pages. My main issue is with the artwork, and I nearly didn't finish because of it.... more Because there is no variation of line width, and not nearly enough usage of solid black, my eyes didn't know where to go in each panel and the characters didn't stick out. This technique works if the style is minimal, but here there is a lushness of detail that makes the characters, the action, and the scenery difficult to parse. At the end of the novel, however, events transpire at night, meaning that the sky is solid black, and that provided the contrast I needed to follow the story more easily. I'm also a little wary of the Spiegelman-esque tactic of race/nationality represented by animal/species. The characterization of the black slaves as bears with big lips that look like blackface is problematic in itself but also because it seems to be the only designation that is even remotely derivative (aside from one vaguely native-looking creature at the end). But most of the characters are just animals, and it is left to the reader to decide what qualities differentiate them. (If it weren't translated, I might suggest that the ducks, or quackers, is a play on the term "Cracker.")BUT all of those caveats aside, I did think the story itself was somewhat compelling. The dynamics of all the peoples on the island is interesting. The pirate aspect is interesting. But the visual presentation just made it hard to enjoy (and even get through). less

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