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mehsi's review
5.0
I received this graphic novel from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.
I just love Aimée de Jongh’s work, I have been a fan of her since Snippers. I have met her once at Animecon. So I was hyped about her newest work, Days of Sand. So a big thank you for Netgalley for putting it on your site so I could read it!
This book is wonderful. Gorgeously drawn and featuring a great character, a man (or is he more a boy given how inexperienced he is in many things) named John. He gets a shiny new job. Well, shiny. It sounds shiny. His first big job as photographer. He is going to be photographing the Dust Bowl so that the public will see what is going on. He is going to find out that dust and sand gets everywhere and that bringing a shovel is the one equipment he should have thrown into his car when he left.
I loved seeing the Dust Bowl, it is such a desolate place, sand and dust everywhere. But I was also horrified. Yes, it looked pretty. But the damage and hurt it did to people just countered all that beauty. We see how hard everyone is struggling. How houses are half eaten by the sand and dust. How land just has disappeared. How storms happen. Little kids with gasmasks and people without any fat on their bones. It was horrifying. I just wanted to step into the story and hand out food and water to these people and their families. I can imagine that people would flee. Would take their family, some meagre supplies and just go.
We see how John is faring in the midst of this. Trying to shoot his photographs. Figure out where to get food and how to get rid of the sand that gets everywhere. Finding out that standing in a big dust storm at night may not be the best idea. Trying to befriend people. Including a sweet little boy who is very happy with the cornbread that John has and is willing to help him out. I hope we see more of this little kid in the next book. And the same goes for Betty, a kick-ass woman.
I also love that the question arises, should you stage photography or should you keep it natural? He has a list to finish, and he is struggling with it. He wants to follow the list, but that means staging. It was an interesting question and I hope that we see more of it in the next volume of this series. I am curious what John will decide in the end. Will he throw away his script and just show the raw and unstaged reality of the Dust Bowl… or will he go for the list. I do hope that John decides to go for the first one.
Oh, and I just have to mention this as well, I loved the photographs that we got throughout the book. I would definitely like more of them!
The art was just amazing, I love how much Aimée has grown over the years. She always made beautiful things, but it keeps getting more beautiful each new project, and I love it!
I would highly recommend this gorgeous and at times heart-breaking book. I cannot wait for the next part of this series. I want it now!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I just love Aimée de Jongh’s work, I have been a fan of her since Snippers. I have met her once at Animecon. So I was hyped about her newest work, Days of Sand. So a big thank you for Netgalley for putting it on your site so I could read it!
This book is wonderful. Gorgeously drawn and featuring a great character, a man (or is he more a boy given how inexperienced he is in many things) named John. He gets a shiny new job. Well, shiny. It sounds shiny. His first big job as photographer. He is going to be photographing the Dust Bowl so that the public will see what is going on. He is going to find out that dust and sand gets everywhere and that bringing a shovel is the one equipment he should have thrown into his car when he left.
I loved seeing the Dust Bowl, it is such a desolate place, sand and dust everywhere. But I was also horrified. Yes, it looked pretty. But the damage and hurt it did to people just countered all that beauty. We see how hard everyone is struggling. How houses are half eaten by the sand and dust. How land just has disappeared. How storms happen. Little kids with gasmasks and people without any fat on their bones. It was horrifying. I just wanted to step into the story and hand out food and water to these people and their families. I can imagine that people would flee. Would take their family, some meagre supplies and just go.
We see how John is faring in the midst of this. Trying to shoot his photographs. Figure out where to get food and how to get rid of the sand that gets everywhere. Finding out that standing in a big dust storm at night may not be the best idea. Trying to befriend people. Including a sweet little boy who is very happy with the cornbread that John has and is willing to help him out. I hope we see more of this little kid in the next book. And the same goes for Betty, a kick-ass woman.
I also love that the question arises, should you stage photography or should you keep it natural? He has a list to finish, and he is struggling with it. He wants to follow the list, but that means staging. It was an interesting question and I hope that we see more of it in the next volume of this series. I am curious what John will decide in the end. Will he throw away his script and just show the raw and unstaged reality of the Dust Bowl… or will he go for the list. I do hope that John decides to go for the first one.
Oh, and I just have to mention this as well, I loved the photographs that we got throughout the book. I would definitely like more of them!
The art was just amazing, I love how much Aimée has grown over the years. She always made beautiful things, but it keeps getting more beautiful each new project, and I love it!
I would highly recommend this gorgeous and at times heart-breaking book. I cannot wait for the next part of this series. I want it now!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
dame_samara's review
5.0
The art in the book was gorgeous, but the story was awesome too. More then once I found myself with goosebumps.
As a child the Dust Bowl has been a point in time I had fixated on, but with time the sharp edges of reality had been softened with time and this book does a wonderful job capturing the heartbreak and desperation of the times.
As a child the Dust Bowl has been a point in time I had fixated on, but with time the sharp edges of reality had been softened with time and this book does a wonderful job capturing the heartbreak and desperation of the times.
coinchantal's review
5.0
Found this at a thriftstore. This book has brilliant illustrations and artwork next to a good historical story. I really enjoyed reading it.
thatsoneforthebooks's review
5.0
As a historian of the US West, this is the kind of graphic novel I LIVE for. Grounded in history, this fictional account tracks 22-year-old photographer John Clark taking photos for the Farm Security Administration of the Dust Bowl in the panhandle of Oklahoma. Clark struggles with instructions to arrange his photos prior to shooting to maximize the effect of poverty and the unfortunate circumstances of these landscapes and people. Clark is provided with a list of photos to take of things like "orphaned kids" or family moving from the area, and Clark works his way through the most effective way of doing this -- by building relationships with people first rather than coming in hot with a camera. There's lots of think about here as a historian, not only in the historical setting, but also in the methods of collecting stories and relating to people.
Overall, the illustrations are incredible and the book is peppered with photos from New Deal photographers. I can't wait for the next edition!
Thanks to Europe Comics and Netgalley for this eARC!
Overall, the illustrations are incredible and the book is peppered with photos from New Deal photographers. I can't wait for the next edition!
Thanks to Europe Comics and Netgalley for this eARC!
dlsmall's review
5.0
So in half one of two of this graphic novel, we meet an outsider to the 1937 Oklahoma Panhandle Dust Bowl, FSA photographer John Clark, fresh from NYC. As an Okie whose experiences of the subject include stories from my grandpa, a handful of books, and the Ken Burns documentary, I was very interested in how a Dutch graphic novelist would tackle my region’s history…and part one’s deepening surface (not even) understanding of the tragedy and the people by Clark is a perfect entry. He has spent this volume relentlessly checking off boxes on his photo script, and in the final section is starting to get it.
This is a beautiful piece of art…the way Aimee treats the people, but also the quality of the light and the color and the dust…and I look forward to consuming the conclusion just as relentlessly as Clark with his list.
This is a beautiful piece of art…the way Aimee treats the people, but also the quality of the light and the color and the dust…and I look forward to consuming the conclusion just as relentlessly as Clark with his list.
sandsing7's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
charliedezeeuw's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
a_pilgrim's review
5.0
A moving and poignant story, with brilliant illustrations and artwork!
The fact that this graphic novel has a mere 47 ratings is so surprising, when Aimée de Jongh`s Days of Sand should have been in the league of my other favourites, Daytripper and Essex County.
[© Aimée de Jongh.]
To start with the artwork just by itself is brilliant - the detailing of each frame, the character provided to the images of the people, animals, things and events - the reader just gets transported into the scene and clearly feels the situation and its associated circumstances, without the need of any words.
[© Aimée de Jongh.]
And then, the storyline - inspiring, moving and heart-touching - provides a clear picture of the lead character's aspirations and the vivid description of the times of the Great Depression, the difficult lives of the people, and the harsh climatic conditions in the Dust Bowl.
[John Clark, © Aimée de Jongh.]
Set in Oklahoma of 1937, this is the story of John Clark, an aspiring, passionate and talented photographer.
[The Dust Bowl, © Aimée de Jongh.]
[The economic crisis, © Aimée de Jongh.]
In the middle of an economic crisis when unemployment numbers are on the rise, John gets a job in a Washington based photo agency that is run by the government. His first assignment is to get photographs of farmers and their living conditions. John is sent to Oklahoma, into the oval-shaped region called the Dust Bowl. The agency gives John a shooting script to follow - ‘a list of possible subjects to cover’. Thus, starts the journey of John Clark - the nights of dust... and days of sand…
”I didn`t pass another car for hours. Nobody came here. And I knew why.
Death had come to this place.”
[© Aimée de Jongh.]
[© Aimée de Jongh.]
Even though set during the Great Depression and in the Dust Bowl, and seem like all about dust and sand, this story is so much more than the obvious. The character of John Clark so well depicts the transition and ‘compromise’ from being a passionate photographer to a photojournalist - one of the items in the list is to take photographs of orphaned children and in order to complete this item, John ends up asking a mother to leave her baby and step aside so that he can take the photograph of ‘an orphaned child’.
Overall, this is a spectacular and authentic graphic novel!
Now, looking forward to reading the second part, hopefully soon.
The fact that this graphic novel has a mere 47 ratings is so surprising, when Aimée de Jongh`s Days of Sand should have been in the league of my other favourites, Daytripper and Essex County.
[© Aimée de Jongh.]
To start with the artwork just by itself is brilliant - the detailing of each frame, the character provided to the images of the people, animals, things and events - the reader just gets transported into the scene and clearly feels the situation and its associated circumstances, without the need of any words.
[© Aimée de Jongh.]
And then, the storyline - inspiring, moving and heart-touching - provides a clear picture of the lead character's aspirations and the vivid description of the times of the Great Depression, the difficult lives of the people, and the harsh climatic conditions in the Dust Bowl.
[John Clark, © Aimée de Jongh.]
Set in Oklahoma of 1937, this is the story of John Clark, an aspiring, passionate and talented photographer.
[The Dust Bowl, © Aimée de Jongh.]
[The economic crisis, © Aimée de Jongh.]
In the middle of an economic crisis when unemployment numbers are on the rise, John gets a job in a Washington based photo agency that is run by the government. His first assignment is to get photographs of farmers and their living conditions. John is sent to Oklahoma, into the oval-shaped region called the Dust Bowl. The agency gives John a shooting script to follow - ‘a list of possible subjects to cover’. Thus, starts the journey of John Clark - the nights of dust... and days of sand…
”I didn`t pass another car for hours. Nobody came here. And I knew why.
Death had come to this place.”
[© Aimée de Jongh.]
[© Aimée de Jongh.]
Even though set during the Great Depression and in the Dust Bowl, and seem like all about dust and sand, this story is so much more than the obvious. The character of John Clark so well depicts the transition and ‘compromise’ from being a passionate photographer to a photojournalist - one of the items in the list is to take photographs of orphaned children and in order to complete this item, John ends up asking a mother to leave her baby and step aside so that he can take the photograph of ‘an orphaned child’.
Overall, this is a spectacular and authentic graphic novel!
Now, looking forward to reading the second part, hopefully soon.
elvang's review
5.0
Powerful retelling of the dustbowl years in Oklahoma. I don't read many graphic novels and need to change that. The art work is gorgeous, the truth of that time as heartbreaking as ever.