Stuff As Dreams Are Made On…

The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot
1995
136 pgs.
4.5/5

The Tale of One Bad Rat is a touching and painful story of a young girl named Helen who has been sexually abused by her father. After years of abuse, Helen has run away from home taking with her only her beloved Beatrix Potter books and her pet rat. The memories of the molestation continue to haunt her and deny her the willingness to become close to anyone else. She meets strangers throughout the way and while some are more welcoming than others, she has a hard time growing close to anyone anymore. Aside from her pet rat.

Bryan Talbot tackles this issue perfectly through the graphic novel format. Talbot has a real gift when it comes to telling unconventional tales in the format of the graphic novel. With Alice in Sunderland, he gave a history of Lewis Carroll and with this amazing, but shorter, graphic novel, he’s expertly tackled the subject of sexual abuse and it’s long term effects on children.

Helen shows all the signs of past abuse…she blames herself for what happened, diminishes herself as a person, cuts her hair off to make herself less attractive to men, and shies away from any form of love, even genuine love that has no alterior motives. This book is a gift to humanity. I think that it would be so well received in the hands of someone who’s lived through abuse of any kind. He tackles the issue in an honest way yet in a very approachable manner. Another one that I wish I didn’t have to give back to the library…

Other Views and Opinions:

Books of Mee
Things Mean A Lot
The Hidden Side of a Leaf

Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
2008
96 pgs.
3.75/5

As you know by now, if you read this blog, I’m a huge fan of Shaun Tan’s beautiful artwork and his fantastic storytelling. He returns with another fantastic book with Tales from Outer Suburbia. This is a quick little read, though it could certainly be enjoyed over many days. It’s a collection of (very) short stories that are well told through Tan’s creativity and fantastical art work.

All of the stories center around a theme of the suburbs. But each story tells it’s own little tale and has it’s own little message. Some are just fun reads, but others carry a deeper meaning to them. I’ve noticed in Tan’s work that he tackles the subject of immigration and being a stranger in a strange land quite frequently as seen in The Arrival. The same is true of this book. A 5 year old would love these stories, but so would their parents. Tan addresses the subject of immigration, war, peace, the environment, etc. in this short collection.

His artwork is nothing short of stunning as usual. There was one story in particular that literally took my breath away when I turned the page and saw this beautiful drawing that he produced. His art has a way of doing that. The Red Tree is another prime example of this. He conveys so much emotion through his art, draws the reader in whether words accompany his stories are not.

This is one that I wish I owned instead of having borrowed it from the library! It’s one that I certainly think would be well loved on any family’s shelf.

Other Views and Opinions:

Reading Rants!
Stainless Steel Droppings
Bending Bookshelf
She Reads Books
readerbuzz
Peeking Between The Pages
A Striped Armchair

Ok…so I figured I’d just review the 5 books that I read for the Read-a-Thon all together as mini reviews…it’s not like I’d remember details about all of them :p

1. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix - This book was AWESOME! I wish I would’ve gotten the whole series to read during the Read-a-Thon…I didn’t know how much I would enjoy it. The book is set in some alternative modern day earth…the time is never really mentioned. The government has put restrictions on how many children families can have, but Luke’s family has broken that rule. He is a third child. He lives his life in constant hiding as he has to be non-existent as far as the rest of the world goes. But one day, while hiding in the house, he notices that one of his new neighbors seems to have a third child as well. He risks it all by going to see for himself…and he meets Jen, also a third child. Jen has big plans for fighting for third childrens’ rights, but are they too big? This was a really engaging book and a short read as well! Just perfect for the read-a-thon. Great way to start things off.

2. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood - Another really good one. This was my first experience with Atwood and it certainly won’t be my last. Anyone who’s read The Odyssey knows who Penelope is. She is Odysseus’ wife, the ever patient wife who waits for her husband to come home. And her 12 maids have made legend as well. Well in this installment of the Canongate Myth Series, Atwood explores Penelope’s life in further death from her point of view and also shows us the 12 maids point of view. The story is told from the afterlife. This likely will not be in my favorite reads of the year, though it was really good and will have me reading more Atwood and more of the Myth series. Another great one for the read-a-thon.

3. Skim by Mariko Tamaki illustrated by Jillian Tamaki - So freaking good! This was the first graphic novel that I decided to read for the read-a-thon and boy am I glad that I read this one. First of all, I love that cover…isn’t it great? The illustrations inside are just as good. Skim is the story of a young girl that’s confused about life. She comes from a family where her mother is of Asian descent, her father white, and they are divorced. Her name is Kimberly and she’s Wiccan. Though she’s somewhat confused about what that means. She takes her religion seriously, though the others in her circle don’t seem to so much. And her best friend can be a little wrapped up in herself sometimes. Kim has also found that she has feelings for her female drama teacher and has a hard time figuring those feelings out. It’s obvious that Kim is confused. A suicide happens at the school which puts the whole school on suicide alert and people start worrying about her during a time that she doesn’t need the added stress. This was a really touching story and one that actually reminded me a LOT of my own adolescent years. Really loved this book and I’d recommend it to everyone!

4. Silk by Alessandro Baricco – I had mixed feelings about this one. I loved the style of the novel. It’s written in very short chapters, some of them only taking up 1/4 of the page. It’s the tale of a married silk worm importer who travels to Japan for his business. While there, his eyes connect with a young woman who’s very mysterious. And while they never speak a word to each other, the chemistry is there from the beginning. He goes back to Japan throughout the years desperate for more contact with her, but in doing so estranges his own wife who loves him so. The end of this book was awesome. It really gave me a good impression of the story overall. But there were times when my mind just strayed from the story and I couldn’t even remember what I read in the last 4 pages. Still a recommended read though!

5. Marcello in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork – I REALLY liked this story. I didn’t know how I would feel about it at the beginning. But I liked it. It’s the story of a young boy named Marcelo who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a disorder that’s found on the autism spectrum. He’s lived his life in a tree house that his father built for him and has attended a special school for people with disabilities. And he’s always been happy doing that. Over the summers, he works at a therapeutic horse camp for people with disabilities. But his father wants something different from him this summer. He wants him to go to school with “normal” kids in the fall and wants him to work at his law firm in the mail room. My fear with this book was that it was going to spread the message that in the end, Marcelo learned that he shouldn’t have Asperger’s, that there was something wrong with him and that he needed to be normal like everyone else. I would’ve been SO angry if the story was like that, because it was set up to where it could be at the beginning. But it wasn’t and I was SO thrilled. Marcelo was such a wonderful character. I really loved him. He reminded me of a kid I see at the hospital who has Asperger’s and he’s one of my favorites (shhh, we’re not supposed to have favorites). Some of Marcelo’s characteristics change throughout the novel, but he never loses who he is. He remains an individual. He just adapts some to his surroundings. In the end, he’s still Marcello and for that, I would recommend this one highly!

Phew!! Feels good to have those little reviews out of the way!