corner corner In the Shadow of No Towers

Medium

In the Shadow of No Towers
by Art Spiegelman | Graphic Novels
Registered by alrescate of Strafford, Missouri USA on Friday, September 17, 2004
Average 8 star rating by BookCrossing Members 

status (set by kitiarablue): travelling


This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!

7 journalers for this copy...

Journal Entry 1 by alrescate from Strafford, Missouri USA on Friday, September 17, 2004

8 out of 10

I just picked up this copy today. I was deeply impressed by Spiegelman's "Maus" so I wanted to read this. The cover is a partial reproduction of Spiegelman's "New Yorker" cover.


This book is a piece of modern art. It conveys intense emotion but unlike 'Maus' it doesn't really tell Spiegelman's story so much a lay bare his soul.


From Publishers Weekly
Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist Spiegelman's new work is an inventive and vividly graphic work of nonfiction. It's an artful rant focused on the events of 9/11 and afterward by a world-class pessimist ("after all, disaster is my muse"). The artist, who lives in downtown Manhattan, believes the world really ended on Sept. 11, 2001—it's merely a technicality that some people continue to go about their daily lives. He provides a hair-raising and wry account of his family's frantic efforts to locate one another on September 11 as well as a morbidly funny survey of his trademark sense of existential doom. "I'm not even sure I'll live long enough," says a chain-smoking, post-9/11 cartoon-mouse Spiegelman, "for cigarettes to kill me." The book is a visceral tirade against the Bush administration ("brigands suffering from war fever") and, when least expected, an erudite meditation on the history of the American newspaper comic strip, born during the fierce circulation wars of the 1890s right near the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan. This beautifully designed, oversized book (each page is heavy board stock) opens vertically to offer large, colorful pages with Spiegelman's contemporary lamentations along with wonderful reproductions of 19th-century broadsheet comic strips like Richard Outcault's Hogan's Alley and Rudolf Dirk's Katzenjammer Kids. Old comics, Spiegelman (Maus) writes, saved his sanity. "Unpretentious ephemera from the optimistic dawn of the 20th century... they were just right for an end-of-the world moment." This is a powerful and quirky work of visual storytelling by a master comics artist. 

Journal Entry 2 by alrescate from Strafford, Missouri USA on Wednesday, April 27, 2005

This book has not been rated.

I think this is a book that should be shared. So I'm sending it out as a bookray. I'm hoping that it will one day be released in New York.

This is the bookray order:
1. MollyGrue (Washington)
2. juliebarreto (Hawaii)
3. tnkbl (California)
4. JennyO (Texas)
5. Weeblet (Virginia)
6. Kitiarablue (New Jersey)<----Now with this Bookcrosser.

November 6, 2005: This ray is now complete! 

Journal Entry 3 by alrescate from Strafford, Missouri USA on Monday, May 02, 2005

This book has not been rated.

This in now on the way to Washington state! 

Journal Entry 4 by MollyGrue from Tacoma, Washington USA on Tuesday, May 10, 2005

This book has not been rated.

I'm looking forward to this one. Thanks! 

Journal Entry 5 by MollyGrue from Tacoma, Washington USA on Thursday, May 12, 2005

8 out of 10

Excellent, powerful book, although it felt a bit unfinished.

I also really liked the inclusion of the old comic strips that had inspired some of the panals.

Reserved for the next reader. 

Journal Entry 6 by MollyGrue at in the mail in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Friday, May 13, 2005

This book has not been rated.

Released 7 yrs ago (5/13/2005 UTC) at in the mail in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to JulieBarreto. Happy reading!

DC# 03022940000169565899 

Journal Entry 7 by juliebarreto from Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Tuesday, June 07, 2005

10 out of 10

Just arrived!

6/22/05 - This is a piece of art. His work is so impressive. The vintage inspirational comic strips, however, felt like filler to me, to round this out to book length.

It really puts me back into the mind of that morning. We were getting ready for school, and the neighbor came over to tell us to turn on the news. Then she just started crying and hugging me, which was a major shock, as she is ordinarily a reserved and rather distant person. But, once I saw the images on the NYT website, I understood and was stunned. School was cancelled that day. The kids made a Lego model of airplanes crashing into the towers.

I'll media mail this off to the next in line today. 

Journal Entry 8 by tnkbl from Walnut Creek, California USA on Tuesday, June 28, 2005

This book has not been rated.

This arrived yesterday, and I've already read half of it. Will check back in with thoughts when I'm finished. 

Journal Entry 9 by tnkbl from Walnut Creek, California USA on Tuesday, July 05, 2005

This book has not been rated.

I have to say, I was a bit disappointed with this book. I am a great fan of Spiegelman's, especially after reading both Maus volumes. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I guess I thought I would be a little more challenged, both intellectually and emotionally, by 'No Towers'.

My first gripe is that it was too short. I didn't feel like a whole story was being told. It sort of jumped from a few brief glimpses of Sept. 11 itself (I would have loved more about his experiences that day), to a few random rants about various post-9/11 political issues. The format of the book might have contributed to this feeling, because I felt like the big cardboard pages were designed purposely to fool me into thinking the book was thicker with content than it was. Most disappointing to me was the second half, which had nothing really to do with 9/11 at all and basically just seemed like a half-hearted attempt to disguise the fact that the book was too short.

My second gripe is that Spiegelman seems to be taking this opportunity to rant about his political views instead of using the events of Sept. 11 as a starting point for critical thought and discussion. Although I completely agree with all his political views, I've been hearing the same complaints every day from my friends, the internet, NPR, etc. and thus Spiegelman didn't say anything new to me. I was hoping for more... more. Oh well.

I'm sending this off to JennyO today.



 

Journal Entry 10 by wingO-Jennywing from Temple, Texas USA on Monday, July 11, 2005

This book has not been rated.

The book arrived safely this morning. I'll read it and get it out to Weeblet sometime later this week. Thanks for sharing, alrescate! 

Journal Entry 11 by wingO-Jennywing from Temple, Texas USA on Monday, July 11, 2005

7 out of 10

I'm not sure I can add much to the reviews already posted. I don't often read graphic novels; I'm more of a prose person. But I'd heard how respected art speigelman is amongst his peers, and I thought this would be an excellent place to start.

I cannot imagine the things that spiegelman and his family went through on 9/11. The pages about finding Nadja at her school just about tore me up. I don't know what I would've done in his place. I hope that creating this work helped him deal with the demons that must haunt him.

I'll get it on to Weeblet in a couple of days. 

Journal Entry 12 by wingO-Jennywing from Temple, Texas USA on Monday, July 11, 2005

This book has not been rated.

One further note. If you're looking for an extremely powerful prose piece about 9/11, try Hampton Sides' book Americana. There's a story in it called "Points of Impact" that still haunts me almost a year after reading it. 

Journal Entry 13 by weeblet from Jacksonville, Florida USA on Saturday, July 23, 2005

This book has not been rated.

holy hardback!
'tis safe here in Va, and i'll read it soon :) 

Journal Entry 14 by kitiarablue from Jersey City, New Jersey USA on Sunday, November 06, 2005

This book has not been rated.

It's here at last! And it is a beautiful book... I believe I am last on the bookray list, so I will be releasing it according to Alrescate's wishes when I finish reading it.... 

Journal Entry 15 by kitiarablue at City Hall Park in New York City, New York USA on Sunday, February 17, 2008

8 out of 10

Released 4 yrs ago (2/17/2008 UTC) at City Hall Park in New York City, New York USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Left on a bench in City Hall Park- near Broadway and Barclay, literally in the shadow of no towers. I know it's a lil late, but better late than never! 



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