Seize House Of Clay Scripted By Naomi Nowak Format Brochure
graphic novel tries to be way too artsy, and it came across to me as just plain pretentious,
I'm not sure that I enjoyed the elaborated/schematic art that much yes, it really is both at the same time, and the plot was so conceptual that it ends up being almost pointless.
Obviously, I'm not impressed, but at least it was a short read, Beautiful artwork. It kept getting weirder as the story progressed, Very fanciful. Sometimes a bit confusing, but always beautiful, It helped that the main character was a redhead!
As for the story, it was okay, A little confusing at times and it ended without really wrapping up a lot of things, I still had questions about what happened prior to the story, I think that may have been the intent, Perhaps Naomi Novak just gave us a window into a few months of a young woman's life and we need to fill in the blanks,
It definitely had a dark side to it, This is a gorgeous book, it's done in a style reminiscent of art nouveau, The story is awful though I couldn't care less about the main character or her plight, Not recommend. A beautifully illustrated, but ultimately forgettable story about a young woman with an aversion to blood yet wants to become a nurse, As a graphic novel, I think it is a fine piece of art to looks at, but as a story I just felt that it was lackingand, to be honest, boring.
This slight, and frankly weirdbutnotinagoodway graphic novel, is too big for its britches, I don't know or care where it was supposed to be set, I don't even care how spoiler alert!!!!! what'shername lost her tongue, although I guess that guy cut it out, Whatever! What is the heroine's relationship with her parents Strained I don't care anymore, Is the dog a familiar Why would a dead person want a picture with them Why would that mean girl who gives the heroine the showaround at the beginning not tell her that her cousin doesn't spoiler alert!! have a tongue.
I give up. The graphics in this book are fantastic, but the plot is seriously lacking, I guess I don't find female characters who base their life choices on other people's expectations all that interesting, Sure, she "breaks free" by running away from her family and her job at the end, but it still seems like a weak move to cut off all ties, especially without a structured plan.
If the protagonist was actually a teen, I might be more forgiving, She just comes off as a tragically immature and incapable woman bound for a wandering life of sorrow, sitelinkFind this book at Hillingdon Libraries What love triangle
She needed help telling this story in many ways,
. Teh aert iz djust plane sloopy with serious panel issues
gtHer lines are drunk even if it's supposed to look shaky,
. The flow of the story is VERY disjointed,
gtIt's a pothole plot,
. The characters are flat and thin
gtfiguratively speaking,
. So much made so little sense,
But it was a good idea that could have worked very well, Has fullblown first bookitis even though it wasn't, Reading this book was like having a dream under water.
The images are ethereal and weird, Sometimes I didnt understand what was going on, However, I didnt dislike the experience, The art was gorgeous and if her work was presented to me only as prints, I would adore it, Unfortunately, she tried to weave a story that just fell apart, At first it was hard to follow because it is a different style, but I stuck with it since the art is beautiful, However, there was no feeling in it, the characters were hard to identify with, and the plot was hurried and left with so many loose ends, Nothing was refreshing and nothing captivated me,
Bottom line: I was very disappointed,.
The art attracted me to this, The story was all over the place, but did keep my interest pretty well, I definitely would NOT recommend this based on the story, which is about a woman that is scared of blood who wants to be a nurse, who is presently working in a shirt factory.
But, I just might recommend it based on the interesting artwork,
Another thing, I think the old lady was related to Posey/Josephine, I got that idea from the photograph that showed her with siblingsone of which had the same name as Josephine's mother, The art is pretty, but I had a hard time understanding what was going on, I gave up halfway though because it just did not hold my interest, this was so gorgeous, so different the story was weird and lovely, sigh. love love love
The art style was absolutely beautiful but I found the layout and story confusing,
When I say story I say it very loosely because there was barely scraps of a story, The only redeeming factor was the artwork, This feels like the start of a series but isn't, Engaging illustrations with complex and interesting characters, This graphic novel is a quick read, but I thought the story was interesting if not a little confusingthere are a few loose ends that don't really get tied up, and some elements were a tad too vague, and the illustrations are beautiful.
Naomi Nowak's artistic style is very unique and the illustrations were definitely the best part of the book, I could tell that Nowak is influenced by Japanese manga in her drawing style, but she incorporated some of those elements and created her own unique look, I'd definitely read more of her work, and I would even like to see a sequel to this!
There are alot of complaints for Nowak's storytelling but I feel her work is meant to be experienced rather than analyzed or followed coherently.
The art and story were both beautiful and ethereal and ending it was like waking from a dream, I'm looking forward to her next graphic novel, The illustrations were the highlight, the story was so sad yet not fully realized, I would have liked a little more development to the characters, It was a very quick read and worth at least checking out, The illustration style was quite different from any I've previously encountered it was a flowerchild's water colors drowning in a nightmarescape,
The storyline was poorly connected, it took about half the book for me to realize what was happening and the author didn't provide a good reason to care for the main character until near the end.
.instead of. I picked this compact little graphic novel up because the artwork was surreal amp captivating, Unfortunately, that really is the only thing to recommend here, House of Clay follows Josephine, a girl from a formerly wealthy family, who goes to work in a garment factory, She's determined to go to nursing school despite the fact that she can't handle the sight of blood, While working at the factory, she meets Edith, a former prostitute who's missing a tongue amp has a mysterious past, She also eventually crosses paths with an older woman who offers to tell her future amp hints that there may by a different life waiting for her,
As I was reading, I could easily imagine the story as fodder for Mary Caponegro's or George Saunders' fantastical imaginings, It's a comingofage tale layered in fairy tale amp Romanticism with a healthy dose of postmodern sensibilitya perfect playground for current fabulists amp experimental writers, The problem here though is that Nowak isn't able to get her art to deepen the story details she provides or mesh with the atmosphere she's suggesting, There are still plenty of questions as to Josephine's motivation, why she seemingly falls in love with someone she's barely spoken to, or what exactly her history with her parents is.
I'm reminded here of sitelinkRadioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout, Both are clearly beloved projects by their creators, but they both still seem very personal and doesn't give other readers a good way into the crux of the story, As I mentioned, the art is very beautifuldreamlike, playful, luxurious amp feminine with good harmony of design amp space, Feel free to pick it up to browse through if you're curious, but don't expect much past your enjoyment of the visuals, The story could have been interesting but to me it just wasn't, I didn't really care about any of the characters and the loose ends felt annoying,
The only reason I'm giving this bookis because the artwork was beautiful and I really liked the way Nowak used the panels in a different way that went with the artwork.
It sucks when a book is as beautifully drawn as this one is, yet it still comes up short, And the story has some intriguing moments, an overall arc that sounds great, but the details in getting there fall short,
Posey goes away to earn money for nursing school, and perhaps to get away from her domineering mother, Befriending mute Edith and the local fortunetelling crank woman, Posey begins to work through her issues before eventually deciding to take off and find her own destiny, rather than the destiny expected of her.
Unfortunately, the characters particularly the incidental characters, like the snotty girl where Posey works, and Posey's boss/Edith's abusive boyfriends are painfully thin, Posey's revelations seem halfass and more story convenience that honest character growth,
Still, the art is all pastelly and attractive, with interesting design choices made on nearly every page, It's nice to page through, but not recommended for actual reading, .