Tales From Outer Suburbia book review

Another book from Aussie surrealist goes under the knife. I received this one along with The Lost Thing for Christmas 2009. This one’s a real pick ‘n’ mix of stuff, so here it is … a synopsis isn’t really applicable. It’s a collection of short stories, so see below for the lowdown. And I think that you're all really going this one!

SYNOPSIS: Tales From Outer Suburbia features, among other short stories:

• BROKEN TOYS – A Japanese man in an old diving suit shows up in suburbia and brings happiness to a grumpy old woman. Painted in flat, Japanese print-style that fits the story perfectly.
• DISTANT RAIN – a magical explanation for where all your unwanted poetry goes. Again, the change in art style (a haphazard collage) is tailor-made to perfectly fit the story’s subject.
• GRANDPA’S STORY – A story of how things were done back in the day – though not what you’d expect (Wild televisions for one thing). Drawn in loose, expressive pen illustrations.
• STICK FIGURES – photorealistic artwork tells of upside-down sapling people in a hostile environment. Poignant and more than a little eerie.
• ALERT BUT NOT ALARMED – innovative suburbians find better uses for thermonuclear missiles. Done in Tan’s usual style.
  OUR EXPIDITION – two brothers discover the unnerving reason for maps stopping at a certain point. Loose, flowing pastel artwork adds to the surreal mood.
  

And several more I can’t fit in.

THE ART: Straying away from his usual surrealist/ steampunk painted artwork, this book is largely experimental; Tan plays around with different and varied media in each short story. It’s a very clever thing that he does; each story features different art styles that fit the story exquisitely. The wide range of media includes sgraffito, pastel, acrylic, oil, pencil and biro. The layout of the book is simple and elegant, in a mail package graphic style that goes well with the haphazard, compilation-style way the book is written and drawn. Tan blows newcomers away with his diverse range of art and deceivingly simple prose, while still adding in some references for regular fans – the textbook collage, hand-written layout for Make Your Own Pet (previously seen in The Lost Thing), the matter-of-fact, let-the-art-tell-the-story writing (Lost Thing again) and Arrival-esque art in Eric. All up this book is beautifully illustrated and stunningly packaged. An artistic masterpiece to be sure.

THE STORY: This short story menagerie is a clear demonstration of the different things Tan can do with words. The tales carry varying amounts of meaning; some are just fun and simple (The Water Buffalo, Make Your Own Pet, and Distant Rain) while others carry dense, deep symbolic meaning that really makes you think. There are themes of environmentalism and oppressive society (Night of the Turtle Rescue); cultural issues, societal hostility and racial differences (Stick Figures) and more. Tan is a sophisticated writer who delivers exquisite quality writing. Therefore, I say:

ART RATING: 9 out of 10

STORY RATING: 8.5 out of 10

OVERALL RATING: 9.5 out of 10

VERDICT: a meaningful and elegantly written book that shows the cred that Shaun Tan wields in the arts. Perhaps not as dystopian and postmodern as his other works (a la The Lost Thing and Red Tree) but still enjoyable. Rated 9.5 out of 10. Go to shauntan.net for info!

Posted by Fanbot at 9:34 pm, Wednesday 6 January

The Lost Thing book review

Hi everybody, I'm sorry I haven't done anything on BSC for ages 'n' ages - I was planning to do a Christmas post but I just had no time - so much stuff! Now that I've settled down a little (I'm currently in Nelson) I've finally been able to sit down and do some serious reviewing! This book is not really what I usually do here but since Shaun Tan is such a brilliant and awesome artist I just had to. Here's the low down:

THE LOST THING (LOTHIAN, 2009)

Story & art by SHAUN TAN

Reprinted FIFTEEN TIMES

SYNOPSIS: A young bottle-top collector stumbles upon a strange creature on the beach. It seems friendly enough but seems to have no real place -- it is just lost. He takes the lost thing home but realizes he can't keep it hidden forever. A shady organization offers to take it away but the boy eventually finds a place for the lost thing to live -- a utopia of other lost things. At the book's end, the boy reflects on how he doesn't see many lost things anymore; "Maybe there aren't many lost things around anymore. Or maybe I've just stopped noticing them. Too busy doing other things, I guess."

THE ART: Shaun Tan is a brilliant surrealist with a wacky fetish and a slight steampunk fixation. He is an expert painter, and this books demonstrates fully the masterful work he does. The exaggerated, surreal and yet quite mundane setting is expertly rendered and, despite the slight looseness of the painting, it looks amazingly realistic. The architecture and objects suggest a grubby, rubbish-infested, conformist, half-utopian half-dystopian society that has little time or place for anything out of the ordinary. The background on which the photo-like illustrations are placed is a collage of Shaun's father's old physics textbooks, which gives a scrapbook look that is simply beautiful. Though the characters are cartoony and surreal, they interact very well together. Shaun's plain weird design for the lost thing amazes me; a giant pebble-crab-cum-squid creature inside a large bright red pot-belly stove - that eats Christmas decorations? That's cool. Shaun obviously wanted to create something that would be completely out of place in this suburban town - it's umcomfortably large, organic, and has no apparent purpose - hence the little time others have for it. Truly, this sophisticated picture book is a work of pure art. A surrealist triumph.

THE STORY: With this book I was tempted to focus only on the art and not touch on the story, but it must be done. Though this book can be enjoyed by all ages, it works on multiple levels and has immensely deep meaning; the "retro-future" setting references to dystopian futures, the suburban setting showing the spread of humanity across everywhere - there are virtually no animals or plants left (only pets). The lost thing is the embodiment of anyone that has been excluded from life, anyone who never seems to fit in and is alienated by everyone. Shaun Tan has packed this book to bursting with symbolism, and if you know where to look you'll fins it in almost every panel. One of the recurring symbolistic devices is the squiggly arrow that the boy uses to locate the lost thing utopia appears on every page, usually juxtaposed by another, straight and ordinary, arrow that points the other way; signifiying the utopia goes against the norm, that no-one's interested in it. The boy's ending words (seen in the synopsis) clearly show that much-used - though not cliched - theme of kids losing their imagination and ability to notice magical/ weird creatures. The matter-of-fact prose gives nothing away of the nature of the creature or setting, instead the art combines beautifully with it to create a quirky and well-executed book. And the last images of the tram, zooming out into an eerie image of thousands of trams driving along. A conformist reference that intrigues and scares. So, the results overall:

ART RATING: 10 out of 10

STORY RATING: 9.5 out of 10
OVERALL RATING: 10 out of 10

FAVE QUOTE: Boy: I hid the thing in our back shed and gave it something to eat, once I found out what it liked. [The lost thing likes to eat Christmas decorations. Go figure.]

VERDICT: A beatiful book with stunning art that blows you away. Able to be enjoyed by all ages but with deeper meaning that suggests a darker side. Prose and art combine synbiotically to make a masterful sophisiticated picture book. This one will probably be at your local library, and check out Tan's website! Rated 10 out of 10.

Posted by Fanbot at 11:59 am, FRIDAY 1 January

Shaun Tan's literary masterpiece: The Arrival - an in depth book review

I mentioned this in my last book review, and now I've got hold of a library copy it's only fair I review it for you peeps out there. This book is perhaps Shaun Tan's masterpiece - he spent four years meticulously researching and developing this book. And boy, does it show. With only graphite pencil on paper, he has created illustrations that defy description. They are almost photographically realistic, and make you believe completely in the story. The Arrival is a silent, textless, visual tale of a male immigrant who leaves everything behind to find a new life in a faraway country. The country he arrives in is enormous, and everything is new and alien to him. The book sees him, armed with nothing apart from a suitcase and foreign currency, struggle to find shelter, food and some kind of job, with eventual success. In this journey, he meets amazing people who were once immigrants like him, and they retell their equally heart-rending tales of emigration.

Shaun Tan has created a universe in this book. Everything from the landscape to the letters on billboards and maps, and even new, alien-like animals that help the immigrant along the way. New technology is seen (flying tugboats and balloon-lifted cupboards to name a few). The concept is nothing we haven't seen before, but Shaun Tan has taken it and turned it on its head, then pulled it inside out and dissected it. He has created a poignant, heart-warming and some-what eerie tale of sorrow, separation and confusion. This may be a picture book, but it is not for little kiddies. The Arrival, as with all Shaun's books, leaves you thinking deeply about all you have seen within the book. This book challenges you to wonder about it.

Overall, I'm rating The Arrival at 10/10. There is absolutely nothing in this book that has not left me dumbfounded and humbled. This is definitely the most staggeringly amazing book in the universe. if you want to learn more, then go to www.shauntan.net for more info.

Posted by Fantom at 11:45 am, SATURDAY 20 June