The Arrival by Shaun Tan
I see book recommendations all over the internet and in the past, I would try to make a mental note or add the title to my task list to check out later. This never really panned out because I went back to check I would forget who recommended it and without that personal connection I’d decide against getting the book.
This year I changed that up and decided to add any book that a friend recommends to my Amazon cart that way I’d be forced to take action on it. The Arrival is one of those books and it came as a surprise because someone else in my family completed the cart and it came as part of the order. #lifehack
As I started flipping through it I was amazed that it was a graphic novel telling about the immigrant experience. It’s beautiful and will make a great coffee table book and one to go through with my kids.
The one downside to all this is now I can’t remember who I have seenn recommend it, but I appreciate it.
If you want to know more about the book itself this review from Alana Abbott is perfect:
Tan captures the displacement and awe with which immigrants respond to their new surroundings in this wordless graphic novel. It depicts the journey of one man, threatened by dark shapes that cast shadows on his family’s life, to a new country. The only writing is in an invented alphabet, which creates the sensation immigrants must feel when they encounter a strange new language and way of life. A wide variety of ethnicities is represented in Tan’s hyper-realistic style, and the sense of warmth and caring for others, regardless of race, age, or background, is present on nearly every page. Young readers will be fascinated by the strange new world the artist creates, complete with floating elevators and unusual creatures, but may not realize the depth of meaning or understand what the man’s journey symbolizes. More sophisticated readers, however, will grasp the sense of strangeness and find themselves participating in the man’s experiences. They will linger over the details in the beautiful sepia pictures and will likely pick up the book to pore over it again and again
You can get your own copy of The Arrival on Amazon and it’s currently $13.99 for the hardcover, which I recommend.