Ethel & Ernest: A True Story Summary and Reviews

Ethel & Ernest: A True Story
by Raymond Briggs

Ethel & Ernest: A True Story
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Book Summary Information

Author: Raymond Briggs
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-10-23
ISBN: 0375714472
Number of pages: 104
Publisher: Pantheon

Book Reviews of Ethel & Ernest: A True Story

Book Review: A Domestic Epic
Summary: 5 Stars

If you care at all about graphic novels (or good storytelling!), and have read Spiegelman's Maus I & II, this is the next book to snap up. Briggs, better known for Father Christmas and The Snowman, demonstrates a novelistic range in this short, but expressive book that traces his parents' courtship, marriage, and death. The book is masterfully developed through short scenes, often in the most mundane moments of life imaginable (trading barbs about politics, marveling at modern inventions, worrying about their son). Even in the midst of war, the couple plods on, preparing tea and fixing up the place, expressing love in these minute domestical details. You really come to know and care about this couple, and the son as well, as he gradually takes his place in the story.

The artwork is immaculate and deserves to be "read" on its own. This is a literal world to inhabit, with every detail remembered and re-created. While many graphic novels have crude, or more expressionistic drawings, Briggs creates a sumptuous tableau of the everyday life as filtered through his unique sensibility. The book ends far too quickly, but it never gets old...I will enjoy reading this again and again over the years.

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