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Loading... Blanketsby Craig Thompson
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  ThoughtsofJoyLibrary | Sep 7, 2009 |  I re-read this every so often because it is so beautiful and heartbreaking. (  ) MariaKhristina | Sep 1, 2009 | I liked the story and enjoyed the drawings, but I feel like the book was a little pointless. I like what I read, but it didn't seem to go anywhere and the main character was just as lost as when the book began. There was no closure. (  ) 4sarad | Aug 18, 2009 | Before reading it, the sheer volume of this graphic novel scared me a little. But once I got started, it was difficult to put down. I almost did not feel time pass by as I was reading it, it was that easy to get immersed into the story. The graphics were absolutely breathtaking, while the story was just as beautiful. There were moments in the book where the artist chose to give us just the images with no words, and that silence worked fantastically well. The simpleness of the story is what is most compelling about this piece of art, which fully deserves all the awards that it has gotten. ( ) mich_yms | Jul 25, 2009 | The praise that has been heaped on Craig Thompson's Blankets is well-deserved. At nearly 600-pages, it may seem that this will be a never-ending and self-indulgent tale, but it reads as if it were a fraction of those pages - and you are left wishing for more. A memoir of that beautiful and brutal time when you're on the verge of growing up, Blankets follows two of Thompson's most important blanket relationships; the one he shared with his youngest brother and the one made for him by his first foray into love. In between this, there are crisis of faith, family and friendship. There are commentaries on the nature of cruelty in the world - the cruelty inflicted by strangers, by peers, by those that should be kind, by friends and by family. There's the realization that the simple lessons of youth are no match for complex questions which most people are ill-equipped to answer. But, mostly, it's the lesson of the end of first love. And this is where Blankets is absolutely beautiful. Thompson manages to capture the nearly perfect arc of the teen relationship without trying to paint either himself or Reina with some false wisdom or insight to improve past versions of themselves. This is the true emotional impact of this story. ( ) stephmo | Jul 18, 2009 | 
 Blankets is an attempt to rejuvenate such well-trod themes as social isolation, religious guilt, and first love; the vitality of which has become too frequently obscured by countless hackneyed dramas and endless clichés. Toward the very end of this “illustrated novel,” Craig notes, while walking in snow, how “satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface.” In Blankets, Thompson does just this: through daring leaps of visual storytelling, he makes wonderfully fresh marks upon a surface long worn blank. In telling his story, which includes beautifully rendered memories of the small brutalities that parents inflict upon their children and siblings upon each other, Thompson describes the ecstasy and ache of obsession (with a lover, with God) and is unafraid to suggest the ways that obsession can consume itself and evaporate.  ...credit writer-artist Craig Thompson, 27, for infusing his bittersweet tale of childhood psyche bruising, junior Christian angst, and adolescent first love with a lyricism so engaging, the pages fly right by. I would be unlikely to share Blankets with someone who told me they wanted to understand comix. Instead, I would give it to anyone who told me they wanted to read a book that made them feel transcendent, sad, generous, hopeful — but above all, to truly feel something. Part teen romance novel, part coming-of-age novel, part faith-in-crisis novel and all comix, "Blankets" is a great American novel.
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0613925955, School & Library Binding)At 592 pages, Blankets may well be the single largest graphic novel ever published without being serialized first. Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers. A tale of security and discovery, of playfulness and tragedy, of a fall from grace and the origins of faith. A profound and utterly beautiful work from Craig Thompson. The New Printing corrects 3 small typos, widening the spine graphics, but otherwise is identical to the first printing.(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:11 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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Once I got over the shock that this book weighed a ton, I turned the first page and became wrapped up in the story. I soon forgot that it was almost 600 pages long! The emotions that Thompson was able to depict in his drawings were fabulous and even though they were caricatures, he made them come alive. This honest and deep coming-of-age memoir is powerful in its realism. Through the pictures and words, I felt as if I experienced Craig's life right alongside him. The final pages left me a little gloomy or empty, so I am tacking on the fact that he is, now, a successful graphic novelist and hopefully has found himself and happiness.
Oh yes, there are some pertinent graphic pictures that are meant for mature young adults. (4.25/5)
Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy (