Blankets by Craig Thompson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Blankets
Book Review: Beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
Like a magic carpet, Blankets carries the reader back to that achingly beautiful (and sometimes just plain aching) time of teenage searching, awkwardness, and first love. Craig and Raina are both dealing with their own complicated issues when they meet at church camp over winter vacation. The free-spirited Raina struggles with her parents' impending divorce; Craig is haunted by childhood bullying and sexual abuse, and his sensitive, creative personality makes him an outsider at his small, rural school. Throughout the story, he also wrestles with his fundamentalist Christian upbringing and the guilt it has instilled in him. Though he finds comfort and meaning in the spiritual side of his faith, he becomes increasingly alienated from its other aspects. In the midst of these private battles, Craig and Raina find solace in a relationship filled with all the magic, passion, and fragility young love entails.
Blankets resembles other memoirs such as Maus and Persepolis in that its graphic novel format and evocative art add a rich emotional texture to the story. The story takes place in a snow-covered Midwest, and the wintry scenes evoke the stark outside world of bullies and overbearing, quarreling adults from which Craig and Raina find a warm refuge in each other.
This is one of those novels that stays with you long after you put it down. It beautifully captures the essence of what it is to be a teenager, and one feels that Thompson truly put his heart on the page in creating it.
Book Review: Beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
Craig Thompson shows what can be done with graphic novels. The writing, the story, and the art combine to make one of the best books I've read in the last year. There are plenty of reviews that will give you a more in depth look into the book, but until you read it for yourself I don't think you can understand the experience. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.Book Review: Beautiful little story.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is truly the most personal, beautiful thing I've ever read. You'll want all your friends to read it.Book Review: Beautiful story with appropriate illustrations
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this book a few years ago right as I was graduating high school. It resonated with me then and it still does today. I have my own copy now and every few months I take it out and read it again. Whether you've already had that first love that changes your life forever, as Craig did, or you're still waiting to experience that kind of love you will thoroughly enjoy this book. The story is just great and Craig's illustrations complement the text perfectly. I wasn't a fan of graphic novels until I read this book, now I have a new appreciation for them.Book Review: Beautiful, heartfelt, and sad
Summary: 5 Stars
Craig Thompson is without a doubt one of the premiere graphic novelists of our time. Although this is only his second major novel (the first being 1999's "Good-Bye, Chunky Rice"), Mr. Thompson has already cemented himself as a force to be reckoned with (watch out, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and co.). His artwork is simply enchanting, his pacing is perfect, and his stories are deeply heartfelt and personal.
"Blankets" is a poignant, touching (and even saddening) retelling of Craig's early life: his experiences with his family, at school, at church... and it's also a love story. Rarely have I been so moved or affected by such a work of art/writing- it brought about a lot of introspection of my own life. It's also extremely difficulty to put down this book once you begin reading it, so allow plenty of time to become totally absorbed in this magnificent story.
It should be noted that this is not simply a teenage love story (albeit a very well-written one), but also a philosophical work, probing into questions of faith and existence. (minor spoilers ahead) Craig was raised in a Christian household where he was taught that the Bible is true, Jesus is the way, etc. As the story progresses he comes to realize that what he's been taught about the Bible since he was little is full of faults and contradictions. Eventually, he rejects Christianity and chooses his own path in life.
Here's my take on the issue of faith vs. truth that the writer raises: the problem with Christianity and other religions is that truth is too often overlooked or even ignored- blind faith becomes the norm. We are told to believe in Jesus or Allah or whoever and to follow a set of rules and laws without ever being told why these things are true or right. This is just wrong- one's worldview needs to be grounded in truth; i.e., one should take a "scientific" approach that relies on verifiable evidence to back one's beliefs (otherwise everything is simply relative and who's to say that you're not right and I'm wrong?). I ask that you take the same approach by looking at the evidence before you dismiss Christianity; please do not take for granted what you think to be true (as I too often have done). I would recommend "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell as a good starting place. The worst that can happen is that you come away better equipped to refute your Christian friend's claims.
I greatly appreciated Craig's search for the truth and his honest description of himself and his life. In the end, I feel that he was betrayed- betrayed by his parents, betrayed by his peers, betrayed by his pastor, his peers, and, yes, betrayed by Raina... and, most of all, he was betrayed by God (or at least the God he knew). I wish the best of success to Craig in his future endeavors- hopefully not too far along in the future!
A note on the content of this novel: there is nudity, brief profanity, and other "mature" adult themes; in other words, this is not a kid's comic book, say like Calvin and Hobbes (if Blankets were made into a movie, it'd probably be rated PG-13). And don't think that you won't be impacted or affected by this book- you will.
Oh, and lastly, I just wanted to say: GO PACKERS!!!