Another fantastic graphic novel memoir. The drawings are fantastic and so is the story. Many themes are encountered in the book and the honesty with which they are rendered is astounding. I can't wait to read more from this author/illustrator. ( )

I first read this in the winter of my senior year of high school, while going through a very difficult period of time. Heartbreaking and honest, its chronicle of the development and loss of a first love holds up its beauty and still evokes a deep feeling of the loneliness of existence after many re-readings. An excellent graphic novel. ( )

Blankets by Craig Thompson chronicles Thompson's coming of age through beautiful images and words. Thompson writes about discovering his faith, falling in love, and distinguishing between the two. The story includes anecdotes from his childhood that tie into what he becomes as an adult. His poetic words combined with emotional images make this book real. Readers will become involved in Thompson's life and tribulations, and may shed a tear or two. A true, real, heartbreaking story.

Craig Thompson shares the natural progression of his childhood through the combination of pictures and words. The memories of living in his parents' home with his brother, going to school and church, and seeking the desires of his heart are the focus.

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 ( )

I re-read this every so often because it is so beautiful and heartbreaking. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

The rating could be a bit high - I'm fresh from reading it straight through in a night and a morning - but it's given because of the exhilarating feel I got while reading it. 'THIS is what I've been talking about: a comic which marries words and images and thus transcends a story with illustrations or a comic with a voiceover.'

It's not merely the fact that Thompson did art and words, though that goes some way towards explaining the harmony between the two. It's the soul, the honesty, and the portrait of growing up in a world that estranges you and feels strange. Part of the latter resonated with me, though I never had it as hard as Thompson, but it was his falling in love with Reina which really got me. There is a strain of unrestrained romanticism in me that wishes to see itself reflected elsewhere. The joy, the love and the beauty of the telling meant that I found it here.

Blankets isn't without flaws, but as when the girl of Craig's adulation finds a spot, the imperfection adds to the humanity for me. This is a graphic novel about feelings and how the world seems to one person growing up, not about the realities of the world itself, though there are doses of that too. The jocks are scumbags to a man, but all of that sets the background to the two-person world which Craig and Reina briefly create and inhabit. Like life, pure happiness can't last here - I hope that won't be true of my reaction to Blankets. ( )

The protagonist (and author) Craig shares his intimately what it was like growing up and falling in love for the first time. Initially, I found the novel to be a bit dull. Had it not been a quick read in the beginning I could easily had set it aside. But because I could just breeze through the pages, I maintained, and damn if I'm not thrilled that I did. Blankets is eerily one of those novels that transports you back into your own history. It doesn't matter that your first love story might have begun differently, the innocence, the desperation, the belief and desire of something lasting forever is all there. Then, as childlike fantasies come roaring back, the doubt and immediate pressure of such overwhelming emotions settles in. I could understand from both Craig's point of view and Raina's. Oh and while all of that breathless love is going on, Thompson throws in a blanket of defining spirituality, losing faith, divorce, alienation, peer pressure, and everything else that makes a superb coming of age story. Blankets is definitely one of my favorite reads this year. I'm disappointed that I have to return it to the library soon. It makes me feel connected and reminiscent to my past just seeing it on the bookshelf.

http://annotatedreading.blogspot.com/... ( )

I must admit that Thompson's obsession with religious texts and sin is quite alien to me - the extent of my family's moral teachings were something along the lines of "think before you do" so Thompson's guilt-trips didn't have much to offer me personally. That said, I did come away with quite a marvelous picture of first love - a flashback to the time when love would take over your entire being and permeate every single thought and emotion in your body. Not that I miss that kind of (slightly insane) devotion, but us was nice to visit Craig and Raina and take part in their magical moments.

Blankets is a memoir, but it reads like a confessional, if not indeed an exorcism - Thompson's apologies for the times in his life when he was not enough to protect his loved ones: his brother, Raina, or himself. Because the narrative is so truthful, the ending is not a shimmering paradise (which would make for a trite story), but it does give room for optimism and hope for the future.

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Richie's Picks: BLANKETS: AN ILLUSTRATED NOVEL by Craig Thompson, Top Shelf, July 2003, ISBN 1-891830-43-0

"Sometimes I lie away awake at night and wonder
Where my life will lead me
Waiting to pass under Sleep's dark and silent gate."
--Jackson Browne

I continue to find the vast majority of graphic novels I read to be without heart. Or perhaps I should say that after reading BLANKETS I understand that the reason I have been a reader unmoved by graphic novels is that they have consistently failed to touch me in the manner that Craig Thompson's 600-page illustrated novel has--page after page after page.

"Sheep: A blanket begins in a faraway place
Where skies are blue and there's lots of space
The nights are cold and we sleep outside
To keep warm and toasty we grow hair on our hide
But when spring comes round the weather is warm
A thick woolly coat loses all of its charm
We're itchy and hot 'till the rancher arrives
To give us each a haircut and brighten up our lives
He grabs a big bag and he gathers the wool
And he stuffs and he crams 'till the bags are full
He throws 'em on the truck 'till it's piled up high
Then he climbs into the driver's seat and says 'Goodbye'

That's the story of Bert's blanket
That's the story of Bert's blanket
That's the story of Bert's blanket" --Sesame Street

Perhaps the size of BLANKETS is one of its big pluses. I wouldn't call the typical comic book a novel; nor do I believe that a comic book becomes worthy of the term "novel" simply because it contains mature themes, explicit images and a hardcover binding. While my wife, the English teacher, would describe what I'm saying in terms of significant character development, plot, theme, and all that literature jargon, I would simply say that a successful "real" novel gives me something to really bite into and leaves me with plenty to think about after I'm done turning the pages. With its captivating blend of text and illustrations, BLANKETS is a novel does that to perfection.

BLANKETS is the semiautobiographical tale of a boy growing up. The story--which covers (blankets?) nearly two decades--includes Craig's brother, parents, school, art, sexuality, religion and religious leaders, Church Camp, First Love, and that Love's extended family. It also contains several blankets (as in the kind you sleep beneath) as well as blankets of snow and some metaphorical blankets.

The action in the story is nicely counterbalanced with the main character's introspection about his self-evolution, interactions, relationships, and religious beliefs.

"Linus: Where's my blanket?"

But, most significantly, what Craig Thompson does to perfection in BLANKETS is to utilize this illustrated format in order to be able to reveal far more with his combination of words and images than he could possibly have done with words alone. Whether it is the drawings telling part of the story as when, for example, we view the series of illustrations in which Craig's hand nervously, anxiously, plays with the curled telephone cord as he tries to "reconnect" with Raina, or whether it is the capability to often have Craig simultaneously saying one thing while thinking another, or the opportunity for the author to transition to extensive dialogue without having to constantly resort to "He said." or "She said," or even the potential of showing Craig's and his brother's drawings rather than having to describe them, I can now really see and understand the potential of writing a novel in this format. I could easily go on and on about other highlights: the power of being able to see those looks passing between Craig and Raina, the joy of being able to watch the bedtime hijinx between the young Craig and his brother, or being able to read an entire story on the face of Raina's father when his discovery leads to contemplation of what has happened in his own life.

BLANKETS is a book that leaves me with warm, cozy memories; one you absolutely need to see (and crawl inside of) yourself.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com ( )

Summary:
The story of Blankets is a narration of Craig Thompson's early years which include events that happened in his childhood, adolescent years, and a look into his adult life. In this book Craig deals with many issues such as his religious beliefs, coming of age, and first love.

A coming of age story set in rural Wisconsin. This is a huge book, but every page is so throughly enjoyable that the pages just fly by! This is an autobiographical tale told in graphic novel format. I don't normally read graphic novels but I loved this story. It's so open and honest. There is plenty of humor, romance, and a few sad moments too. I definately even have favorite illustrations. At one point Craig takes a trip to Michigan to visit the girl he likes and being a native Michigander I was pleased/amazed at how well Thompson illustrated this portion of the story. Even if he hadn't specifially mentioned that he was going to Michigan, it came across clearly in the pictures. He seemed to have latched onto a feeling the Michigan evokes and I recognized it immediately.

There were parts of this book that were so arty that the best way I can describe them is as music video moments. My other favorite picture shows the girl Craig likes with the wind blowing her hair across her face. This part of the story is so poetic and arty that I found myself looking at it for a prolonged amount of time.

I like this book so much I'm going to read everything he's ever written and I highly recommend this book to everyone, even if you don't really get graphic novels. I've read so few graphic novels that I could count them on one hand, but I'm fast catching the fever! ( )

click for review ( )

There is a lot going on in Craig Thompson’s autobiographical graphic novel Blankets. With a deeply personal touch, Thompson draws and writes about his childhood and teenage years and their hardships, joys, and discoveries. Writing about his brother, family, church camps, and first love, Thompson lays it all bare. He truly had some difficult things to deal with in his childhood that no child should have to face, and we see him struggle with his faith and family relationships as a result.

While I admire the book’s artwork, story, and the author himself, it is difficult for me to write this review as I disagree with (but am mostly sad about) the book’s conclusion. As I was reading the book, I was hoping for it to end a certain way when in fact it went the 180 degree opposite direction. Of course, this is the author’s life so he has every right to write about and illustrate how he really feels, but… I was still very sad at the end. There’s no denying he has a gift for writing and illustration, though, and I would definitely pick up another one of Thompson’s graphic novels in the future.

The picture below is one of the illustrations dealing with the first night that he and his brother finally get their own rooms. After waiting so long for them after sharing a room for many years, it’s not hard to imagine what happens that first night. I’ll save that for you to read on your own, though! (This book has mature themes and I wouldn’t recommend it for those under 16 or 17.)

592 pp., 2003
(4/5) ( )

A sweet love and life and faith story, beautifully told through pictures. ( )

This was another graphic novel which I devoured in a flurry. A charming love story.

Moving and real - my first of this kind, and not my last. ( )

Skøn grafisk roman. ( )

I had never heard of this book when I received it as a Christmas gift. I am generally not a fan of graphic novels, but this one drew me in. The story is of a boy growing up in a fundamentalist Christian home and exploring his faith, his sexuality, and how to become the adult he needs to be. The rich line drawings captured the essence of adolescent angst and confusion. This could have easily turned trite and cliched, but it never did. ( )

A bittersweet story about growing up, falling in love, and finding yourself. Beautiful artwork. ( )

I loved everything about it. The art, the story, the style, the pace... It reminded me strongly of my own childhood. ( )

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. ( )

This is a monstrous graphic novel at 600-odd pages. And it is entirely worth it.
The story of first love and loss combined with glimpses into a not so pleasant childhood is stellar without the illustrations. Add those and it's break taking. Deserving of every award it won when it was first published, this is something that should have made the best seller list. I look forward to reading more of Thompson's work. ( )