Blankets

by Craig Thompson
Blankets
book data
5,036 ratings, 4.13 average rating, 803 reviews (more data...)
edit

published
August 6th 2003 by Top Shelf Productions

binding
Paperback, 592 pages

characters

isbn
1891830430    (isbn13: 9781891830433)

description
From the author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling graphic novel, Good-Bye, Chunky Rice, comes Craig Thompson's all-new masterpiece. Blanket...more




Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.


topics  posts  views  last activity   
50 Books A Year: Who Are You? 131 373 1 hour, 42 min ago  
The Next Best Boo...: Your Latest Splurge 5968 6295 3 hours, 6 min ago  
50 Books A Year: Graphic Novels 5 31 2 days ago, 04:33PM  
The Book Challenge: Justine's 2009 Book Challenge 123 351 3 days ago, 08:12PM  

friend reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 6,350)

sort: default (?) | date
filters: all | text-only


Jace
10/24/07
Jace rated it: 2 of 5 stars

bookshelves: comics
Read in October, 2007
Having produced this illustrated autobiography of his formative years, Thompson certainly deserves credit for an ambitious undertaking. His illustrations are the shining accomplishment of this book; cartoony, yet humanly realistic, they exude a youthful enthusiasm. Definitely a memorable drawing style, it almost makes Blankets worth a read in-and-of-itself.

Though well intentioned, I felt that the "plot" of Blankets fell short of what it promised. The bulk of the story rev...more
Like this review?   yes   (13 people liked it)
  add a comment

Tom
08/23/08
Tom rated it: 1 of 5 stars

Read in August, 2008
**warning-sacrilege ahead** No offense to any of you bible thumpers out there, but religion makes me feel like I'm sitting on the lap of a Viagra addicted mall Santa. Pretty uncomfortable. I have to admit I have an extreme ignorance of Christianity or whatever cult this book draws its inspiration from, but shame on any denomination that makes you feel ashamed to masturbate or banishes you to purgatory for touching a girl’s earlobe. I guess after I die I'm going to the big barbecue in the unde...more
Like this review?   yes   (9 people liked it)
  7 comments

Greg
01/18/09
Greg rated it: 3 of 5 stars

bookshelves: graphic-novels
Read in January, 2009
A few years ago when part of this book was in the McSweeney's Graphic Novel issue I really liked it. I remember it being on of the stories that made me want to go out and by the book. I didn't go out and buy it though because it was just too damn expensive for me, sure the book looked nice but spending thirty bucks on a graphic novel that I'd read in an hour or so didn't seem worth it.

Now I have finally read it. If I had rated Blankets as soon as I finished it I would have given...more
Like this review?   yes   (7 people liked it)
  5 comments

Damecatoe
08/01/07
Damecatoe rated it: 3 of 5 stars

bookshelves: comics-graphic_novels
Read in January, 2007
I can’t recall where I heard about this graphic novel, but I put it on my Amazon wishlist and dad got it for me for Christmas.

I took it with me to my prenatal checkup on Tuesday, and I’m glad I did, cause I sat in the waiting room for 40 minutes. During that time, I got so far along in the story that I decided to finish it in one day. I wish I hadn’t. If I hadn’t taken it to bed with me, I could have gone to sleep at least one day loving the story. Instead, I went to sleep sa...more
Like this review?   yes   (7 people liked it)
  2 comments

Seth Hahne
06/28/07
Seth Hahne rated it: 5 of 5 stars

bookshelves: graphic-novels
Read in January, 2003
The sweetly disturbing sentimental journey that was seeded in Craig Thompson's Goodbye Chunky Rice finds pregnant fruit in his nearly-600-page opus, Blankets. Semi-autobiographically chronicling (via chrono-thematic structuring) his early life - from his establishment in faith and his discovery of love to his abandonment of that love and his subsequent abandonment of faith - Thompson plays honestly at all times with his story elements, thereby lending his tale an uncanny credibility. And while f...more
Like this review?   yes   (7 people liked it)
  add a comment

The Fza
01/02/08
The Fza rated it: 5 of 5 stars

bookshelves: graphic-novel
A few years ago I was lent a book called "Blankets" which I read on the 5 hour trip back from New York City on a Sunday. Now to say the 600 pages just few by would not be an exaggeration. I was done with the book before we hit the Massachusetts border. I knew very little about the book, save for the blurbs on the cover, nor had I heard of it's writer/artist, Craig Thompson, before. But my friend, a struggling journalist living in Queens, told me that 'Blankets' was a semi-autobiographi...more
Like this review?   yes   (4 people liked it)
  1 comment

Leslie
02/18/08
Leslie rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: graphic-novels
Read in April, 2008
recommended to Leslie by: Wallreader
recommends it for: contemplative types who had to go to church camp
This is a beautiful and true depiction of first love. One of the best of its kind, I think.

Thompson has said that he wrote and illustrated this - the longest graphic novel to date - in order to describe what it feels like to sleep next to someone for the first time ... a simple goal that he accomplishes with almost heart-breaking tenderness.

The novel's structure seems to me very important. After the first chapter establishes his isolated, rural, fundamentalist childhood...more
Like this review?   yes   (3 people liked it)
  add a comment

Jeff
11/19/07
Jeff rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in November, 2007
recommends it for: People who like pretty smells.
So I used to collect comics, the capes kind. Every week, every Wednesday afternoon, I’d find myself at some comics shop buying Iron Man, and The Fantastic Four, and Superman, and Batman, and other kinds of men, all wearing tights and capes, and it took me a few years, but eventually I realized superhero comics are generally boring. I once read an interview with Brian Bendis (current comics scribe wunderkind) and he said, “Comics are all second act.” Meaning there is no third act. No one...more
Like this review?   yes   (3 people liked it)
  add a comment

Theresa
03/05/08
Theresa rated it: 5 of 5 stars

bookshelves: art, fiction
Read in March, 2008
recommends it for: anyone who loves art or anyone who wants to read a good love story.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?   yes   (2 people liked it)
  add a comment

Dyana
02/27/08
Dyana rated it: 5 of 5 stars

bookshelves: romance
Read in February, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?   yes   (2 people liked it)
  add a comment

marissa
06/24/07
marissa rated it: 3 of 5 stars

Read in November, 2006
I started reading Blankets huddled up in bed while I was stuck at a friend's apartment, snowed in; it was really the perfect circumstance given that the story starts with Craig (the character) and his younger brother Phil in bed. And frankly, those were the best parts of the book in my opinion, Craig's recollections of his childhood.

Because once he grew to teenagerhood and met the love of his life, Raina, the book became all about their True Love Completely Unlike Love Anybody Else E...more
Like this review?   yes   (2 people liked it)
  add a comment

Shannon
04/29/08
Shannon rated it: 2 of 5 stars

bookshelves: graphic-novels
Read in July, 2008
recommends it for: sentimental religious teenagers with stars in their eyes who burn things dramatically
It started out so cutely and well drawn.. and I guess it remained both of those things. But the cuteness, at a certain point (the point of teenager-hood) was no longer cute to me. (All the stuff that took place in childhood, however, I thought was well done- especially the portrayal of adults). The lack of me finding it cute was largely because I couldn't relate (I WAS NEVER THAT CUTE OR INNOCENT). Also, I lack the ability to empathize with the main guy's struggle with his relationship with "...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  1 comment

MAMA CIERRA
03/26/08
MAMA CIERRA rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in February, 2008
Blankets by Craig Thompson covered me with deep thoughts, this book took me away. I Wrapped myself in this story of his life, taking in every bit of warmth and understanding it could give me. I took every lesson that could be learned from this book and hid it under my pillow. Craig's illustrations are intense, with just ink you can feel the characters emotions. The pictures tell half of the story them selves. You can feel the temptation, the embarrassment, and anger just by studying a drawing. T...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  add a comment

Larissa
03/09/08
Larissa rated it: 3 of 5 stars

Read in March, 2008
My co-worker, an expert in the realm of comics and graphic novels, lent Blankets to me along with Watchmen and I finally got around to reading it. It's a sweet story, well-suited to a lazy-Saturday read in bed, and certainly recommended to anyone for whom the experiences of religious youth expeditions (with their faux bonding, lame gestures at hipness--read: "Contemporary Worship"--and repressed doubt) are distant enough memories to be amusing now. The art was also impressive--varied a...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  add a comment

SVK
02/18/08
SVK rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2005
recommended to SVK by: Maria VanTol
recommends it for: People looking for a good 1st graphic novel
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  add a comment

Peter
06/25/07
Peter rated it: 5 of 5 stars

recommends it for: Everyone Everywhere
I would like to run up to your face, screaming about how you must read Blankets, but would become embarrassed as I approached, and in the end merely whisper.

Blankets is not the most original of stories. No story about a romance between two teenagers can be. The said fact that art has tried to imitate this part of life so often that, no matter the specific horrors of Craig Thompson's own experience, it reads as art about life trying to imitate art. If it were a movie, it would bo...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  add a comment

Jeremy
05/30/07
Jeremy rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Unless it comes with a device that magically produces a boundless supply of delicious cookies when I verbally specify into a tiny speaker what kind I want, I seriously doubt that I will ever read a better graphic novel than "Blankets".

Does it help that I came of age during the '80s with a fundamentalist Christian family in a small town? It certainly enhanced my enjoyment, but judging from the reviews I've seen here and elsewhere, a scant, detestable few have failed to fin...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  1 comment

Lilburninbean
12/08/08
Lilburninbean rated it: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book in one sitting, under a lot of blankets. It's a courageous story to tell and ends more hopefully than I expected it would. What strikes me about this graphic novel is Thompson's unique stylistic choices about what pieces of his stories could be represented through image, text, and both at once. There are so many fine details about each character, cherished items, and landscape (the snow descriptions are amazing), and these details come through not only because of the print la...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  add a comment

Jen-ee-fah
04/06/09
Jen-ee-fah rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in February, 2004
I think everyone who has ever been in a meaningful relationship has to read Craig Thompson's "Blankets." It is so masterfully written and beautiful. The art is amazing and stunning. I just can't put it down. I've already read it twice now. Love it!
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  add a comment

Angie
10/16/07
Angie rated it: 3 of 5 stars

bookshelves: graphic-novels
Read in October, 2007
I read this in one sitting. (Thickest graphic novel I've ever read.) I rate it only three stars because I wasn't sure what to do with all the religious parts---long Biblical quotes. The protagonist's religious upbringing is at odds with his sexual desires, and maybe it's just fine that the protagonist never felt that he had it all figured out. But the religious references were so long and specific that I somehow felt the need for the protagonist to either support them or scoff at them. He d...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  1 comment


« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 317 318


recent status updates | recommend it | blog it

Blankets (Taschenbuch)
Blankets manteau de neige (Broché)
En Dyne af Sne
Blankets: Pod Śnieżną Kołderką (Paperback)
Blankets (Hardcover)







quotes from this book

"How satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface. To make a map of my movement - no matter how temporary." More quotes...


groups with this book

On Reading Graphic Novels
Books on the Nightstand
Girls Who Read Graphic Novels
Evil Avatar
genre X






Good-bye, Chunky Rice (Paperback) by Craig Thompson
Carnet De Voyage (Travel Journal) by Craig Thompson
Dark Horse Deluxe Journal: Craig Thompson's Angels and Demons (S... by Craig Thompson
The ABCs of Black History (Hardcover) by Craig Thompson
The Police State: What you want to know about the Soviet Union (... by Craig Thompson

More…