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How the world was : a California childhood

by Guibert, Emmanuel,

Format: Print Book 2014
Availability: Unavailable 0 of 1 copy

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Location Collection Status
CLP - Main Library First Floor - Graphic Non-Fiction CHECKED OUT
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor - Graphic Non-Fiction
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 

Summary

In 1994, French cartoonist Emmanuel Guibert befriended an American veteran named Alan Cope and began creating his new friend's graphic biography. Alan's War was the surprising and moving result: the story of Cope's experiences as an American GI in France during World War II.

How the World Was is Emmanuel Guibert's moving return to documenting the life of his friend. Cope died several years ago, as Guibert was just beginning work on this book, but Guibert has kept working to commit his friend's story to paper. Cope grew up in California during the great depression, and this remarkable graphic novel details the little moments that make a young man's life...while capturing the scope of America during the great depression.

A lyrical, touching portrait, How the World Was is a gift for a dear friend in the last moments of his life... and also a meditation on the birth of modern America.

Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "A quiet footnote to Alan's War (2008), this biography fills in the details of the future G.I.'s childhood in Southern California. Without a specific narrative thrust, the tale is told anecdotally as Alan Cope looks back from his old age at his steadfast father, his beloved mother, and a wide array of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, and friends. Cope's way with a story brings a child's feelings on family, class, and responsibility into charming, thoughtful, and sometimes profound perspective. Guibert's artistic versatility serves him well, departing from the zanier style on display in his children's books to deliver grainy, sepia-toned images that suggest the distance of a bygone age, often suspended in white backgrounds as though summoned up from a partial but vibrant memory, while sacrificing none of the humanity necessary to convey emotional weight. Much like sitting at the knee of a favorite grandfather and listening to his gentle musing, right down to an occasionally aimless ramble, this is a gentle, heartfelt, and interesting journey for a lazy afternoon.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2014 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "After the critical success of his most recent book, Alan's War, Guibert returns with the story of his friend Alan Cope's childhood in Depression-era California. The book pairs lyrical, surprising, and weird stories with Guibert's evocative drawings that always complement the elegant prose. This book is a masterpiece: vignettes from Cope's childhood make the portrait of a rare yet typical soul. The conclusion is heartbreaking and devastating-the illustrations, which are gorgeous yet informal throughout, render Cope's face awake in the night with exquisite detail. He is not afraid to plumb embarrassing and difficult subjects, such as masturbation, family alienation, and his own selfishness, especially a particularly chilling moment he regretted all his life. Whether Cope is failing to see the ugliness of a neighbor girl or catching black widows at dawn or riding a precarious homemade office through his neighborhood, his life's journey-so odd yet so ordinary-casts a spell it's impossible to turn away from, and Guibert's evocation of it is unforgettable. This is a magical and important work of art. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Cope, Alan Ingram, -- 1925-1999 -- Childhood and youth -- Comic books, strips, etc.
Depressions -- 1929 -- California -- Comic books, strips, etc.
California -- Biography -- Comic books, strips, etc.
California -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Comic books, strips, etc.
Comic books, strips, etc.
Graphic novels.
Publisher New York :First Second,2014
Edition First American edition.
Other Titles Enfance d'Alan.
Contributors Pulver, Kathryn, translator.
Language English
In Spanish, translated from the French.
Notes Translation of: L'enfance d'Alan.
"Originally published in French by L'Association as L'enfance d'Alan"--Colophon.
Description 159 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
ISBN 9781596436640 (pbk.) :
1596436646 (pbk.)
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