Blankets by Craig Thompson
Reviewed by Rachel Arnold Sager
Craig Thompson’s Blankets was MAGNIFICENT. I like graphic novels anyhow — Batman and Hellboy were the majority of my Christmas haul last year — but this was WONDERFUL.
There is a kind of honesty in writing that sends my jaw to the floor and, at the risk of sounding flowery, makes my heart sing. I don’t know how much fiction is woven into the story, but Craig displays the events of a childhood and adolescence with amazing candidness. There are childhood horrors (both real and imagined), a lifetime struggle with faith, the beauty and tragedy of first love. Thompson does a beautiful job of somehow giving an autobigraphical account in a way that is poetic and descriptive, but honest and non-judgemental.
People interest me a great deal — why they do the things they do, when and how they do them… Everyone has strengths, flaws, and eccentricities in themselves and their surroundings that are worn as badges of pride or shame throughout life. Seeing an author show some of these moments with simple candor (and none of the embellishment) is fresh and truly wonderful.
The art is nothing to be scoffed at either. Simple black and white inkwork does amazing things for 582 pages. The line work is fluid and textured, the character designs beautiful and well thought out, the various details portrayed wonderfully. The main character is apt to daydreams of both religious staging and abstract escapism, not to mention a vivid and creative imagination as both boy and man, and all this is portrayed with skill and grace.
If you have ever daydreamed, if you have ever struggled with faith (and come out without answers), if you have ever fancied yourself in love and then lost it… read this book. I loved, loved, LOVED it.
