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A review by bluepigeon
One Dirty Tree by Noah Van Sciver
4.0
One Dirty Tree by Noah Van Sciver is an autobiography that focuses on three distinct times in the artist's life: his childhood in the 90s in NJ in a large, poor Mormon family, his relationship at around his 30th birthday, and 2017 when he's framing the telling of the story of his childhood and relationship.
Contrary to other reviewers, I thought the stories worked well together; however, I think they would have worked much better if the artist went deeper into each time period and told a fuller story. At times, there are many panels, sometimes a whole page dedicated to one moment, while the significance of the moment is not clear. For example, a whole page is dedicated to a strange dad-daughter conversation about Mariah Carey (who's singing on TV). This and many other "memories" must be significant since the artist includes them in the narrative, yet their significance or meaning for the artist is not clear. Often it feels like the artist is just scratching the surface, and like a troubled client who is trying to talk to their therapist, but failing, he needs to work at it more, dig deeper, bring out the whys and hows.
Recommended for those who like old houses, bathtubs, and cookies for breakfast.
Contrary to other reviewers, I thought the stories worked well together; however, I think they would have worked much better if the artist went deeper into each time period and told a fuller story. At times, there are many panels, sometimes a whole page dedicated to one moment, while the significance of the moment is not clear. For example, a whole page is dedicated to a strange dad-daughter conversation about Mariah Carey (who's singing on TV). This and many other "memories" must be significant since the artist includes them in the narrative, yet their significance or meaning for the artist is not clear. Often it feels like the artist is just scratching the surface, and like a troubled client who is trying to talk to their therapist, but failing, he needs to work at it more, dig deeper, bring out the whys and hows.
Recommended for those who like old houses, bathtubs, and cookies for breakfast.