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posies23's review against another edition
4.0
This graphic novel covers the life-cycle of a neighborhood. Eisner's art and words work together seamlessly to show vignettes about the changing people, ideas, and politics that shape the lives of the people in Dropsie Ave. Very thought-provoking, but Eisner makes the reader work to recognize recurring characters as they age and change. It's also highly symbolic at times. It's about as far from a "comic book" as you can get, but that's actually a compliment.
oldsouls_lovebooks's review against another edition
4.0
"...How do we get the city to develop it?"
"You don't! Whites are pulling out!!"
Or as John Oliver would put it, "funding tends to follow white people around the way white people follow the band Phish around." lol
I preferred this one to the other two in the trilogy, but all in all, it was a interesting story of a neighborhood in New York City and its change in development, population, and political climate throughout the decades by following the lives of various different tenants. The more graphic novels I read the more I become aware of my artistic preferences. It varies but just like with Asterios Polyp, I've come to love more simpler artwork that's also deals with little or no color. I loved the sepia tones with this trilogy. However, I also love graphic novels like Saga that are teeming with color. Anyway, it was a good read and the nostalgic ending of Dropsie Avenue really wrapped up nicely and gave true meaning to everything comes full circle and the fact that humans do a great job of spouting out sayings like: Those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it, but do a horrible job of actually heeding those words.
"You don't! Whites are pulling out!!"
Or as John Oliver would put it, "funding tends to follow white people around the way white people follow the band Phish around." lol
I preferred this one to the other two in the trilogy, but all in all, it was a interesting story of a neighborhood in New York City and its change in development, population, and political climate throughout the decades by following the lives of various different tenants. The more graphic novels I read the more I become aware of my artistic preferences. It varies but just like with Asterios Polyp, I've come to love more simpler artwork that's also deals with little or no color. I loved the sepia tones with this trilogy. However, I also love graphic novels like Saga that are teeming with color. Anyway, it was a good read and the nostalgic ending of Dropsie Avenue really wrapped up nicely and gave true meaning to everything comes full circle and the fact that humans do a great job of spouting out sayings like: Those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it, but do a horrible job of actually heeding those words.
libraryrobin's review against another edition
5.0
An epic story of generations living in a neighborhood, the slow changes and demise that lead to its end. A whole lot of "man's inhumanity towards man". Heartbreaking.
abistic's review against another edition
2.0
Nic specjalnego, doceniam kilka rzeczy w tym komiksie, ale to nie dla mnie.
lordenglishssbm's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
abroadwell's review against another edition
2.0
The art was terrific, but the storytelling quickly became repetitive. Okay, I get the idea — each group that lives in this part of the Bronx thinks that it is better than the newcomers and the neighborhood slowly gets worse and worse. But because we are going through decades, we don't have any characters to follow, and it quickly just becomes the same thing over and over again, with differently dressed ethnic types despising each other. Feh!
dajna's review against another edition
4.0
I haven't been in New York yet, but reading Will Eisner makes me feel like I lived there for some decades. People move, people change, but the neighbourhood stands still. Movies and books usually tell us the story of one or few persons, not the story of one or few buildings. I love this changing in the point of view.
I definetly wanna read more.
I definetly wanna read more.
kellylynnthomas's review
4.0
Dropsie Avenue is a made-up neighborhood, but it echoes many real neighborhoods and towns I've known. Many of the characters aren't likeable: they're racist and mean-spirited, but some of them are kind and loving. The book's true main character isn't any one of the people, although we do get to know some of them quite well. The true main character is Dropsie Avenue itself, in all its messy, gritty, dirty, glory. And even the racist, mean people love it and call it home. So you do feel something as the neighborhood grows and changes and ultimately dies and is reborn, the same way you might feel if a block of your own neighborhood were bulldozed for tenements or a playground or whatever. Not all real neighborhoods get a second chance the way this one does, but that's where the fiction of this story comes in, and without it, it would be a pretty depressing book. It's a good story. And it made me examine my own neighborhood a little more closely.
aborham's review against another edition
4.0
I really like how the narrative weaves social changes due to immigration with political and economic such as the rise of real estate business at the neoliberal turn to give an image of how neighborhoods live and die leaving its traces in the form of memories.