Road to Perdition

Damn, but this was breathtaking. The story, the art, the attention to detail...just...wow.

Weaving a fictional story out of facts, this is a strangely heartwarming story of a boy whose father happens to be the Archangel of Death for the Looney mob. There's often an attempt by authors to imbue their hitmen with a sense of honour or a strong morale code. Think The Boondock Saints, for example. But rarely does it get pulled off.

Here, it does. This was 300 glorious pages of action and empathy, of family and honour.

If I have one complaint, it's that, at times, the same piece of reference art was used too often. There's a particular pose of Michael O'Sullivan's father, for example, that had to have been used at least five or six different show more times. The exact same facial expression.

But it's a minor quibble. This story is a thing of beauty. show less

I am torn between three and four stars with this graphic novel. I was looking for a graphic novel for this year's reading challenge & my husband casually gave me The Road to Perdition. He had enjoyed it & thought I might. I am so glad he suggested it.
A young boy is stunned when he witnesses his father commit murder. In his youthful eyes, his father is the perfect dad. To learn what his father is capable of makes him grow up pretty fast.
I sped through the story once I had time to actually sit and read it.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the artwork. I wish I had artistic talent. My favorite was seeing how buildings were reflected in the boy's face as they rode from city to city. AMAZING.

Interesting historical crime comic

Drawn in highly detailed, stark black and white, this is an arresting crime story of revenge, of family in an evocative time of corruption and poverty, of Elliot Ness and Al Capone. It's theme of father/son relationship set in a deeply violent world twists and softens the revenge story of ex-hit man and his young son going after their families killers. It is a great tale too, one where you can feel time slowly running out, where doom is on the horizon but you are still gripped. Does he get revenge? Will he get redemption? Will the son follow the father?

There is slight repetition in the narration but really that's the only complaint. The setting is superb (the historical research shines), the characters show more (real & imagined) feel spot on and the dialogue is hard and reassuringly familiar from all those gangster flicks. Indeed they made this into a rather famous film, which I haven't seen but cannot for the life of me picture Tom Hanks as the 'Angel of Death' show less

Good early-1930s era story about a gunman for the mob as seen (mostly) through his son's eyes. When that son accidentally sees his dad in action, he puts his dad's life in jeopardy. The dad, though, has a few tricks up his sleeve. A few of the panels are very dark and there are a few spots where the characters are hard to distinguish from each other, but generally it's a great match between the "unclean" story and the gritty illustrations.

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LT Haiku:
A gangster story:
Boy's dad is Angel of Death;
Turns around vengeance.

Boy finds out his dad is a gangster, the Bad Gangsters kill his mum and his brother, so boy and his dad drive around having gangster adventures and trying to get revenge, in 1930's America with mafias and prohibition etc. Fun, if you like pages of beautifully drawn men shooting each other, but not really my thing. Most interesting for the character of the boy's father, who is a hardened killer, but portrayed sympathetically by being a family man, being a man of his word, being insanely competent, avoiding civilian casualties (although not redshirts, they can all die), and lighting candles and saying confession.

I loved the film version of this book, and I very much like the graphic novel which was the source of the film. There are modifications between the print and the screen versions, including some names and plot lines, but I found both to be entertaining, thoughtful, and just great midwestern crime (ala Capone and company).

Road to Perdition (DVD)
Audio/Visual
Road To Perdition is a beautiful movie. Gorgeous cinematography coupled with a haunting score deliver a story rich in subtlety in spite of a violent theme. Tom Hanks plays an understated hitman whose attempts to keep his family protected from his occupation fail suddenly and shockingly. What follows is a touching story of growing, bonding, and redemption. (You can listen to samples of the soundtrack at Amazon.com.)
Recommended by Geo, February 2005