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A review by saidtheraina
When David Lost His Voice by Judith Vanistendael
2.0
Bits and pieces of a family's story when one of the members is diagnosed with a deadly illness. Partners, former partners, children, and grandchildren of the person are all affected.
Vanistendael uses a variety of page layouts, a slightly messy drawing style, and a nice fullcolor aesthetic to tell parts of each of these stories. She also integrates visual metaphor into the piece.
I see why people like this, but, personally, I didn't connect, and I found the snippety way of storytelling more confusing than anything. I missed having some kind of explicit narrative arc, and I'm REALLY glad Vanistendael included a family tree in the introductory pages, because otherwise I would have been really confused - the former partner, adult daughter, and current partner of the title character all look fairly similar. The lack of linear storytelling may be a cultural aesthetic thing, though I have definitely connected with work from a variety of European countries in the past. The book is impressive, but not something that grabbed me.
It's also inevitably sad, which wasn't exactly what I needed this month.
Vanistendael uses a variety of page layouts, a slightly messy drawing style, and a nice fullcolor aesthetic to tell parts of each of these stories. She also integrates visual metaphor into the piece.
I see why people like this, but, personally, I didn't connect, and I found the snippety way of storytelling more confusing than anything. I missed having some kind of explicit narrative arc, and I'm REALLY glad Vanistendael included a family tree in the introductory pages, because otherwise I would have been really confused - the former partner, adult daughter, and current partner of the title character all look fairly similar. The lack of linear storytelling may be a cultural aesthetic thing, though I have definitely connected with work from a variety of European countries in the past. The book is impressive, but not something that grabbed me.
It's also inevitably sad, which wasn't exactly what I needed this month.