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labunnywtf's review against another edition
5.0
I requested this book from the library, sight unseen. I love tattoos, I love images and stories behind them. I was really excited.
Imagine my disappointment and annoyance when I discovered this wasn't pictures, but illustrations. Not what I signed up for. But I stuck with it, and was delighted.
By showing illustrations, you get the full effect of the tattoos. You're not distracted by body types, or imperfections. It's disconnected arms, backs, hips, legs, with beautiful and rather simple drawings on the skin. You get the impact of the story, without being distracted if the tattoo is less than your standards for good ink, and without thinking negatively about a person's looks.
A handful even made me cry. I actually took pictures of the two that meant the most to me, including the woman who got "My hero rescues animals" tattooed down her spine. My heart.
Beautiful book. I want to own it.
Imagine my disappointment and annoyance when I discovered this wasn't pictures, but illustrations. Not what I signed up for. But I stuck with it, and was delighted.
By showing illustrations, you get the full effect of the tattoos. You're not distracted by body types, or imperfections. It's disconnected arms, backs, hips, legs, with beautiful and rather simple drawings on the skin. You get the impact of the story, without being distracted if the tattoo is less than your standards for good ink, and without thinking negatively about a person's looks.
A handful even made me cry. I actually took pictures of the two that meant the most to me, including the woman who got "My hero rescues animals" tattooed down her spine. My heart.
Beautiful book. I want to own it.
bet78's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
5.0
I've always been fascinated by tattoos, and the reasons behind them. How do you decide what to permanently mark your body with? Why?
I loved this book for its honesty. There are stories of memoriam tattoos, stories of happy memories, stories of sad memories, funny stories and my favourite reason for a tattoo: because I f*cking love pizza 🤟🏼🤣
It's a very quick read, the pictures of the tattoos are rough, don't buy the book for tattoo inspiration. This is a book about people and why they made a choice they made.
I loved this book for its honesty. There are stories of memoriam tattoos, stories of happy memories, stories of sad memories, funny stories and my favourite reason for a tattoo: because I f*cking love pizza 🤟🏼🤣
It's a very quick read, the pictures of the tattoos are rough, don't buy the book for tattoo inspiration. This is a book about people and why they made a choice they made.
isabellamarg's review against another edition
4.0
This coffee table book had a cool concept with people explaining their tattoos accompanied by images of said tattoos. The illustrations of the tattoos were simple and highlighted the placement and design. I wish there was more written detail about the tattoos but I can understand they were going for simplicity over depth and quantity.
carolpk's review against another edition
4.0
The Hook - I don’t have any tattoos of my own but often wonder, “What were they thinking?” when I see them on others. I ask this question in the nicest sense, as I am certain many trips to the tattoo parlor have stories behind them. Pen & Ink Tattoos & The Stories Behind Them gives answers to some people’s motivation.
The Line – The one tattoo that spoke to me was Kriste York’s 40th Birthday Tattoo.
”I MARKED MY 40TH BIRTHDAY WITH THIS TATTOO, THUS BECOMING A HUMAN RV. “
If you've ever seen a map of places visited on an RV, you might get the picture.
Kriste concludes her essay explaining that the motto appearing on the banner above her tattoo is from her own state of Oregon:
SHE FLIES WITH HER OWN WINGS.”
Though I could post the image of Kriste’s tattoo, I’m hoping you’ll seek the book out and view it yourself.
The Sinker – The graphic format seems perfect for exploring the world of tattoos which are graphic in their own right. Not photos, but drawings in pen and ink make the tattoos somehow more personal. You could flip through this quickly or spend many hours exploring the details of the blend of image and words.
The Line – The one tattoo that spoke to me was Kriste York’s 40th Birthday Tattoo.
”I MARKED MY 40TH BIRTHDAY WITH THIS TATTOO, THUS BECOMING A HUMAN RV. “
If you've ever seen a map of places visited on an RV, you might get the picture.
Kriste concludes her essay explaining that the motto appearing on the banner above her tattoo is from her own state of Oregon:
SHE FLIES WITH HER OWN WINGS.”
Though I could post the image of Kriste’s tattoo, I’m hoping you’ll seek the book out and view it yourself.
The Sinker – The graphic format seems perfect for exploring the world of tattoos which are graphic in their own right. Not photos, but drawings in pen and ink make the tattoos somehow more personal. You could flip through this quickly or spend many hours exploring the details of the blend of image and words.
caitcoy's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a fun and sometimes heartbreaking exploration of people's decisions to get a tattoo. The illustrations are great, relatively simplistic with the only color being devoted to the depiction of the tattoo itself. Having the tattoos illustrated rather than just being photographs gives more of a feel of artwork, which is very fitting since I've always thought of tattoos as permanent art. Each tattoo has a short story behind why the person chose to get them and they verge from the silly "I just love pizza" to the heartbreaking "my dad fell into a coma and never woke up". If you like tattoos or are just curious about what makes people get them, I'd highly recommend it!
gimchi's review against another edition
4.0
at first irked at the lack of images, but then loved it because the stories and meaning (or lack thereof) stood out more.
emilybriano's review against another edition
4.0
Just what I'd been looking for...A collection of personal essays about tattoos. Fascinating and in some cases very moving.