Craig Thompson spent three months traveling through Barcelona, the Alps, and France, as well as Morocco, researching his next graphic novel, Hab...
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Jun 14, 2008
Carter
rated it: 
A sketchbook / travelogue of Thompson's journey around Europe and Morocco in 2004. Somewhat more intimate than his 2003 autobiographical GN, Blankets, Thompson doesn't shy away from calling out his own self-pity or his American perspective of foreign cultures.
I've always dreamed of traveling the world, but have always fallen short of the idea of setting out on my own. As much as I'd like to think of myself as a savvy traveler and socialite, I know that once on the road, alone, I'd fal More...
I've always dreamed of traveling the world, but have always fallen short of the idea of setting out on my own. As much as I'd like to think of myself as a savvy traveler and socialite, I know that once on the road, alone, I'd fal More...
Jun 01, 2008
Hillary
rated it: 
I probably preferred this to Blankets, partially because of lowered expectations, due to the form, a loose travel journal/sketchbook. Also, it helps that Thompson seems to have become a little less uptight, and the whining tends to be undercut with self-conscious acknowledgment and mocking of it. That's not true, however, for his use of the term "lover" throughout, which makes me cringe, accurate or not. The art is pretty wonderful, though, and inspiring (it would be more so if I could
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Dec 16, 2009
Walker
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Posing as a travel diary, this book ends up being about two thirds as much of a confessional bit of autobiography as was Blankets. Craig Thompson is a pretty likeable guy, at least on paper, and there's no reason not to root for him as he stumbles through a book tour of France and research trip through Morocco, plagued by loneliness, arthritis, and heartbreak.
I suppose this was the right time for me to read Carnet de Voyage, since I am also in a foreign country where I don't know ma More...
I suppose this was the right time for me to read Carnet de Voyage, since I am also in a foreign country where I don't know ma More...
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Feb 09, 2009
Mabel
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I read this not knowing what to expect, knowing that it would be a side project illustrated travel diary, and that the author has inserted a great, humble disclaimer as the introduction.
This would be the second book I'd read by Craig Thompson; the first was Blankets, which astounded me with its honest and affectionate autobiographical depictions of adolescence in Fundamentalist Evangelical American culture in the Midwest. More than anything, my jaw dropped and alternately lifted into a More...
This would be the second book I'd read by Craig Thompson; the first was Blankets, which astounded me with its honest and affectionate autobiographical depictions of adolescence in Fundamentalist Evangelical American culture in the Midwest. More than anything, my jaw dropped and alternately lifted into a More...
Jul 18, 2011
notyourmonkey
rated it:
This is one of those ratings that I fully admit may not be equally applicable to everyone picking up this book. Yes, it's very, very good, but what makes it a five star for me may not hold true for everyone else. But oh. For me? For me, this is the book I never knew I wanted to read until I held it in my hands, and once I did, I couldn't imagine not having read it before, much less not known about it before.
It's a graphic novel (check) slash travel journal (check) that's as much about More...
It's a graphic novel (check) slash travel journal (check) that's as much about More...
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May 27, 2009
The Loft
rated it:
This journal-as-graphic-novel chronicles a two month trip made by Craig Thompson, author of the amazing graphic novel, "Blankets", to Paris, Switzerland, and Morocco to attend book signings, give interviews, and promote his work. On his trip he is seized with illnesses, fatigue, severe hand pain, and loneliness and he captures all of these conditions with the most stunning, detailed, exquisitely rendered drawings. The section in which he visits Morocco is particularly impressive - hi
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Jan 18, 2009
Sarah
rated it: 
I would say a must for people who are huge fans of Graig Thompson's work. Not a linear story about his European book tour for Blankets, more a travelogue (something else native to Europe, particularly France) that involves some of the emotional duress Thompson experienced at the time, the book is raw, and in that respect, open and at times haunting (see the last page). At other times, one gets tired of reading page after page of Thompson's self-flagellation. His self-awareness helped craft tw
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Aug 19, 2011
Matt
rated it:
i found this illustrated travel journal utterly engrossing! It's a brutally intimate, open and honest insight into so much more than just Craig Thompson's travels through Europe and Morocco. It basically acts as a window into his very soul, allowing the reader to see incredible personal depth. When I read Thompson's master-work 'Blankets' a few years ago, I remember feeling such a strong connection with him and I felt every bit the same way reading this Carnet. My enjoyment reading this was heig
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Aug 23, 2009
Jennifer
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So when I reserved this book at the library I thought it was just a travelogue from an author traveling through Paris and Morocco. What I didn't realize (and surely would have had I read the reviews and the description more carefully...) was that it was a book of mostly pictures. The author is an artist and this was his drawings of his travels during a book tour for his first book Blankets (which I have not read) through Europe so I felt like I walked into the middle of a conversation that I
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Nov 02, 2010
Amanda
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"Carnet de Voyage" isn't the next novel by Craig Thompson (as he explains himself in the beginning of the book) but is a travel journal kept by Thompson as he traveled. The imagery (as always) is breath taking and simple, kept in the black and white motif Thompson is found of. The "story" of the novel is also enrapturing, just as simple, beautiful, and effective as his drawings. One quote in particular comes to mind. Thompson states, "You have so many layers, that yo
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Aug 10, 2009
Craig
rated it:
What can I say? I absolutely love Craig Thompson. I think he can honestly do no wrong.
I was a little nervous about this one as I had heard that it was very scattered with little narrative. Either I didn't notice that or else It was a beautiful enough collection that it just didn't bother me.
The art was gorgeous (I love his style). The thoughts written out really gave you a glimpse inside of Thompson's head and life and a great view of American culture in comparison to More...
I was a little nervous about this one as I had heard that it was very scattered with little narrative. Either I didn't notice that or else It was a beautiful enough collection that it just didn't bother me.
The art was gorgeous (I love his style). The thoughts written out really gave you a glimpse inside of Thompson's head and life and a great view of American culture in comparison to More...
Dec 11, 2011
Ula
rated it:
I picked this book up a year or so ago at a comic convention not long after reading Blankets but didn't get around to reading it until today. It's a simple sketchbook diary of a few months of travels in Morocco and Europe. I'm always impressed at the depth of emotion he can bring to seemingly simple black and white pictures. Being a lone traveler is exciting but also incredibly solitary and lonely. I've done it many times before and while I loved the places I went, there were moments of seve
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Nov 30, 2011
Clara
rated it: 
Praying Craig Thompson doesn’t read this - I feel like he has an hourly Google alert on his name despite his own better judgment - but I want this guy to shut up so much. I realise self-centeredness is the nature of his disease but Craig Thompson’s publishers let him get way too caught up in being Craig Thompson. Beautiful drawings but his constant nimrod editorialising about the “culture” around him was just so fucked. He seems to have this approach to non-American-Midwest places that recalls t
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Jan 07, 2012
Susan
rated it:
'Carnet de Voyage' is exactly that: a travel journal in graphic-novel/sketch format. I picked this up after reading 'Blankets,' and even though the Thompson clearly writes (on the first page), "This is not 'the Next Book", but rather a self-indulgent side project..." I didn't think it would be quite as mopey/depressed/woe-is-me that it was. That said, this WAS his journal, and he HAD recently been dumped by a long-time girlfriend, so who am I to judge? The honesty with which he
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Feb 01, 2011
Jessica
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Carnet De Voyage is Craig Thompson's travelogue compiled during the promotional tour of Blankets in which he traveled through France, Barcelona, and Morocco. Despite having not read Blankets I was still able to keep up with what was going on within the graphic novel. Craig Thompson's sketches were just absolutely beautiful; a perfect supplement to his small writings on love, American customs, and loneliness. Readers can also see the documentation and inspiration for his next novel Habibi. This w
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Mar 28, 2009
monica
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This book reminded me of two things that I wish I could do/do more often-draw and travel, respectively. Seeing as how neither of those are likely to occur in the near future, "Carnet de Voyage" provided the perfect escape to foreign and exotic locales, namely, France, Barcelona, Morocco and the Alps. Intended to be a sort of in-between breather to award-winning, "Blankets" and his highly-anticipated upcoming novel, "Habibi," I thought "Carnet" was the perf
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Apr 02, 2010
Josh
rated it:
"Back on a train again - this time to Marseille, where I meet my Portland friend Lucia who's lived off & on in Marseille for 3 and a half years. - We catch up on stories about our mutual friends, and about how much has changed since 'those simple days.' She's living in a quirky, kitsched-out art studio/apartment, which feels like Portland; and the illusion is extended by all-day rain."
As a native Oregonian, living away from my city, I fell in love with this book because of More...
As a native Oregonian, living away from my city, I fell in love with this book because of More...
Feb 28, 2010
Ginfur
rated it:
Loved this travel journal by Craig Thompson. From it, I learned not to travel alone, not to draw in the streets of Marrakesh and Morocco and to pretend to be Canadian instead of American when traveling in Europe :)
Although, this was a travel journal, I felt like Thompson shared so much more with readers than his destinations and meals. He introduced us to his friends, to those who helped him along the way, and to the one he left behind.
Thompson draws beautifully and make More...
Although, this was a travel journal, I felt like Thompson shared so much more with readers than his destinations and meals. He introduced us to his friends, to those who helped him along the way, and to the one he left behind.
Thompson draws beautifully and make More...
Jun 24, 2009
Hibah
rated it:
If you approach this collection of travel sketches for what it is (an extremely personal, indulgent, meandering travel narrative), you probably won't be disappointed.
Thompson's self-awareness (esp. when sketching "exotic" locales), combined with his dynamic illustrations, help temper some of the problems inherent in relying on the visual to understand and interpret the world (but of course these problems accompany every type of media).
I feel weird giving it fo More...
Thompson's self-awareness (esp. when sketching "exotic" locales), combined with his dynamic illustrations, help temper some of the problems inherent in relying on the visual to understand and interpret the world (but of course these problems accompany every type of media).
I feel weird giving it fo More...
Aug 02, 2011
Thompson has a gift for distilling the most poignant, ridiculous, and haunting moments of traveling solo in "Carnet." His journal is both entertaining and painful to read for its emphasis on the American mentality to approaching new cultures. Thompson vacillates between naively enthusiastic and curious and dismissive and self-indulgent, yet he takes extravagant lengths to capture a full picture as best as he can. And of course, his drawings are gorgeous, even when they focus on the ma
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Dec 03, 2010
Kristy
rated it:
I didn't mean to read this loosely formatted travel journal of comic artist Craig Thompson's 2004 European book tour as quickly as I did, and honestly, I didn't expect it to be as engaging as it was. Thompson is such an emotionally touching artist -- his drawings of scenes in Morocco, Paris, Barcelona, and elsewhere are more real than any photograph, and his drawings of the friends and strangers he meets along the way give the reader an immediate sense of the real person behind the drawing. Havi
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Feb 23, 2010
Kristin
rated it:
Ich bin ja so großer Craig Thompson-Fan, dass ich einfach alles toll finde, was aus der Feder von Portlands tollstem Comic-Zeichner stammt. Mit Carnet De Voyage hat Thompson ein völlig intimes Werk geschaffen, das seine Reise durch Frankreich, die Schweiz und Marokko dokumentiert. Man darf als Leser und Fan die komplette Gefühlswelt des Zeichners genießen und baut dadurch ganz schnell eine Nähe zu diesem Buch auf. Schön fand ich außerdem, dass es die Unterschiede zwischen amerikanischer und euro
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Jun 29, 2011
Kristen
rated it:
Craig Thompson, one of my favorite artists, traveled to Europe on a book tour (with a side trip to Morocco). On this trip, he decided to keep a travel journal. The musings from this trip is what makes up “Carnet de Voyage."
While not a follow-up to the wonderful “Blankets,” the journal turns out to be a pretty entertaining side project of his beautiful line drawings and witty writing.
I have to admit that I actually thought it was going to be more disjointed than it was, b More...
While not a follow-up to the wonderful “Blankets,” the journal turns out to be a pretty entertaining side project of his beautiful line drawings and witty writing.
I have to admit that I actually thought it was going to be more disjointed than it was, b More...
Sep 11, 2009
Alarra
rated it:
I have to admit to not loving Blankets like every other person I know, because Thompson was so longwinded and whiny, but this small illustrated travel diary is absolutely gorgeous. *_____* for each page, oh my. He travelled through parts of Europe and Morocco for a promo trip/holiday and, on the advice of some friends, wrote and drew an account of his journey as well as noting his feelings and thoughts on life in the aftermath of an intense relationship with a sick ex-girlfriend. Limited by page
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Nov 02, 2010
Sydni
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This novel is of one of the new born genres of literature, the graphic novel. Craig Thompson tackles the aching feelings of loneliness, love lost, cultural differences, rheumatoid arthritis and even religion in his beautiful Carnet de Voyage. This novel opened doors to me as a young writer because while it is to some extent a comic/illustration journal, it is a journal! I was introduced to an innovative way of producing literature. Not only is his work great, but he happens to be a beautiful per
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Jan 24, 2010
Jerah
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He's a little whiny about how whiny he is, but his drawing of Berber women's faces made me forgive him. Plus he had traveller's diarrhea in the desert in the middle of the night and ate fish at the port in Essaouria and got swindled by faux guides in Fes and felt guilty for mostly enjoying the company of other traveling westerners... It's all there, folks. Beautifully done. Made me want to return the favor and go write a story about traveling around the places where HE grew up. (Michigan? I gues
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Apr 16, 2009
DoctorM
rated it:
A lovely travel sketchbook from the author of "Blankets", one of my favourite graphic novels of the last few years. "Carnet" takes us through Craig Thompson's book-signing tour of France and Spain in the spring and summer of 2004, with a side trip to Morocco. He's not a good traveler, he's often ill and exhausted, and book signings leave his hands cramped and arthritic. Still--- he does find friendship and one romance, and he tries as hard as he can to learn from his trip, an
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May 04, 2009
Tony
rated it:
I think Craig Thompson is becoming my favorite author. Certainly his style and choices of subject are in tune with my disposition.
This book is especially interesting because it's an autobiographical journal of Thompson's trip through Europe and Morocco in 2004. He was on a book tour, and kept a travel journal that he filled with sketches and experiences. It's not surprising that these travel journals were the most popular books in turn of the century Victorian England. Im More...
Aug 30, 2011
Liza
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I met Craig Thompson at a signing after I had been a fan of his for years. He is such a charming, polite, personable man with a certain subtle eloquence about him. I love this travelogue because it seems to reveal so many little personality quirks and characters traits, some of them perhaps inadvertently. This little book contains incredible instances of loveliness and awe at natural beauty. It also displays some instances of the meanness and smallness of humanity that can come from deprivation
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Aug 01, 2011
Blue
rated it:
Ever since i read Good-bye, Chunky Rice, I have been a Craig Thompson fan. In Carnet de Voyage, he serves up some exquisite drawings. The town scenes, portraits of people, trees, mountains, everything he draws is captivating. (It does also seem that everyone he met was good looking. Hmmm...)
The subject matter is really him being a pathetic, whiny, American tourist, who happens to be over-worked (shocking!,) in love with a sick woman (though he never goes beyond that to explain, not tha More...
The subject matter is really him being a pathetic, whiny, American tourist, who happens to be over-worked (shocking!,) in love with a sick woman (though he never goes beyond that to explain, not tha More...
