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rebus's review against another edition
4.75
Some reviewers have called this a memoir, when in fact the subjects of this biography had no input whatsoever into its creation (aside from providing research materials to the author and illustrator). It is very nearly a masterpiece of biography, but it goes much deeper, as it is also a crime story, a short history of the classics, 2 tales of fatherhood, and ultimately a tale of growth and redemption (which to me are the most bankrupt tales in all of literature, as they often forgive or let people off the hook who don't deserve it). The art is magnificent and full of detail, using the tale of the Inferno to great use in telling what is one of the few redemption songs I've ever enjoyed.
The flaws may seem minor, but they are significant when summed up. The first was to say that organized crime was established by Prohibition, when in fact it had foundations in the 1880s or earlier and was more than well established a full 2 decades, an entire generation, before Prohibition took effect. A second significant error was perhaps factual, Leopold suggesting that Poe practically invented the genre of detective fiction, when in fact it would not exist for at least 3 decades after Poe's death. Leopold was also dead wrong to assert that Rizzo was a low life for robbing liquor stores, while the heroes of Homer--this occurred during a discussion related to Omerta, the code of silence among Italian gangsters--were fighting heroic battles. This is simply the fiction of white Western European culture, as those wars were all for Empire and plunder, which has become the modern paradigm, and we should see any modern thief as striking a blow against Empire (or at the very least, indirectly attacking Capitalism by stealing from the upper middle class). The text is also littered with common modern usage that would not have been around in the time period the tale mostly takes place (1935-65).
Indeed, we are shown the evil of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, a corrupt use of architecture to spy upon and oppress the masses--it's primary uses were in the elite's structures of power, such as prisons, workhouses, poorhouses, corporations and businesses, schools, hospitals and insane asylums--yet the view of Leopold and Rizzo is that poets are like divine entities sent to help us transcend and understand the universe, but the truth is that the Divine Comedy largely supports the psychotic view of the religious and warns of punishment and damnation for not getting with the program of exploitation. Indeed, far from elevating the human spirit, the Classics in general act like another form of physical architecture that oppresses the human spirit and makes us feel small: cathedra designed to use classical music to reduce us to insects. I guess I prefer the modern physics for understanding the physical and metaphysical world to this cheap, State, oppression.
This establishment and Statist view becomes even more apparent in the closing remarks by the authors and editors, in which the imagination of the creative spirit is lauded over all else in life and human history (when in fact the vast majority of artists have lacked all talent and offer the view of a State propagandist). It is a repulsive trend I saw in the recent sequel to Marvels, deifying the artist and the upper classes from which 99% of all art in human history has come, above all else (see: Jacobin Magazine on Art for the 99%).
It so wonderfully does the job of biography that I must rate it as high as I possibly can without calling it a masterpiece, simply because the author is deeply inculcated into an establishment view and probably believes he's a good liberal without realizing that the modern liberal is a bit to the right of Hitler.
The flaws may seem minor, but they are significant when summed up. The first was to say that organized crime was established by Prohibition, when in fact it had foundations in the 1880s or earlier and was more than well established a full 2 decades, an entire generation, before Prohibition took effect. A second significant error was perhaps factual, Leopold suggesting that Poe practically invented the genre of detective fiction, when in fact it would not exist for at least 3 decades after Poe's death. Leopold was also dead wrong to assert that Rizzo was a low life for robbing liquor stores, while the heroes of Homer--this occurred during a discussion related to Omerta, the code of silence among Italian gangsters--were fighting heroic battles. This is simply the fiction of white Western European culture, as those wars were all for Empire and plunder, which has become the modern paradigm, and we should see any modern thief as striking a blow against Empire (or at the very least, indirectly attacking Capitalism by stealing from the upper middle class). The text is also littered with common modern usage that would not have been around in the time period the tale mostly takes place (1935-65).
Indeed, we are shown the evil of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, a corrupt use of architecture to spy upon and oppress the masses--it's primary uses were in the elite's structures of power, such as prisons, workhouses, poorhouses, corporations and businesses, schools, hospitals and insane asylums--yet the view of Leopold and Rizzo is that poets are like divine entities sent to help us transcend and understand the universe, but the truth is that the Divine Comedy largely supports the psychotic view of the religious and warns of punishment and damnation for not getting with the program of exploitation. Indeed, far from elevating the human spirit, the Classics in general act like another form of physical architecture that oppresses the human spirit and makes us feel small: cathedra designed to use classical music to reduce us to insects. I guess I prefer the modern physics for understanding the physical and metaphysical world to this cheap, State, oppression.
This establishment and Statist view becomes even more apparent in the closing remarks by the authors and editors, in which the imagination of the creative spirit is lauded over all else in life and human history (when in fact the vast majority of artists have lacked all talent and offer the view of a State propagandist). It is a repulsive trend I saw in the recent sequel to Marvels, deifying the artist and the upper classes from which 99% of all art in human history has come, above all else (see: Jacobin Magazine on Art for the 99%).
It so wonderfully does the job of biography that I must rate it as high as I possibly can without calling it a masterpiece, simply because the author is deeply inculcated into an establishment view and probably believes he's a good liberal without realizing that the modern liberal is a bit to the right of Hitler.
moncoinlecture's review against another edition
5.0
Quelle fabuleuse BD! J'ai tout aimé, le trait tout comme l'histoire!
susannaleslieprins's review against another edition
4.0
The Hunting Accident is a memoir about storytelling - stories a father tells his son, stories that are written, and stories everyone tells themselves, but that is where what is clear in this story begins and ends.
At first we are told the father was blinded by a hunting accident (this is untrue).
We are led to believe the story is about the father's life (much of it is about a prisoner whose true crime story was sensationalized in 1924).
I believed this was going to be more of a thriller or a mystery (it is really more of a drama that humanizes prisoners and and gives us a glimpse into what it must be like to be blind).
There is really interesting story-telling here and the art by Landis Blair is
At first we are told the father was blinded by a hunting accident (this is untrue).
We are led to believe the story is about the father's life (much of it is about a prisoner whose true crime story was sensationalized in 1924).
I believed this was going to be more of a thriller or a mystery (it is really more of a drama that humanizes prisoners and and gives us a glimpse into what it must be like to be blind).
There is really interesting story-telling here and the art by Landis Blair is
danielle94's review against another edition
5.0
I purchased this behemoth of a book immediately after I opened it. The amount of detail Blair (the illustrator) on each page and each panel is astounding. The artistry alone warrants significant praise! Even more astounding is that the story meets the level of skill found in the illustrations.
The tale is enthralling and told masterfully! The settings, pace, emotions, and voices of the characters gave a level of depth unprecedented (as of now for me in relation to the other graphic novels I've read). The reader along with the son of the protagonist faces the struggle of finding humanity in "bad guys". The story stands as a testament of hope.
I recommend this book to everyone, but one must exercise patience. As mentioned, the book is THICC
The tale is enthralling and told masterfully! The settings, pace, emotions, and voices of the characters gave a level of depth unprecedented (as of now for me in relation to the other graphic novels I've read). The reader along with the son of the protagonist faces the struggle of finding humanity in "bad guys". The story stands as a testament of hope.
I recommend this book to everyone, but one must exercise patience. As mentioned, the book is THICC
leahtd's review against another edition
A unique tale of one man, his father and his father's writing and legacy. This story is the true story of a Chicago mobster who ended up blind and in prison with the Nathan Leopold, killer and Chicago legend.
I greatly enjoyed the way the story was told, the illustrations were used to really show both the son and his father along with the various literary references. Different links of the story were expertly woven between the words and the artwork. Now that I have learned of Matt Rizzo's story I can't imagine being introduced to it any other way. The artwork has extraordinary detail and was beautiful to look at.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book for an honest review.
I greatly enjoyed the way the story was told, the illustrations were used to really show both the son and his father along with the various literary references. Different links of the story were expertly woven between the words and the artwork. Now that I have learned of Matt Rizzo's story I can't imagine being introduced to it any other way. The artwork has extraordinary detail and was beautiful to look at.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book for an honest review.
bbpettry's review against another edition
5.0
A fellow bookseller handed me this book, we were lucky enough to be sent a copy. I wrote a recommendation for the store, but I just had too much else to say.
Matt Rizzo was a real person, born on the West Side of Chicago in 1913. Kicked from the house of his parents at 16, he was arrested at 18 for armed robbery with a group of young men who were connected to organized crime in the area. Matt was blinded by the shopkeeper's buckshot.
After refusing to turn on his accomplices, he was sent to Statesville in Joliet, IL - the same prison as Nathan Leopold, one half of "Thrill Killers" Leopold and Loeb, infamous for the Nietzsche-inspired cold blooded murder of a 14 year old boy and the trial that would become the spectacle of the decade. The pair spent most of their time behind bars teaching fellow inmates, as well as getting shaken down by them. Eventually, when the money stopped coming in, Loeb was stabbed to death in the shower. Leopold was moved into "the bug," so called because the area was surrounded by guards with the prisoner in the center being watched like a bug under a glass dome, too depressed to teach. But this story starts long after the "crime of the century," after Clarence Darrow's famous 12 hour speech on behalf of the young affluent murderers, after the infamous duo had done a decade in prison.
Matt arrived at Statesville having only been a blind man for a short time, the gigantic echo chamber of a building filled with danger and noise must have been immediately overwhelming and constantly terrifying. The prison had never housed a blind man, so they placed him in the bug next to their most infamous inmate. Leopold was intrigued and learned braille in order to teach this newly blind young man how to read without sight. Rizzo worked his way through Dante's Inferno, each night discussing it with Leopold - both men consumed with grief and using the words of Dante to process oppressive prison life and mutual tragedy.
The narrator of the story, however, isn't Matt but his son Charlie Rizzo, who after having lived most of his life with his mother in California returns to live with his father in Chicago upon her death. The title "The Hunting Accident" refers to what Charlie believes blinded his father - something he understands as fact until he runs into some trouble himself in his teens.
Possibly the most affecting part of this book is why it was written, how it came to be. Matt Rizzo died in 1992 wishing only for his work to be published - a request his son took to heart, and ten years later he got a small portion of his father's work and their story in the Chicago Tribune, for a father's day piece. The thought was nice, but the article didn't quite encompass the intricate web of events and personalities that made the lives of Charlie and Matt Rizzo so fascinating.
Along with David Carlson's sensitive and thought-provoking narrative, Blair's illustrations move fluidly between reality and daydream, often conveying not only movement and actions but visual representation of emotion. He communicates Matt's blindness (p.99), Charlie's anxiety (p. 85), and Leopold's grief (p.242), so powerfully. The Hunting Accident is a moving account of a strange life; one that hooks into the mind, pulling it forward into the unbelievable truth with a stimulating mix of fact, embellishment, poetry, and confession.
Leopold and Loeb:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb
The Chicago Tribune article from 2002:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-06-16/news/0206160175_1_braille-blind-chicago-apartment
Matt Rizzo was a real person, born on the West Side of Chicago in 1913. Kicked from the house of his parents at 16, he was arrested at 18 for armed robbery with a group of young men who were connected to organized crime in the area. Matt was blinded by the shopkeeper's buckshot.
After refusing to turn on his accomplices, he was sent to Statesville in Joliet, IL - the same prison as Nathan Leopold, one half of "Thrill Killers" Leopold and Loeb, infamous for the Nietzsche-inspired cold blooded murder of a 14 year old boy and the trial that would become the spectacle of the decade. The pair spent most of their time behind bars teaching fellow inmates, as well as getting shaken down by them. Eventually, when the money stopped coming in, Loeb was stabbed to death in the shower. Leopold was moved into "the bug," so called because the area was surrounded by guards with the prisoner in the center being watched like a bug under a glass dome, too depressed to teach. But this story starts long after the "crime of the century," after Clarence Darrow's famous 12 hour speech on behalf of the young affluent murderers, after the infamous duo had done a decade in prison.
Matt arrived at Statesville having only been a blind man for a short time, the gigantic echo chamber of a building filled with danger and noise must have been immediately overwhelming and constantly terrifying. The prison had never housed a blind man, so they placed him in the bug next to their most infamous inmate. Leopold was intrigued and learned braille in order to teach this newly blind young man how to read without sight. Rizzo worked his way through Dante's Inferno, each night discussing it with Leopold - both men consumed with grief and using the words of Dante to process oppressive prison life and mutual tragedy.
The narrator of the story, however, isn't Matt but his son Charlie Rizzo, who after having lived most of his life with his mother in California returns to live with his father in Chicago upon her death. The title "The Hunting Accident" refers to what Charlie believes blinded his father - something he understands as fact until he runs into some trouble himself in his teens.
Possibly the most affecting part of this book is why it was written, how it came to be. Matt Rizzo died in 1992 wishing only for his work to be published - a request his son took to heart, and ten years later he got a small portion of his father's work and their story in the Chicago Tribune, for a father's day piece. The thought was nice, but the article didn't quite encompass the intricate web of events and personalities that made the lives of Charlie and Matt Rizzo so fascinating.
Along with David Carlson's sensitive and thought-provoking narrative, Blair's illustrations move fluidly between reality and daydream, often conveying not only movement and actions but visual representation of emotion. He communicates Matt's blindness (p.99), Charlie's anxiety (p. 85), and Leopold's grief (p.242), so powerfully. The Hunting Accident is a moving account of a strange life; one that hooks into the mind, pulling it forward into the unbelievable truth with a stimulating mix of fact, embellishment, poetry, and confession.
Leopold and Loeb:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb
The Chicago Tribune article from 2002:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-06-16/news/0206160175_1_braille-blind-chicago-apartment
sjfurger's review against another edition
4.0
I saw this on my fellow librarian’s to-be-cataloged cart and was intrigued by the art style. When I realized the story took place where I live, (Chicagoland) work (Joliet Public library) and volunteer (Old Joliet Prison), I was even more intrigued. The story is fascinating and well told.