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A review by saidtheraina
Diario de Oaxaca: A Sketchbook Journal of Two Years in Mexico by Peter Kuper
4.0
Don't be freaked out, english-only-speakers, if your library shelves this book in the spanish section. My library does, and I was a bit worried when I opened it to see entire pages full of spanish text.
This book is entirely bilingual. Virtually every caption, and all the bodytext is in both spanish and english.
Something about Peter Kuper's art speaks to me. I don't always enjoy his aesthetic (maybe because he works in almost every style and medium on the books - all on one page!), but every once in a while his imagery just stop me in my tracks. I have one of his strips on my locker at work (see my review of [b:Axe Cop|8911496|Axe Cop, Vol. 1|Malachai Nicolle|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403203487s/8911496.jpg|13787873] for a poor quality shot of part of it). I felt the need to take a picture of one of the illustrations here (an awesome image of a man cowering in a corner armed only with a spoon, surrounded by an army of bugs - I'll try to remember to upload it when I can).
I really enjoyed the narrative here too. Kuper writes candidly about his struggles, tourism, experiences witnessing the protests while he was there (which doesn't dominate quite as much as you will expect). I was particularly touched by the discussion of the choice to take his daughter to a country other than amerika for a few years, and the picture of her holding the turtles is out of control.
It's a really good travel memoir. Mostly told through captioned full color collage, blocks of typewritten text, and a couple of sequential shorts. Made me want to journey to the place the monarch butterflies go, the giant tree, and maybe an ancient pyramid or two.
This book is entirely bilingual. Virtually every caption, and all the bodytext is in both spanish and english.
Something about Peter Kuper's art speaks to me. I don't always enjoy his aesthetic (maybe because he works in almost every style and medium on the books - all on one page!), but every once in a while his imagery just stop me in my tracks. I have one of his strips on my locker at work (see my review of [b:Axe Cop|8911496|Axe Cop, Vol. 1|Malachai Nicolle|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403203487s/8911496.jpg|13787873] for a poor quality shot of part of it). I felt the need to take a picture of one of the illustrations here (an awesome image of a man cowering in a corner armed only with a spoon, surrounded by an army of bugs - I'll try to remember to upload it when I can).
I really enjoyed the narrative here too. Kuper writes candidly about his struggles, tourism, experiences witnessing the protests while he was there (which doesn't dominate quite as much as you will expect). I was particularly touched by the discussion of the choice to take his daughter to a country other than amerika for a few years, and the picture of her holding the turtles is out of control.
It's a really good travel memoir. Mostly told through captioned full color collage, blocks of typewritten text, and a couple of sequential shorts. Made me want to journey to the place the monarch butterflies go, the giant tree, and maybe an ancient pyramid or two.