Invincible Days
-
- $15.99
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
This collection of short stories forms a singular narrative that reveals the tiny moments when you realize you are at the precious end-days of youth. Calling on memories from his own childhood as well as those gathered from friends and family, author and artist Patrick Atangan's work blends stories with strong psychological elements and insight with simple artwork evocative of youth. Bittersweet, joyful and reflective, these are the type of marking moments that best define us as adults.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Following several books lavishly illustrating folktales, Atangan returns with an elegiac, episodic tale about childhood memories mostly his own, but, in some cases, his friends'. Each tale centers around a different stuffed animal, even though several represent the same character an unsettling technique made even more uncanny by the decision to represent secondary characters with empty walkers, wheelchairs, and hospital beds. The panel layouts are static and the characters hardly move; they're generally positioned in the center of each panel. The effect is to ritualize the stories, which mostly deal with pets, toys, and perceptions of life seen through a child's eyes. The nostalgia can go to beautiful places, and some of the stories are funny and weird, such as one girl's tale about moving to America and thinking that pizza was mouse vomit. The most developed and moving episode in the book is about the deterioration and death of Atangan's grandmother, though the conclusions he comes to about death are not particularly novel. While many of the stories here are familiar, the unusual presentation forces readers to take a step back from their universality.
