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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “An unnamed immigrant (a young man with a wife and daughter) leaves his own land, which is stalked by a specter, to try his luck in the new world. After a long ocean voyage, he finds himself in an unfamiliar city, filled with wonderous shapes, strange foods and small, furry aliens that befriend...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“a wordless wonder!!!”
storier wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A wordless graphic novel that seems to tell the story of an immigrant arriving on Ellis Island, except that this new country is like no place we've ever seen before. Giant crockery dominates the landscape, trollies fly, and people keep strange animal hybrids for pets. And yet the people in this alien landscape are familiar. The Arrival is warm and human in the same way that impressed me so much with The Graveyard Book. To use too many words to describe it would disturb its Zen-like quality; instead, go see it for yourself.”
Margaret Taylor wrote this review 12 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No1 of 1 members found this review helpful“An unnamed immigrant (a young man with a wife and daughter) leaves his own land, which is stalked by a specter, to try his luck in the new world. After a long ocean voyage, he finds himself in an unfamiliar city, filled with wonderous shapes, strange foods and small, furry aliens that befriend everyone. Eventually, he acquires his own companion, who becomes his intermediary. Through his attempts to find a home, work and new friends, the young man keeps his heart focused on his family, eventually reuniting with them and sharing his strange new world with his wife and daughter.
Susan H wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This beautifully illustrated, black-and-white graphic novel is completely wordless, but provides enough information through the drawings to be informative but not definitive. We know there was something scary in the old world, which drove many people the main character meets into the new one. We also get to experience the loneliness and despair that many immigrants face: all the food is strange, he can’t find a job, he can’t read in the new language, people who later turn out to be kind seem initially menacing. Unlike many graphic novels, this would hold up well to multiple viewings. The drawings are so intricate and elaborate that it would take several passes to absorb them all. It would even lend itself to discussion: what do you think this drawing means? Do you interpret this scene the same way I do? What is the illustrator telling us about the immigrant experience? This would be great for non-native English speakers! Don’t confuse the wordless nature of The Arrival with picture books. The drawings and elusive questions posed by the author make it a book for adults as well as children. I would say grades 3 and up – although there’s nothing objectionable about it; it’s just remarkably sophisticated.
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“Wow!”
Tammy wrote this review Wednesday, November 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“So unique, so mesmerizing. The Arrival by Shaun Tan takes us on a wordless journey of an immigrant. At first, I didn't understand the landscape, animals, or machinery in this new land, and then as I began to battle through it, truly I did understand what it might feel like to be a stranger in a strange land. Helping one another, foreign or not, is what makes a strange land become home...and in turn, those who were helped becomes those who help.
Jackie W wrote this review Friday, November 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
A thought-provoking, grandly illustrated graphic novel for all ages.”
“The Arrival is an inventive experience in Graphic Novel literature. I find myself looking at it over and over. Knowing that it identifies the experiences of immigrants and that my own father immigrated from Scottland makes it that much more powerful for me. My father came over from "the old country" in the early 1920's. He was 13 years old and the younges of 13 children. He and his mother came, leaving other siblings behind and joining several already here. He described the Ellis Island experience many times, much like the puzzlement in the book.
Ann wrote this review Thursday, November 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Knowing how they must view pets, jobs, unfamiliar territory through the pictures in this book is captivating. In many respects there are more questions than answers and sometimes the pictures seem to be disjointed, unrelated. I would benefit from a full explanation from the author, yet on the other hand it will be interesting to see how students will relate to the drawings and what they will pull from it.
A confusing part to me is where the main character has met a nice man and his son, and all of a sudden the man he just met appears to relive a scary memory himself. The magical whimsical drawings paint an unusual picture of what one could experience in a new land.
Terrific book, mainly for the older children of course because of the graphic depictions of death...
On another sad note, my father had a small suitcase he saved from his travel to the US back then. After he died and we'd had it awhile, it was all falling apart, so I threw it away. Makes me very sad I did that. Seeing these pictures reminded me.
5Q
5P”
“Amazing illustrations. We just got this book at the HS for a classroom set. Immediately it made me think of the Incredible Invention of Hugo Cabret.”
Diane wrote this review Thursday, November 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“To say 'I've read it' is a bit of a moot point: There is no text, it's a story told solely in illustrations, some of the most amazing I've ever seen in a picture book. I won't ruin the story, but it features several things that interest me greatly, such as interesting surreal scenery and imaginative cityscapes.”
Nathan S wrote this review Tuesday, October 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A graphic novel about an immigrant and his adventures in coming to a new land.”
Pam W wrote this review Thursday, October 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book is sheer brilliance. A wordless picture book, which has changed me in the reading of it. There were parts of it where I could feel, smell, touch and hear what the pictures were saying. I loved it - beautifully powerful.”
Kate M wrote this review Friday, October 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
