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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Somewhat successful adaptation of the novel by Marcel Beyer. Taking place in Germany during the end days of WWII, tthe story revolves around a Hermann Karnua young man who is obsessed with sound recording and engineering and the children of Joseph Goebbels, particularly the eldest Helga. The story starts with Hermann who, after giving a lecture, deriding theories of German pure blood and emphasized the importance of the voice in determining someone's heritage, he gets invited to work on a special project with Goebbels. Here is where he meets Helga, and they are instantly taken with each other (in a completely benign way, Helga is twelve). After that the story toggles between the two as Kernau becomes obsessed with getting to the essence of humanity, eagerly committing atrocities that the Nazis were, of course, known for and Helga, who slowly but surely is realizing the horror of war and that Germany is, in fact, losing.
Its an intriguing concept and Lust's illustrations are first rate. She uses different shadings, lines and coloring for each storyline. The main problem is the superiority of one storyline over the other. Although, Kernau is ostensibly more original, we have seen variations of this storyline before and we never really care about Kernau as a person, while with Helga, which is also somewhat familiar, we do. Helga's storyline is touching and horrifying and, ultimately, heartbreaking. If the book simply focused on this, and it could have, it would have been excellent.
It is still worth checking out. It is very well crafted. It just could have been much better.
Its an intriguing concept and Lust's illustrations are first rate. She uses different shadings, lines and coloring for each storyline. The main problem is the superiority of one storyline over the other. Although, Kernau is ostensibly more original, we have seen variations of this storyline before and we never really care about Kernau as a person, while with Helga, which is also somewhat familiar, we do. Helga's storyline is touching and horrifying and, ultimately, heartbreaking. If the book simply focused on this, and it could have, it would have been excellent.
It is still worth checking out. It is very well crafted. It just could have been much better.
I had no idea what I was getting into - I only picked this book up because Ulli Lust was involved. The story really took a while for me to get into, but once I did, I was pretty hooked. The book was disturbing for so many reasons - one of which being that while some horrific experiments are described and shown in terrible ways, the enormous horrors of Nazi atrocities are not captured. I don't think they should be in this context, but it's interesting to reflect on impressions of the end of the book in the context. The art was excellent throughout.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
v sad and need a bit to think on this one
Unfortunately all the parts you want to be fictional are true.
Unfortunately all the parts you want to be fictional are true.
strange. disturbing.
I haven't read the original novel that this is based on.
I haven't read the original novel that this is based on.
2.75
this was my first graphic novel (and it won't be my last).
saying this i liked reading this one about a tragic part of nazi germany, there is no end of knowledge you can gain from reading about this terrible part of history. but there were parts when i couldn't help but skim through, i thought it could've been a bit shorter and half way i didn't know if i wanted to continue but i'm glad i did. the ending really brought this one home for me, so shocking. so sad. i thought the graphics were very well done and added to the atmosphere of the story. i'll definitely have to do my research into what graphic novels i read next!
this was my first graphic novel (and it won't be my last).
saying this i liked reading this one about a tragic part of nazi germany, there is no end of knowledge you can gain from reading about this terrible part of history. but there were parts when i couldn't help but skim through, i thought it could've been a bit shorter and half way i didn't know if i wanted to continue but i'm glad i did. the ending really brought this one home for me, so shocking. so sad. i thought the graphics were very well done and added to the atmosphere of the story. i'll definitely have to do my research into what graphic novels i read next!