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275th out of 1,498 books
—
3,014 voters
Dogs and Water
Dogs and Water chronicles a piece of a lonely journey, without origin or destination. A young man wandering a nameless path has only a stuffed bear as a companion, which inertly endures his desperation, anger, and musings along the way. The landscape is cold and bleak with few landmarks, and offers only precarious encounters with animals and armed men. These interactions a...more
Hardcover, 96 pages
Published
August 7th 2007
by Drawn and Quarterly
(first published 2004)
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Sad, lonely, surreal... and really funny. This guys traveling down a seemingly endless road toward a vast emptiness with nothing but a teddy bear strapped to his backpack and a sack lunch. The "conversations" he has with the bear are the best part, particularly when, too wounded too carry on, the protagonist asks the bear if he should untie him, so that he can carry on without him. Bahaha.
Visually satisfying, but nothin' fancy. Simple line drawings and perfectly sparse language (lots of ums, uhs...more
Visually satisfying, but nothin' fancy. Simple line drawings and perfectly sparse language (lots of ums, uhs...more
It is hard to say that I read this book. There are not words on many of the pages. So I feel like I looked at the story rather than read it and while looking I may not have seen everything that I should have. Apparently I am not alone in my bewilderment. The Washington Post reviewer wrote (this book) "will leave you wondering if you've read a book or walked through a dream".
The tale lasts less than 100 pages with two main characters on a journey. I wanted to say that there wasn't much action, bu...more
The tale lasts less than 100 pages with two main characters on a journey. I wanted to say that there wasn't much action, bu...more
A short graphic novel, taking part in some kind of desert wasteland (maybe post-apocalyptic?). The drawings are simple, reminding me of Douglas Coupland's drawings in "Life After God," but where that book had some hope this one didn't so much.
I gave it two stars on the first reading, but three after thinking about it and reading through it again, and thought about four. It's rather hopeless, but I was reminded of a quote by Flannery O'Connor, saying something about how people without hope don't...more
I gave it two stars on the first reading, but three after thinking about it and reading through it again, and thought about four. It's rather hopeless, but I was reminded of a quote by Flannery O'Connor, saying something about how people without hope don't...more
un ragazzino con un orsacchiotto legato allo zaino cammina in un paesaggio deserto: prima è una strada, di quelle che nel nostro immaginario ormai sono le route americane che si avventurano nei paesi dell’interno; poi è una piana vuota di persone, popolata solo da cani randagi e all’improvviso tagliata da una lunga condotta; a tratti è il mare.
un lieve senso di angoscia e un lieve disegno perfetto, in questo fumetto che mi ha fatto conoscere Anders Nilsen dopo la favolosa mostra a Bologna.
come...more
un lieve senso di angoscia e un lieve disegno perfetto, in questo fumetto che mi ha fatto conoscere Anders Nilsen dopo la favolosa mostra a Bologna.
come...more
the art is really wonderful, but the story isn't there. while the words and pictures succeed in evoking loneliness, the (sort of) endless journey of life, the need for companionship, the brutality of human contact, none of it ever coalesced into something that i will take very far with me. but really: the art is beautiful.
I saw somewhere - either in the description on goodreads, or the inset of the book - the word "minimalist." That really hit the nail on its stylistic head.
I don't know if you all come across books that, once you finish it you say to yourself, "huh... I could give that book anywhere from 1 star to 5... How does that even happen?"
I can't answer the "How does that happen" part, but I felt that way.
The book felt like a dream about loneliness, only there seemed to be dream sequences (drawn with blue...more
I don't know if you all come across books that, once you finish it you say to yourself, "huh... I could give that book anywhere from 1 star to 5... How does that even happen?"
I can't answer the "How does that happen" part, but I felt that way.
The book felt like a dream about loneliness, only there seemed to be dream sequences (drawn with blue...more
Anders Nilsen, Dogs and Water (Drawn and Quarterly, 2007)
Dogs and Water is quite unlike any other graphic novel I've ever run across; if you turn your head and squint right, it's got a bit of Renee French running through it, but without a shred of the absurdity French brings to her wonderful little books. Or Shaun Tan without the fantasy elements, or the hope. Nilsen (Monologues for the Coming Plague) has crafted something here that's deeply depressing, lonely, and yet compelling enough that onc...more
Dogs and Water is quite unlike any other graphic novel I've ever run across; if you turn your head and squint right, it's got a bit of Renee French running through it, but without a shred of the absurdity French brings to her wonderful little books. Or Shaun Tan without the fantasy elements, or the hope. Nilsen (Monologues for the Coming Plague) has crafted something here that's deeply depressing, lonely, and yet compelling enough that onc...more
Dogs and Water is a challenging work, and constitutes a fine argument as to why modern comics are fully capable of making significant artistic statements. Nilsen delivers a stirring emotional tale with a carefully measured pace, and employs substantial white space and stretches of wordless action that collectively serve to draw the reader slowly, but thoroughly, into this highly original coming-of-age tale. Given the sparse and violent wasteland that his protagonist navigates, Nilsen does a trem...more
When I saw the cover of this book, I immediately thought of my husband, who loves dogs, hoodies, and AK-47s. (Teddy bears, not so much.) It struck me that if I could find him a pooch who fetches Kalashnikovs, his life just might be complete.
This was an unusual, dreamlike graphic novel. The protagonist is wandering aimlessly through an unidentified, war-torn region with only a teddy bear as company. We get the distinct sense he is losing his mind.
I really wish all of the illustrations were as cl...more
This was an unusual, dreamlike graphic novel. The protagonist is wandering aimlessly through an unidentified, war-torn region with only a teddy bear as company. We get the distinct sense he is losing his mind.
I really wish all of the illustrations were as cl...more
Nothing like reading an Anders Nilsen graphic novel to make a person think about how bad her life is not. Things might be sucky, but I'm not wandering alone through the desert or a snowstorm. I'm not alone in a dinghy having lost all my fuel, the motor, the oars. I don't have to choose between shooting the mortally injured pilot begging for death and the child holding the assault rifle. And I'm not being followed by a pack of dogs who while licking my hands affectionately are assuredly trailing...more
Nilsen is one of the most hyped of the younger generation of comic guys, but there's simply no representative work yet that encapsulates why. Dogs and Water is certainly atmospheric and moody - the lone protagonist wanders a vaguely post-apocalyptic landscape with his stuffed bear companion, occasionally finding bodies, wreckage, and wild animals - but there's no story to speak of, only stark and minimal images. And like Lilli Carre's equally vibe-soaked but ultimately empty "The Lagoon," the wh...more
Hmm. This novel took about 10-15 minutes to read. It is in that youth-angst-depressed vein that I dislike now that I'm middle-aged and not driven by so much angst (or not in that young adult vein, anyway).
Yet, I like the stark art, the stark story that is barely a story, and the stark setting. Gleaning much out of the story is beside the point. It is the ride that makes it interesting, and thankfully, not in a drug-dream fashion.
I'm struggling to put any sense to a book that isn't meant to hav...more
Yet, I like the stark art, the stark story that is barely a story, and the stark setting. Gleaning much out of the story is beside the point. It is the ride that makes it interesting, and thankfully, not in a drug-dream fashion.
I'm struggling to put any sense to a book that isn't meant to hav...more
In an early scene in Dogs and Water our central character picks a fist fight with a buck deer for biting his teddy bear. The dear wins because it has no fists but a clobbering rack of antlers. Later in this Euripides-like journey, our character runs into a pack of dogs that actually eat his teddy bear and then befriends him, welcoming him to the pack. They take him to the buck who may have antler pounded him into the ground, who they have already started to eat. The scene where he sleeps with th...more
Dogs and Water is a chilling, existential graphic novel about just that. The unnamed protagonist is wandering through a vast but flexible landscape, probably of his own imagination, with a teddy bear strapped to a backpack for company. The nature of his journey is unclear and mysterious, and his encounters with animals and people he meets along the way are just as elusive. The book is simultaneously very personal and very distant, and in its totality shows a quiet, desperate beauty.
I've never re...more
I've never re...more
On one family vacation, we ended up in the emergency room, waiting for doctors to remove a large bead from my three-year-old sister’s ear. When she emerged, hearing clearly again, she had only one explanation: “The bear did it.” We never met the imaginary bear, but we never figured out how the bead got in her ear, either. Anders Nilsen’s Dogs and Water is a little like that.
Nilsen renders his landscape in sparse black and white drawings that limit details to the most suggestive elements, wildly...more
Nilsen renders his landscape in sparse black and white drawings that limit details to the most suggestive elements, wildly...more
I'm not sure what to think of this book. Is it a metaphor of the journey of life seemingly coming from nothing and at the same time going nowhere? Does the bear represent the boy's relationship with a God? Is God real, or is he just a burden to carry? How is the water scene related? Does it matter who we meet in life and how we interact? It is beautifully drawn and the story is well written, and maybe that is why I want more answers.Maybe it is simply just about dogs and water.
Oh strange eerie bad dream comics. Anders Nilsen you're kind of in the same school as John Porcellino and I'm really learning to like that school, but ... there could be a little more of a point, a little bit more of the disclosure of your own sadness/despair/whatever. Nonetheless, beautiful, good use of negative space (fancy commentary, me!). I'll keep absentmindedly picking your sad stuff up at the library.
Try this sometime: read this while in transit; headphones on, "Yanqui UXO" by Godspeed You Black Emperor playing: great soundtrack for it.
In the end, I was left with 2 sentiments: I would have loved this more back in my 20s; if I had known they were going to publish stuff like this now, I'd have made more of an effort in my 20s.
Like the book, we walk on, dogs at our heels.
Let me get my AK...
In the end, I was left with 2 sentiments: I would have loved this more back in my 20s; if I had known they were going to publish stuff like this now, I'd have made more of an effort in my 20s.
Like the book, we walk on, dogs at our heels.
Let me get my AK...
This one hurt. After a shy and ridiculous correspondence involving an intermediary, I was able to get my copy signed, having missed my opportunity at a recent SPEXPO. Thanks Anders! I have a tremendous amount of respect for Nilsen's work and his willingness to tread some seriously raw and personal territory. He perfects simplicity, quietude, and human tension in his work. Wonderful stuff.
There's a really beautiful dreamlike quality to the work, and the spacing and framing of each panel feels so effortlessly thought out and yet so perfect. I get the impression that whenever I read this next I will have an entirely new take on what the journey this character is taking (will always be taking?) means and how that fits into the larger picture of society as a whole. Expert stuff.
Anders Nilsen builds grandiose emotional architecture from something as simple as the white space that goes unused in the borders of these desolate drawings. The surrealism of this graphic novel approaches dream chronicle, but there is something very resonant about the idea of an aimless journey that feels relatable, regardless of station in life or religious value. It's the kind of story that leaves plenty of room for its reader to interpret, and it's clear that Nilsen wanted to leave these pos...more
Does anyone remember Eraserhead, and how EVERYONE was frothing about how deep and MEANINGFUL it all was? And how really it was just bunk and that no one had balls enough to say 'you know guys, this is just more pointless wierd.'? That's this graphic novel. Its not meaningful. Its not deep. Its just more dead trees. Poor trees. There are intentionally no stars. If I could assign negative stars, a veritable black hole of them, I would. So there.
The best description I found of this was written on the back of the book - "Nilsen uses spare renderings that will leave you wondering if you've if you've read a book or walked through a dream." Haunting and strange, and I'm not really sure what the point of the book is, but it does leave you thinking about it.
I love Anders Nilsen. I think more often than not, when reading his books, the appreciation you feel for the author all arrives in a rush at the end. This book, like Monologues for the Coming Plague, was just like that. Even better, I read it in a day. Now that's instant gratification when it comes to reading.
The illustration was fantastic in this collection, but the story (if it should be called that) was very disjointed, and I couldn't help but think that if I had read this more broken up, weekly or further apart, it would have come across as a better production because I wouldn't be wondering week to week why one slightly related set follows another, like I did page to page with this book.
the cover of a dog holding a rifle in its mouth is probably the best part of this book. other than that, the story just kinda sucks- fine concept, no real substance. i like the dude's art, and if he has another project that i find randomly in the library, i'll check it out
It's like a dreamy comics version of The Road. He's on a journey to nowhere in particular, surrounded by nothing, and his company is a stuffed teddy bear who is encouraging him to go on even when he thinks--knows--it's pointless. A bleak but excellent story.
Short, enduring story that's vaguely post-apocalyptic but never reveals its back story. Instead it focuses almost wholly on its main character's inner and outer turmoil as he crosses a barren, frozen plateau, encountering kids with guns and wild packs of family dogs.
Dreamlike and disorenting. There is a great scene at the end about choosing to help or not. A wounded soldier asks the drifter to shoot him, to put him out of his misery. The Drifter consideres it and this could be a teachable moment.
Having read Don't Go Where I Can't Follow before reading this, I can't help but feel they're interrelated, or rather that Dogs And Water is related to his late fiancee's passing. Dogs and Water is interesting, but not riveting.
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Anders Nilsen (born 1973) is a popular artist and graphic novelist who grew up in Minneapolis and lives in Chicago, IL.
He works on an ongoing comic series, Big Questions (Drawn and Quarterly), which has been nominated several times for the Ignatz Award. In addition, his comics have appeared in the anthologies Kramers Ergot[1] and Mome.[2] His graphic novel Dogs and Water won an Ignatz Award in 200...more
More about Anders Nilsen...
He works on an ongoing comic series, Big Questions (Drawn and Quarterly), which has been nominated several times for the Ignatz Award. In addition, his comics have appeared in the anthologies Kramers Ergot[1] and Mome.[2] His graphic novel Dogs and Water won an Ignatz Award in 200...more
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