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erinray82's review against another edition
4.0
The depth of a novel, the eloquence of a poem, the sheer simplicity of a children's novel. Beautiful pictures, lovely in their abstractness... rather Picasso-esque. Many would argue that nothing happens beyond the incremental ways in which people are driven to change. No solid ending, but I didn't need one. Yes, a children's book... for a adults. A lesson learned the hard way. Ends with a taste of mortality and a cigarette.
jrug's review against another edition
5.0
I'm not sure what to make of this, but it's a stunning piece of art. Mattotti's visuals are especially lovely - whether surreal or straightforward, the paintings seem as much individual artworks as pages of a graphic novel. The plot is...oblique, in places, but that's only served to keep it stuck in my head, and the emotional weight of the book wasn't lessened by the fact that I struggled in a few places to figure out what the hell was happening.
jeffhall's review against another edition
4.0
Lorenzo Mattotti is one heck of a graphic artist, and his stunningly beautiful panels animate The Crackle of the Frost without ever bowing to conventions of comics illustration. Jorge Zentner's story is interesting enough, but somewhat straightforward as a journey of personal crisis and eventual catharsis. What brings the tale alive is the lush color renderings from Mattotti, each of which transforms one of the protagonist's small insights into an epiphany fueled by dreams and mythology. This is the sort of graphic novel that can only emerge from the mature European world of bandes dessinées, and it's a treat to have such great work translated into English and made available to a North American audience.
line_so_fine's review against another edition
2.0
The illustrations are great- bold, spooky, surreal. The overarching story was not for me- it's about an overly navel-gazey dude trying to unearth his fears about becoming a father. Let's just put it this way: if the following sentence gives you a bit of a rash, then you should probably just skip the text and look at the illustrations: "How was I supposed to orient myself during my trip toward the frontiers of fear? The only compass I had on me was Alice's letter, with all of its silences." You get what I'm saying? I think you do.
esquetee's review against another edition
3.0
A strange little book about a man reading a book as he travels to have one more conversation with his ex-girlfriend. The images are more like individual oil paintings than the usual graphic novel inked style. Very short and, unfortunately, rather forgettable.
vulveeta's review against another edition
4.0
four stars mostly for mattotti's gorgeous artwork. zentner's story is a little less gorgeous. i am not here for repetitive manpain, never ever ever.
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