Glyn Dillon

The Tao of Nao.

What happens when you make a conscious decision to fall in love with a lovable yet totally incompatible human being just because they look like your favorite animated creature? Nao Brown does this in a beautifully drawn and colored train-wreck of a graphic novel that brings into question the motives behind your own past and current dysfunctional relationships.

What happens when gruesomely violent or wildly inappropriate thoughts about friends, colleagues, family, or random show more strangers parade unabashedly across the film screen of your brain? Well, if you're like Nao, you feel a strong need to go hide in the loo and wonder when the day will come that finds imagination merging with reality. So don't worry. You're not alone. Start drawing some zen washing machines and you'll feel better. show less

See full review @ The Indigo Quill

I purchased this book at a local library book sale.

At a recent library book sale I was volunteering at, I stumbled across The Nao of Brown. All it took was a glance at the cover art and a flip through its vibrantly illustrated pages, and I knew I had to give it a warm home. And so no one else could give it a warm home, I hid it behind some technical manuals until my shift was over. It wasn’t my proudest moment but I stand by my decision.

Nao has returned show more to London after losing a job and a relationship. She seeks a new start, but fears that everything will continue in the same downward trajectory she has come to expect. She is reunited with some old friends and makes some new ones as she tries to find purpose and meaning in her life and in life in general. The story is interrupted every now and then by a parallel story in the form of a Japanese parable that provides an interesting break in the art style and provides an extra layer of narrative for the main story to be plucked out of its pages.

The Nao of Brown is a graphic novel that is different from most I’ve seen. There’s no action or gratuitous sex, no monsters or cool gadgets, no superheroes or villains. Usually the only time these elements aren’t present in a graphic novel, the main themes are comedic or cutesy in nature. In fact, up until now, I haven’t paid this medium as much attention as I possibly should have because of it. Thank God every now and then something comes along to challenge my notions.

In The Nao of Brown, Glyn Dillon has created a very character-centered work that focuses on a girl named Nao. Nao is a half Japanese, half English girl, who feels as if she doesn’t fully belong to either culture, or the human race in general, at times. Ever since she was a child, Nao has been plagued by a peculiar form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that causes her to obsessively fixate on violent scenarios in her mind. For example, in one scene she is on an airplane and she thinks about pulling the hatch and depressurizing the cabin. The thought disturbs her so much that she parks herself in the airplane lavatory for the remainder of the flight, trying to force the scenario out of her mind. Her innocence and her shy demeanor are juxtaposed with this horrifying condition, and it only serves to build level upon level of depth to both her character and the story in general.

I was drawn into this story from the beginning. The beautifully gentle themes and subtle but uproariously funny comedy roped me in. As funny as it is at times, this is no comedy. There are some incredibly real themes and situations that are sometimes very dark, always true to form. The story is the perfect snapshot of life for the twenty something year old. From the eternal struggle for identity and truth, to alcoholism and mental illness, romance, inadequacy and growth, Dillon has run the gamut of the human condition in this work.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Nao of Brown from the first frame to the last. I would recommend it for anyone interested in graphic art or anyone with an interest in the human condition. I think anyone in their twenties or thirties would enjoy it from a more personal perspective, but the struggles, truths, and the amazing themes in this story can be useful and enjoyable for anyone at any age (not children, due to some mature themes and swearing). At the very least, there are some truly funny bits and the art is incredibly detailed and emotive.

Absolutely charming from beginning to end. show less

The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon features beautiful artwork, and would be worth taking a look at for that reason alone. But it has an unusual, engaging story that had me going back through the book when I was done.

Nao Brown is half-Japanese, very cute, and an artist. She works in a shop selling Japanese toys and such. She's obsessed with Japanese Ichi comic book characters, and falls for a bearded, heavyset washing-machine repairman who looks like one of them. Her problem: she is plagued by show more an obsessive compulsive disorder that unexpectedly will overwhelm her with thoughts of injuring and killing other people. The images and thoughts can be simply awful, like stabbing a pregnant woman in the belly. Her struggles to cope with this disorder and conceal it are riveting. Also fascinating is her use of Buddhist meditation and Buddhist artwork to help her learn to not be overwhelmed.

There is a good bit of humor and gentle wisdom in the book as well. The teachers and students at the Buddhist center, for example, can be overly sincere and unaware of their absurdity, for all their compassionate intentions.

Interspersed is the story of a half-man, half-tree Ichi character who joins the Japanese army. The graphic images are weird, ornate and contrasting in style to the realism of the rest of the book. But they also have a quiet serenity to them which understandably appeals to Nao, and the reader.

In Nao's story we learn about her toy store boss, her roommate, her family, and of course her repairman boyfriend. He turns out to have a wisdom, and a secret, of his own. There is a short text piece toward the end from his diary that provides a different angle to the story. If you are looking for something different in your reading, this certainly provides it. It also provides a rare and thoughtful Buddhist perspective on its events. show less

Another book picked up on impulse from the staff recommends table at the library. The cover was wonderful, the synopsis on the inside was intriguing - it was a fast, easy sell. But then it got put aside, and it wasn't until the day it was due that I got around to reading it. But once I opened it, I couldn't put it down. Into the bath, out of the bath, getting dressed, downstairs to read on the couch (too noisy), back upstairs to read in the bed until I was done. (Thank goodness it was my day show more off!)

The art was so lovely and expressive. The characters were original and relatable. I wanted to reach in and give them all a big hug. Even when they were at odds - maybe especially when they were at odds. The way Nao's OCD is handled is very interesting. Her violent morbid fantasies are disorienting at first (as I'm sure they're supposed to be), but then they're almost familiar. Most people have these horrible thoughts that pop in unbidden - about suddenly wrenching the wheel and driving off the road... the damage a pair of scissors could do.... don't boil the baby (an inside joke for those familiar with The Poo Bomb.) Most of us recognize the thought as aberrant and not likely to happen and so shake ourselves and move on. Nao gets stuck in them. While this sometimes controls her behavior, she is understandably reluctant to let even those she is very close to in on what's going on inside her mind.

My only criticism is that the resolution seemed to happen a little fast. I would have liked to know a little more detail about how Nao got from point A to Point B, figuratively. But otherwise, this is a wonderful and moving book about the way our brains sometimes sabotage us. And this wonderful bit from the foreword: "The restless mind will make you believe that it is you. That you are it. You are not. show less