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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Il va sans dire que l'ouvrage est impressionnant et magistral sur le plan du volume, du travail investi et de la qualité des illustrations. Par contre, je me suis beaucoup perdue dans les nombreuses métaphores et paraboles et j'avais un certain malaise avec la trame pour toutes sortes de raisons que je n'ai pas particulièrement envie de développer aujourd'hui. :/ ha ha ha
A spectacular example of everything a graphic novel should be: exquisite art that one cannot laud enough with well-illustrated characters and mind blowing calligraphy and styling that I've never seen the likes of before. And if that wasn't enough (and it would be!), the story itself gives life to these characters, events and places in a satisfying and gripping manner that makes you grab this enormous book and decide to not put it down until you've read it in its entirety.
Now, clear up your schedule and give this bad boy a well-deserved whirl.
Now, clear up your schedule and give this bad boy a well-deserved whirl.
A truly well-told tale of a young woman's attempt to find her own worth in a world driven by sexual desire and the need to consume the physical. Although after reading Blankets, I already had high expectations, Habibi surprised me with its depth and beauty. The graphic novel explores the themes of parenthood, sacrifice, shame, and true beauty, all underscored by the mesmerizing religious tales Dodola shares along with her own story. I would recommend this book to those looking for a dark but hopeful narrative expressed in Craig Thompson's typical gorgeous illustrations.
The art work is really beautiful.
Some parts of the story were very interesting to me and sometimes my mind wandered.
Some parts of the story were very interesting to me and sometimes my mind wandered.
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
While the artwork is absolutely stunning, even more so than Blankets, the majority of the reading experience for me was full of an uncomfortable intensity that kept me from enjoying the book as much as I hoped I would. It's ambitious- you can certainly tell that- but to me, it didn't capture my heart like Blankets, and oftentimes just confused me.
I had high hopes for this graphic novel which was highly touted but turns out to be somewhat of a mess. Ostensibly, this is the story of Dodola, a young woman in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, sold into marriage at the age of nine, then again into slavery, who meets a young African boy and adopts him as her son. It starts out as a linear narrative telling their story, but it is also: a comparison of the Bible and Koran, an explication of slavery, racism, and sexism, a history lesson about the mores of harem life, an explanation (but not a good one) of certain Arabic letters, a discussion of magic squares, an ecological parable, and! 400 pages or so in! starts to jump around in time so we see the whole thing is a big mess of a parable that doesn't make a lot of sense.
I have a problem with a book that is supposed to be about sexism that spends SO much time lingering over the naked body of the female protagonist and various sex acts she is involved in, whether she wants to be or not. I think it's disingenuous for the writer to pretend he feels for the main character having to sell her body when he is exploiting her himself. There really is no need to linger on these passages and repeat them as much as he does.
My biggest frustration with the book is what he does not linger on or explain properly: the letters of the Arabic language or the "magic squares." Each chapter of the book is designated by one of the letters of the square, but after 600 pages I still do not know the name of each letter nor what each is supposed to designate as the "theme" of the chapter. That I would have liked to have known.
The illustrations are terrific and I think there was a lot in this novel that could have been enjoyable that was ruined by the novelist ambition. There is simply TOO much in this book....try out some of the messages and make a more cohesive streamlined narrative. As the trash that clutters the river of the village, this book is too muddied to make much sense...
I have a problem with a book that is supposed to be about sexism that spends SO much time lingering over the naked body of the female protagonist and various sex acts she is involved in, whether she wants to be or not. I think it's disingenuous for the writer to pretend he feels for the main character having to sell her body when he is exploiting her himself. There really is no need to linger on these passages and repeat them as much as he does.
My biggest frustration with the book is what he does not linger on or explain properly: the letters of the Arabic language or the "magic squares." Each chapter of the book is designated by one of the letters of the square, but after 600 pages I still do not know the name of each letter nor what each is supposed to designate as the "theme" of the chapter. That I would have liked to have known.
The illustrations are terrific and I think there was a lot in this novel that could have been enjoyable that was ruined by the novelist ambition. There is simply TOO much in this book....try out some of the messages and make a more cohesive streamlined narrative. As the trash that clutters the river of the village, this book is too muddied to make much sense...
I know it's unfair, but I think I read graphic novels expecting less than I do from traditional novels. Habibi has gone a long way to to make me start thinking differently. Essentially, it is the story of the lives of a young girl and an orphan boy, but nothing is that simple. The story and the artwork were equally beautiful and it caused me to do something I very rarely do when I read: slow down and pay attention to all the details I could find. I don't think I even breathed when I read the chapter "Orphan's Prayer". I did think that the lack of a definitive time period threw me off a little. I would assume that it was taking place at a certain point in time and was always a little jarred when a drawing would prove my assumption wrong. Not that that was the most jarring thing in the book, of course... But it still annoyed me. Overall, a very good read.
5/5 for the art, for sure. I read Thompson's travelogue "Carnet de Voyage," which took place while he was writing and researching "Habibi" earlier this year. I now fully understand why he spent a large portion of the book talking about his had being sore. Each page of "Habibi" is intricately detailed. The artwork is beautiful.
The story, on the other hand... I really appreciate Thompson's exploration of how both people and the natural world are commodified and used. His parallels really worked, and I appreciated the graphic novel's vague historical and geographic placement. The story felt timeless. It was ambitious, but it ultimately fell short.
My primary problem was with his portrayal of women. The difference in how Thompson depicted nude women and nude men seemed to perpetuate the very objectification he demonizes in this work. All of the men are drawn as grotesque--fat, hairy, graceless, carnal-- whereas the women are shown gratuitously. Similarly, while Dodola's inner life was developed enough, Thompson wasted no opportunity to show her clothes-less. She was also given little to no agency in the story; despite her "pluck," passed around at the whims of men in power, forced to rely on men's desires to meet her basic needs. The sheer amount of violence inflicted on this character made it difficult to read.
I also had mixed feelings about Thompson's use of religious metaphor. I appreciated his exploration of Christianity and Islam's shared history, but some of the metaphors were over-the-top literal: a man named Noah who fishes, a child named "Cham" after Ishmael discovering water in the desert. Most problematic was his exploration of eunuchs, or a third sex, and tying this in with sexual shame. I feel that Thompson did a disservice to the concept, particularly how it is viewed by Muslims (based on my limited understanding).
Thompson's previous work, "Blankets," is my favorite graphic novel, and I was very disappointed by the narrative this time around. It seems that Thompson does better exploring his own feelings and drawing what he knows than taking on stories with such complex scopes and particularly problematic themes.
The story, on the other hand... I really appreciate Thompson's exploration of how both people and the natural world are commodified and used. His parallels really worked, and I appreciated the graphic novel's vague historical and geographic placement. The story felt timeless. It was ambitious, but it ultimately fell short.
My primary problem was with his portrayal of women. The difference in how Thompson depicted nude women and nude men seemed to perpetuate the very objectification he demonizes in this work. All of the men are drawn as grotesque--fat, hairy, graceless, carnal-- whereas the women are shown gratuitously. Similarly, while Dodola's inner life was developed enough, Thompson wasted no opportunity to show her clothes-less. She was also given little to no agency in the story; despite her "pluck," passed around at the whims of men in power, forced to rely on men's desires to meet her basic needs. The sheer amount of violence inflicted on this character made it difficult to read.
I also had mixed feelings about Thompson's use of religious metaphor. I appreciated his exploration of Christianity and Islam's shared history, but some of the metaphors were over-the-top literal: a man named Noah who fishes, a child named "Cham" after Ishmael discovering water in the desert. Most problematic was his exploration of eunuchs, or a third sex, and tying this in with sexual shame. I feel that Thompson did a disservice to the concept, particularly how it is viewed by Muslims (based on my limited understanding).
Thompson's previous work, "Blankets," is my favorite graphic novel, and I was very disappointed by the narrative this time around. It seems that Thompson does better exploring his own feelings and drawing what he knows than taking on stories with such complex scopes and particularly problematic themes.