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chelseamartinez's review
4.0
A man shadows a professional clown for a day for his art and then keeps the costume to stalk his mom.--- that's a really bad description, it's really a great short story about returning to your hometown and about stealing from people who care about you.
jkw7072's review
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
mgreco5's review
5.0
Smart and literary...I have to say that I dig the route comics are going. They're not just for fun (though they are certainly that); they also make readers think about the abstract, the political, the world around them. This comic balances the absurd and reality very well. It also is deeply steeped on Spanish roots, which, as a Latina, I really appreciated.
kojo0o's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
andrealianne's review
this was....weird, I guess. a short and rambling sort of story. I appreciated the concept and the art but jeez, the way the main character referred to the women in the story was Not Good.
combo448's review
3.0
Beautiful graphics, decent story. I was expecting something different...something more clown-centric. A man living in Lima, Peru comes to terms with his father's death and dishonest life.
lauren_endnotes's review
4.0
A father with a secret family. A forgiving and loving mother. A chance to hide in plain sight and research clowns. All under the grey skies in Lima, Peru.
Alarcon's City of Clowns previously published as a short story and later adapted for this graphic novel with a friend and illustator, Sheila Alvarado. It's a melancholy story: musings and memories of childhood, a man stricken by grief after the death of his father - who had another family on the side. All of this comes to light while Oscar's newspaper asks him to write a piece on the street performer clowns that are working political protests in the plaza.
Oscar decides to join the clowns for a day, riding city buses, performing in silly clothes, shoes, and makeup, and marveling when people he knows do not recognize him in this attire. He finds some freedom in this, even going to the neighborhood of his father's other family and seeing his half brothers, finally seeing his mother, the only one who does recognize him in his costume.
The story flows in and out of present - intertwining stories of youth and memories of his father. This switch between times may have been more confusing in written word, but it flows well in graphic form.
It's a thoughtful book with beautiful art. I hope to see more work by both Alarcon and Alvarado.
Alarcon's City of Clowns previously published as a short story and later adapted for this graphic novel with a friend and illustator, Sheila Alvarado. It's a melancholy story: musings and memories of childhood, a man stricken by grief after the death of his father - who had another family on the side. All of this comes to light while Oscar's newspaper asks him to write a piece on the street performer clowns that are working political protests in the plaza.
Oscar decides to join the clowns for a day, riding city buses, performing in silly clothes, shoes, and makeup, and marveling when people he knows do not recognize him in this attire. He finds some freedom in this, even going to the neighborhood of his father's other family and seeing his half brothers, finally seeing his mother, the only one who does recognize him in his costume.
The story flows in and out of present - intertwining stories of youth and memories of his father. This switch between times may have been more confusing in written word, but it flows well in graphic form.
It's a thoughtful book with beautiful art. I hope to see more work by both Alarcon and Alvarado.
schwarzer_elch's review against another edition
3.0
Un joven periodista pierde a su padre, quien llevaba una doble vida, mientras prepara un reportaje sobre los payasos de la ciudad… Interesante premisa, pero ¿qué más? Me quedé con la sensación de que la historia no me llevaba a ningún lado. Sí rescato, y mucho, el trabajo gráfico de la ilustradora Sheila Alvarado. Ella crea un mundo visual bastante atractivo (como la escena de los payasos en la carpa circo) y lúgubre (todas las viñetas en las que aparecen los edificios del Centro Histórico de Lima). El libro está disponible en la Biblioteca Pública Digital de la BNP, por si quieren revisarlo (vale la pena por los diseños).
lellowlel's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0