City of Glass: Graphic Novel

STILL ENJOYABLE

Excellent reinvention of the original book.

I haven't read any Paul Auster novels; I've tried, but gave up, and to be honest this story didn't really convince me otherwise. But while the tale itself is only OK, the way in which it's told is fantastic. Paul Karasik and David Mazuchelli combine really well to create a story that's very well paced and, despite a lot of talking heads, never dull. A 9-panel grid is used throughout, but like Watchmen the grid becomes an essential part of the storytelling and frees rather than constrains.As a story I can take this or leave it, but as a piece of comic art this is essential.

The first book of Auster's New York trilogy was originally published in 1985, and in 1994 was adapted into this graphic novel. I've never read the original (or any of the other parts of the trilogy), so I can't comment on Karasik and Mazzicchelli's adaptation. However, I can say that since I'm not particularly fond of existentialist or postmodernist literature (those two terms being the most common critical shorthand for Auster's story), this really didn't do anything for me at all. The story is basically an exercise in metafiction, and if you like that stuff, great -- I do not. It is dressed up (at least initially) in the mystery genre, but that's just window dressing. (There's a long legacy, especially in France, of cloaking novels and films of ideas in genre trappings (for example Alain Robbe-Grillet's two books The Erasers and The Voyeur, or the films of Jean-Pierre Melville.)The story begins fairly straightforwardly: a reclusive writer of potboiler mysteries named Daniel Quinn lives in New York on his own since the death of his wife and son. A complete stranger calls him and thinks Quinn is a private detective named Paul Auster and begs him to to take his case. (The writer Paul Auster, and his family, shows up for one scene -- it's that kind of book.) Quinn meets with the strange man, who was raised in rather harrowing circumstances by his professor father, who was seeking to discover the true language of God. The father has been released from jail and Quinn is supposed to keep an eye on him and report. Everything starts to derail when he loses track of both the old man he's been following, and his clients. He spends several months watching the building and going crazy. Once he realizes they've disappeared, he finds his own life has disappeared as well. Obviously this is all somewhat about identity, but it's more about fun stuff like language, representation, and other tiresome postmodern subjects (as are the other two parts of the trilogy, which involve a man spying on someone, and yet another disappearance).It has to be said that the artwork does an admirable job of treating the bizarro world Auster has thrust his characters into. The simple, heavy black and white inking is a perfect match to the material, especially when the representations become less literal and more symbolic. However, if your taste runs more toward things like plots and characters, this is probably not for you. Fans of Auster may enjoy this, but fans of the graphic novel form are probably going to be much less keen.

This is a poor adaptation of a metaphysical novel. The confusing nature of the source material is part of the problem. Much of it is just illustrating the text, which is a weak way of telling a story, and at times the chosen images are just too clunkily literal. It does have some good artistic ideas, but the overall effect is wasted. It's annoying this was hailed as an example of a comic as literature (is that just because it's an illustrated version of a novel?) when there are great 'true' comics out there.

This is a brilliant adaption of the original book. A really pleasant surprise as often adaptians can kill the original article, but not in this case. Strongly recommend that you have a look at this book.

Weird enough drawings to complete a complex story. The story is better if you hsve read some other book of Paul Auster.

This is an excellent graphic novel adaptation of Paul Auster's City of Glass. It is well worth for any Auster enthusiast or for anyone who enjoy's graphic novels.