The Motherless Oven
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
“The Weather Clock said knife o'clock, so I chained Dad up in the shed”
In Scarper Lee's world, parents don't make children—children make parents. Scarper's father is a wind-powered brass construction whilst his mother is a bakelite hairdryer. It’s also a world without birthdays, only deathdays, and Scarper's deathday is fast approaching. With just three weeks left to live, Scarper is forced from his routine and strikes out into the unknown—where relationships are tested and authority challenged. An edgy and surreal fantasy from internationally acclaimed writer/artist, Rob Davis, Eisner-nominated for The Complete Don Quixote.
Praise:
NOMINATED – Eisner award for Best Graphic Novel (2015)
WINNER – British Comic award for Best Book (2015)
“Brimming with invention, Davis subverts and deepens the school adventure yarn and asks if anyone can escape their fate.” – The Independent
“You’re drawn in by its strange world and you come to care about its characters, and both are so vivid that the result is an outstanding piece of work.” – SFX Magazine
“A graphic novel of incredible resonance and absolute, inscrutable beauty, at once a coming-of-age and coming-to-terms tale…” – Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Scarper Lee is facing his death day in a world without birthdays where lives proceed in reverse. His dad is a metal leviathan on wheels, chained to the ground in the family's garage; gods sing and scream throughout the house; and knives rain from the sky. Scarper does his best to stick to his schedule, even as his new schoolmate, Vera Pike, tries to shake up his routine. Scraper, Vera, and their pal Castro are pursued across the country by the law, in the form of an elderly couple riding around in some sort of horseless carriage, after Scraper's father disappears. This is a weird story with a lot of potential, but Scarper and his heavy and moody eyebrows never make much of a connection with the reader. The art by Davis (Don Quixote) is well conceived, full of shadows and strange shapes, but the narrative feels like a fairly normal coming-of-age story that has had some strange visuals layered onto it. The last third is the best, when Scarper and the gang are on the run. Davis leaves room at the for a sequel; if there is one in the words, hopefully Davis will find a way in it to breathe more life into his surreal world.
