Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Arrival

4.33 of 5 stars 4.33 · rating details · 16,485 ratings · 1,697 reviews

In a heartbreaking parting, a man gives his wife and daughter a last kiss and boards a steamship to cross the ocean. He's embarking on the most painful yet important journey of his life- he's leaving home to build a better future for his family.

Shaun Tan evokes universal aspects of an immigrant's experience through a singular work of the imagination. He does so using brill...more

Hardcover, 128 pages

Published October 12th 2007 by Lothian Books

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

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

Lists with This Book

Best Graphic Novels

31st out of 1,514 books — 3,102 voters

Wordless Picture Books

1st out of 69 books — 146 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Feb 23, 2011 Ceridwen rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Immigrants

Recommended to Ceridwen by: Chandra

Shelves: books-about-books, childrens, grandparental-overshare, pomo-a-go-go

Sometimes there are no words. I'm about to spill whatever five paragraphs of peripheral anecdotes, personal memoir, bullshit and talking about this book, but it's not going to do a damn thing. Obviously, I enjoy the review process, hitching my verbal cart to other words, putting the layer of reader response up between the text and the reader. Sometimes the futility of that makes me me feel weak with. Weak with. Weak with something. Weak with the fact that I might be able to drive some of you to...more Sometimes there are no words. I'm about to spill whatever five paragraphs of peripheral anecdotes, personal memoir, bullshit and talking about this book, but it's not going to do a damn thing. Obviously, I enjoy the review process, hitching my verbal cart to other words, putting the layer of reader response up between the text and the reader. Sometimes the futility of that makes me me feel weak with. Weak with. Weak with something. Weak with the fact that I might be able to drive some of you to read this – this is my fervent hope – but not enough. And weak with the fact that some of you will not love it like I do.

I'm not Irish. My family ethnicity involves a lot of hyphen-Americans, the closest of which is Welsh in its Celtic convergence, but none of them who steamed over from the wars and dirt and poverty of their lives in Northern Europe – no immigrant leaves the mother country because things were good – and most of them ended up in the dirt and wars and poverty of America were Irish. At least it was a new dirt and war and poverty, is the best I can think of it. Johan Paulus, who became John Paul, fled the Franco-Prussian War in Germany to land in the middle of the American Civil War, shoveling coal for the Union in an ironside towards his citizenship. He got it, and then took his martial/industrial skills as a fireman – that's the kind of fireman who runs a coal-fired furnace – and slunk down into the belly of the steel mills in the river towns of Pennsylvania. He had 13 children and died in a conflict between strikers and U.S. Steel. I'm not Irish, but this song speaks to me.

My father's Grandfather emigrated from Denmark. He came because of religious intolerance, but not the kind that most think of when they think of it. Puritans left England because they wanted to be more religiously intolerant; my great-grandfather left because he couldn't stand sitting cooped up in a Jutland parlor on the Sabbath not doing anything in accords with a Gospel so rigid it swathed them all in black wool worn next to the skin. He found Iowa, fathered children. His beloved wife died of childbed fever after the birth of his last daughter. My grandfather was 6. My grandfather spent the summer before learning to play the piano with his mother, she growing more and more pregnant. When my grandfather was an old man, at the end of his life, his memories erased by senior dementia, he retreated to the piano, playing over and over again the songs learned in childhood.

The immigrant experience is a hope translated, and so much is both lost and gained in that translation. The immigrant runs from home for a lot of different reasons, but often because something is coming. Here, the something is a shadow of a tentacle of the night sky, or occult industrial machines sucking people up from the ground. The drawings - which are not rightly cartoons, more illustrations - are in black in white, with a photographic sensibility to them. Any one of them could be cut out and put in your family album and you mught not even notice at first.

description

When he was was in his 60s, my great-grandfather, my father's grandfather, drove to a hill in Iowa, snaked a hose around from the exhaust pipe of the car and into the cabin, and started the engine. There was a shotgun in the passenger's seat, just in case, but it wasn't necessary. There was a note, but no one knows where it went, and the people who read it at the time are all dead. The words are all gone. All gone. My father was named after his grandfather, and he didn't know until far into adulthood the circumstance of his naming; the shame of his grandfather's death. He tried, hard, to find this meaning, but it's elusive. There's no pat coda on this story; there will never be.

This story makes me weep; makes me wonder if it's even a story; makes me question the idea of story at all. Things happen in a logical sequence: a man leaves his family, and then finds another land and works his way through the hard, inescapable misunderstandings of a new country. There are words in this book, but they are words written in the cipher of the illiteracy of other languages. And there is a wonderful surrealism, animals never known to the earth nuzzling the hands of people unknown to the streets of a new country. It's amazing to me that Tan created an immigrant experience so stripped down, so - and I normally can't abide this word - universal. It's even more amazing to me that he did it without words. This story ends better, in some ways, than the immigrant stories I have in my own history: my great-grandfather on a lonely hill, suffocating; my great-great-grandfather burned to death while the boilers explode. But I'm here. I'm still here. And they were there, and then they moved across the water and were here too. Amen. (less)

58 likes · like · see review

Feb 17, 2013 G rated it 4 of 5 stars

I never expected to like this picture book. In fact, I don't like many picture books. I have no problem making up a story for the pictures; I just like it more when a story is provided. But when I opened up THE ARRIVAL, I instantly knew there was something different about this book.

This is the story of what I can only imagine is the way millions of European immigrants felt as they left their homelands and ventured forth to become part of America.

With each page, I thought of my grandfather, Hil...more

17 likes · like · see review

Nov 28, 2007 Josephine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kidlit, picture-books, fiction

Now, enough Robert's Snow illustrators mentioned Shaun Tan in their interviews that I finally picked up a copy of his new graphic novel The Arrival. And I have to say, hands down, it is *worth* all the buzz.

This is a story about immigration, and belonging, and finding a new home. The main character leaves his family, and takes a long journey to a strange land in the hopes of finding a better life for his family. This is a story we all know. In America, at least, there have been countless re-tell...more Now, enough Robert's Snow illustrators mentioned Shaun Tan in their interviews that I finally picked up a copy of his new graphic novel The Arrival. And I have to say, hands down, it is *worth* all the buzz.

This is a story about immigration, and belonging, and finding a new home. The main character leaves his family, and takes a long journey to a strange land in the hopes of finding a better life for his family. This is a story we all know. In America, at least, there have been countless re-tellings of Ellis Island and other immigration stories in movies, books, plays, songs...the list goes on and on. Immigration is a huge part of our American history and mythology. But I've never seen the story told quite like this.

Shaun Tan grew up in Perth, Australia, and is half-Chinese. His father came to Australia from Malaysia to study architecture. Themes of immigration and belonging and home have been a part of his consciousness as long as he can remember. When he began The Arrival, he intended it to be a short picture book for children. Instead, it became a graphic novel that took five years to create, and it speaks to people of all ages, all nationalities, all walks of life.

The Arrival is completely wordless. The pictures tell the story, in a frame-by-frame style that is more reminiscent of film than of comic books. And because there are no words, we are brought in to the story in a much more personal way. The strange land that he travels to would be strange to anyone...it is a land of Shaun Tan's invention with tadpole-like creatures that emerge from pots and strange birds that unfold and fly vertically in the sky. Modes of transportation, food, even the buildings are all so odd that the reader feels just as disoriented as the traveler.

This is the genius of this book. When you are reading it, you can't help but begin to understand what it might be like to leave everything behind and start new. The excitement, the fear, the hope. It's all there. Here's an excerpt from an article Shaun Tan wrote about the book:

"One of the great powers of storytelling is that it invites us to walk in other people’s shoes for a while, but perhaps even more importantly, it invites us to contemplate our own shoes also. We might do well to think of ourselves as possible strangers in our own strange land. What conclusions we draw from this are unlikely to be easily summarised, all the more reason to think further on the connections between people and places, and what we might mean when we talk about ‘belonging’."

Here is a page from Shaun Tan's website (scroll down to see many images from the book, and scroll down even further for Shaun Tan's comments about the book).

Here is a terrific interview with Shaun Tan from Fuse #8 (most likely the first place I read about the book when it came out in February).

This review appeared on my blog, Please Come Flying.(less)

13 likes · like · see review

Oct 11, 2007 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Arrival is a stunning wordless graphic novel. The story follows the journey of a man from his unnamed home country to a confusing new world which, despite presenting immense obstacles, offers the hope of a better life for his family. Because there are no words, the sepia-toned drawings carry the narrative, relying on the reader’s interpretations to complete the experience. I think this is what I appreciated most about the book: There are a lot of images and concepts that don’t make sense on...more

10 likes · like · see review

Feb 26, 2008 Colleen Venable rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, 2008-read, books-that-made-me-cry

Stunning. Just stunning. The best book of last year, and perhaps even the best graphic novel I've ever read. A touching book on the immigrant experience with artwork so lush you want to jump into it. The factory scenes in particular really got to me. Would someone please change the Caldecott rules? Please!

Cried the first time I read it. Cried the second time I read it. Made it through the third time and then closing the book noticed the beautiful end papers...doh.

7 likes · like · see review

Oct 08, 2012 Brenton Nichol rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: speculative-fiction, comics-graphic-novels

I don't need to say much about The Arrival beyond the fact that it is one of the most beautiful and imaginative books I've ever opened. Few artists make me take as long to turn a page as Tan. His intricate pencil drawings are evocative, but not explicit - minutely detailed yet open to interpretation. These drawings operate in two ways. First, in terms of composition, they instantly evoke American history with which we are all familiar - that of the Ellis Island experience, and New York City in t...more I don't need to say much about The Arrival beyond the fact that it is one of the most beautiful and imaginative books I've ever opened. Few artists make me take as long to turn a page as Tan. His intricate pencil drawings are evocative, but not explicit - minutely detailed yet open to interpretation. These drawings operate in two ways. First, in terms of composition, they instantly evoke American history with which we are all familiar - that of the Ellis Island experience, and New York City in the grip of modernization and of the Industrial Revolution. However, Tan's penciling also incorporates artificial aging such that we seem to be viewing a faded and cracked photo album. The subtle effect, I found, was that the story herein is given an archetypal quality. As much as this is one man's distinct story, it is a story that exists in countless places, in countless households - it is the story of every immigrant finding his footing in a new world. (It should also be noted the there is not a word of dialogue or narration in the book, which also lends the tale the feel of an old silent film.)

Tan's world here is struck through with a fantastical twist, as though we view a quantum reality several iterations from our own. It is vaguely steampunkish with perhaps a hint of anime. This is where you find the genius of Shawn Tan: he has imagined an alternate reality that is fully alien yet instantly familiar. Many an artist, when attempting to depict the alien, will lazily skip straight to the zany, the nonsensical, the surreal, so that the audience is struck on the head by the message that This Is Not Your Earth. Tan is better than that. He draws pet animals, foods, architecture, and vehicles that are certainly odd and whimsical, but the reader is able to intuit how it might all fit together and work. The strange horrors that the book's protagonist and his newfound friends fled from in their homelands rest firmly in the realm of fantasy, but they can easily be interpreted as nods to various evils and hardships in our own real world.

I can not recommend this one enough!(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Sep 26, 2007 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone!

Shelves: graphic-novels, favoriteillustrations, visualstorytelling

I'd give this ten stars if I could! This wordless story of a man's journey to a strange new land is one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen/read. I think I'd rank it higher than The Invention of Hugo Cabret on my Ultimate Favorites List, and that's saying something.

What this book does so brilliantly is put every reader in the shoes of an immigrant. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be unable to read any signs, speak to anyone, or recognize plants, animals, and clothing? What...more

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 19, 2008 Osho rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008

Despite the Arthur A. Levine imprint, this gorgeous and startling book is not a children's or young adult publication, though it would be appropriate for readers of any age. Tan depicts the immigrant's experience poignantly, viscerally, and with great complexity, all without any text. (Text does appear, but like the unnamed immigrant protagonist, we cannot read it.) Tan has done a wonderful job of evoking the wonder and the fear inherent in new surroundings. Each of the characters the protagonis...more

4 likes · like · see review

May 08, 2009 Chandra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Chandra by: Abigail - She turned me on to Shaun Tan with other reviews.

Shelves: graphic-novels-comics, 2009-reads, great-illustration, picture-books-advanced, art-photography, wordless

This book is really hard to classify. Is it a picture book, graphic novel, or an art book? Is it history or science fiction? It's really all of these things and more. And although this might make for tricky cataloguing it means it also has wide appeal. It's literally a book that you experience. Through this work you embark on a journey with the protagonist. You are confused, hopeful, awed, homesick and bewildered right along with him. There are certainly some grown-up themes here, but it's still...more

6 likes · like · see review

Dec 02, 2011 Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wordless, very attentively drawn, sepia-toned depiction of an immigrant's experience as a stranger in a strange, futuristic, 19th century Lower East Side–like, Boschian, hyperindustrialized, nightmare utopia. Fantastic drawings, charming, innocent, surreal. A superfamiliar story post-literately retold.

6 likes · like · see review

Apr 05, 2013 Ema rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic, magical-and-surreal, favs, australian, bookish-gems

First of all, this piece of music (Erik Satie - Gnossienne 4) should definitely be the soundtrack of The Arrival:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...#!

This is an amazing book, although it has no words. The narrative is slowly building from the wonderful drawings of Shaun Tan and from the imagination and sensibility of each reader. I could not believe that I was experiencing such a complex display of feelings just by looking at some images: I was elated, then I was sad, then I was happy, then...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 12, 2009 babyhippoface rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-ages, kids-picture-books, young-adult, social-studies

An emigrant leaves his family and what seems to be an embattled land (a tentacled monster casts a shadow on buildings and walls) for a new world completely foreign to him. Told entirely in sepia-toned illustrations, this wordless book is intriguing and complex. Tan's illustrations are intricate and beautiful as they depict an everyman becoming immersed in a world neither he nor the reader has ever known. He understands nothing of the language of his new land, and the absence of text insures that...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 10, 2011 Eh?Eh! rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ceridwen-sockpuppet, babble-added, weep

Wordless, beautiful, wispy, perfect. Told in fantastical sketches, a father emigrates. He receives help in understanding the new home by strangers, other immigrants (I'm probably switching up imm/em-igrate) with harrowing stories. The last few pages caused me to tear up in the bookstore.

Hooked by this review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

5 likes · like · see review

Mar 01, 2012 Adam Floridia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5-star-books

I first quickly read this in my school's library and thought "Amazing what a story can be told with pictures. Very moving. I encourage all to "read" this :-)." Then I came home and told my wife about it and decided she needed to read it. Then I decided that just taking it out of the library wouldn't be enough: we needed to own it. Then it came in the mail and I re-read it. Now it gets 5 stars!

The pictures are beautiful and so intricate and their placement/progression tell such a powerful story....more

4 likes · like · see review

Jun 22, 2011 Stefan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel, library-loan, young-adult

Recently, Patrick Rothfuss wrote something very positive on his blog about this graphic novel, so I thought I'd check it out and am glad I did. Shaun Tan perfectly evokes what it must have been like to be an immigrant in a city like New York in the early 20th century, by showing the journey and early experiences of a man arriving in a huge city, fleeing a nameless danger and trying to start a new life for his family. The immigrant experience is alienating, confusing, at times dehumanizing, but t...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 27, 2008 Sheri rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Pam, Judi

This completely wordless graphic novel is truly wonderful. Technically this is a chidren's book. But wait, read on... As in each of the books Shaun Tan has written and illustrated this "novel" transports us to a completely unique world, inhabited as are all of his worlds, with creatures and structures both strange and sureal. The story, though deceptively simple, that of an immigrant's experience in a new land, speaks to our shared humanity.

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 20, 2008 Terry rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Art fans, people who encounter new things

Shelves: wordless

As a rule, I avoid writing things like, "Every teacher should have a copy of this in their classroom," but dang it, every teacher should. This is that book that anyone can read, even the child who reads no written language or speaks no English. It is everything all the other reviewers have said, so I won't repeat the accolades. I do hope that Mr. Tan finds a wide, welcoming audience.

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 11, 2009 Crystal rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: EVERYONE

Recommended to Crystal by: NPR: Nancy Pearl

Magnificent!

I have just returned from a major library binge, swooped onto the couch with my half-finished cinnamon mocha, and opened The Arrival. My mocha is now cold.

I could NOT stop turning pages, so engrossed in such a surreal story, with the most fantastic illustrations I've seen since The Adventures of Hugo Cabret.

I'm a sucker for science fiction themes, which on the surface, is an accurate depiction of this graphic novel; however, it eventually dawns on you that the theme of this story is...more

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 06, 2011 jo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to jo by: everyone under the sun

Shelves: im-emigration-post-colonial, graphic

i read it, or looked at it (there isn't a single word in the whole book; wait, there are words, but i didn't have the key). i was disturbed by the fact that the copy i got from the library was all battered. i thought poorly of public library users until i realized that was actually the design. it wasn't battered at all.

anyway, i'm done. it's taken me two renewals and a starbucks' latte's worth of late fees. once i actually cracked it open it took me only maybe a week. it's a beautiful book and...more

7 likes · like · see review

Sep 10, 2011 JG (The Introverted Reader) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to JG (The Introverted Reader) by: Athira (Reading on a Rainy Day)

Shelves: 4_stars, author_australian, fiction, graphic_novels, read_in_2011, reviewed

A man leaves his wife and daughter behind to go establish a new life for them in another place. He must learn the ways his of strange new home.

I'm so glad Aths recommended this book. I would never have found it on my own.

Without writing one word, Shaun Tan tells a detailed story about the fears and hopes of going in search of a better life. He has the mood perfectly set within two pages. His decision to illustrate the new city with unbelievable buildings, conveyances, and creatures helps the re...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 21, 2008 Lara's rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Juvenille, Young Adult and up

Shelves: graphic-novels

Synopsis : In a heartbreaking parting, a man gives his wife and daughter a last kiss and boards a steamship to cross the ocean. He's embarking on the most painful yet important journey of his life - he's leaving home to build a better future for his family. Shaun Tan evokes universal aspects of an immigrant's experience through a singular work of the imagination. He does so using brilliantly clear and mesmerizing images. Because the main character can't communicate in words, the book forgoes the...more Synopsis : In a heartbreaking parting, a man gives his wife and daughter a last kiss and boards a steamship to cross the ocean. He's embarking on the most painful yet important journey of his life - he's leaving home to build a better future for his family. Shaun Tan evokes universal aspects of an immigrant's experience through a singular work of the imagination. He does so using brilliantly clear and mesmerizing images. Because the main character can't communicate in words, the book forgoes them too. But while the reader experiences the main character's isolation, he also shares his ultimate joy.
Review : I never got tired of looking at this graphic novel and once I'd read it, I took it out to my husband and said, "you must take a look at this beautiful representation of literature". He did and also wholeheartedly agreed that it was not merely enough to have seen this book. It must become a part of our collection. It must be purchased, treasured and shared with friends. Friends across the ocean in Japan, friends across the country and friends we are just begining to know. Shaun Tan is one of the many reasons I warmly admit to loving graphic novels whenever the topic of conversation arises. This story reminded me so very much of my own emotions upon leaving my homeland and living abroad for years. Wondering if I would return home. Wordless in form and yet so very, very clear in it's meaning. The sadness, fear, confusion, joy, wonder, bewilderment and hope that is portrayed in this book is what inspires me to keep smiling at strangers on the bus, to keep hoping that they too are simply--on the most basic human level---good. A masterpiece!
Critical Reviews :From School Library Journal
"Young readers will be fascinated by the strange new world the artist creates, complete with floating elevators and unusual creatures, but may not realize the depth of meaning or understand what the man's journey symbolizes." From Booklist, "the story's immediacy and fantasy elements will appeal even to readers younger than the target audience, though they may miss many of the complexities."
(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 13, 2009 Dottie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphics, 2009, ocitylibrary

Well, I have something to say about The Arrival certainly! What I have to say is Wow! I loved the art -- I loved looking at the shadings, shapes, color variations. I loved examining the many faces and how though many ethnic groups are there, not a one of them seems to pop out as a stereotypical look which we've seen previously -- Asian? yes, there is Asian there but an amalgam of Asian. Eastern European? Africans? African Americans? Islanders? Oh yes, they are there -- again there are amalgams....more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 01, 2012 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: international

Shaun Tan’s The Arrival is a wordless picture book telling the story of the immigrant experience. We see a husband and father packing his suitcase and leaving home to find life in a new country. We sense the family’s sadness as father, mother and daughter walk to the train station to say their goodbyes.

Father sits in a very small stateroom on a ship crossing the ocean. His family picture placed prominently in his room. He is doing this for them. He is looking for a better future for his family....more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 12, 2008 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

I want an extra star. Can I get an extra star please? Anybody.

On an emotional level the arrival appeals universally. With out any text, this story is instantly understood, not simply on grounds of comprehension... the reader FEELS what the immigrant feels (or immigrants as the narrative's net expands). The loneliness, alienation, and determination to make one's own world a better world is so clear to the reader. The intent and rhetoric are as clear as the story yet never preachy. It's a celebra...more

4 likes · like · see review

Feb 28, 2008 Bonnie Gayle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comic-or-graphic-novel, library-books, reviewed

This is a quick "read" but it is remarkable the amount that can be gotten out of it, and I'm sure more can be on additional perusings. I put read in quotes, because the book is actually wordless, and relies on pictures alone.

The book tells the tale of a man who leaves his wife, child, and home, and sails to another country. In this country, he does not understand the language, written or spoken, and he feels very isolated. Slowly, though, he comes to understand that everyone around him was also...more This is a quick "read" but it is remarkable the amount that can be gotten out of it, and I'm sure more can be on additional perusings. I put read in quotes, because the book is actually wordless, and relies on pictures alone.

The book tells the tale of a man who leaves his wife, child, and home, and sails to another country. In this country, he does not understand the language, written or spoken, and he feels very isolated. Slowly, though, he comes to understand that everyone around him was also an immigrant at one time or another, and they are all willing to help him and tell him their own immigration story.
The ending is also very sweet and touching.

It's a very very interesting book, in that the author could have easily told the story of an immigrant, BUT it would not really give the reader an idea of how it FEELS to be an immigrant. Tan uses several different methods in order to accomplish that feeling, and, in my mind, he does a really good job.
First of all, just the fact that it is a wordless story helps to add to the feeling. What language would the story be told in? A language that the man does not understand? Simply by relying on images, the reader is having to do what an immigrant has to do to understand what is going on when he or she doesn't understand the language.
Also, the writing in the book is all symbols, and cannot be understood. This also adds to the feeling, because you understand the man's frustration when he is trying to get around the new town, and cannot read the street signs. Finally, the author relies a bit on the element of fantasy, mostly to good use, but in one case I felt it was odd. To give the feeling that the man is in a new and different place, there are several fantasy elements to the new land. I felt that these were helpful in creating the right feeling...except for the little alien-looking creatures, like the one on the cover. Each person has one of these creatures, and they interact with each other, and also keep the person company, and I could NOT figure out what this was supposed to symbolize. Because these creatures were so pervasive, and so inexplicable, it warranted a 4 rather than 5 star review.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 29, 2008 Liz rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone.

This is, without a doubt, the best story I've read in at least three years.

Shaun Tan's telling of the story of immigration is profound. The wordlessness allows the reader to struggle alongside the main character as he tries to navigate the surreal beauty, strange technology and language of his new landscape. Images of the old countries evoke real horrors, even though the landscape is more nightmare than Europe(or China, or wherever).

This heavy use of visual symbols might have the effect of dist...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 22, 2011 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001, a-must-read, adventure, children, creativity, moving-and-starting-over

A wordless graphic novel, The Arrival is the story of a man who leaves his family to work in the big city of a foreign land. The pictures show a place both familiar and strange, people both familiar and strange, objects both familiar and strange. That combination of familiarity and strangeness created a feeling of fascination in this reader that kept me reading (Reading? Is that the word for figuring out the story from the pictures without text?) to the end. A brilliant book. A must-read.

1 like · like · see review

Dec 31, 2007 Kent rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i'm a long time fan of shaun tan. image vs word. ordinary vs absurd. blurring distinctions between them yet always clear about intent. talent for addressing universal human conditions in manners approachable and exciting for the old, the young, and all in-between. this is another book by tan which taps into images of mainstream culture to illustrate archetypal issues.

The Arrival deals with the challenges of moving to a foreign country. awkwardness in adapting to new cultural attitudes, new lang...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 26, 2013 Ranní ptáče rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: leporelo

Komiks beze slov. Zatímco klasický komiks spíš zjednodušuje, tady je kresba precisní.
Aby čtenáři autor přiblížil pocity přistěhovalce v cizí zemi, vymýšlí vlastní písmo, zvířata a věci prapodivných tvarů. Teprve takhle si člověk uvědomí, jaké to asi musí být přijít do cizí země, poprvé a bez znalosti země; a ne jako turista.

1 like · like · see review

Mar 13, 2011 Britt Donnell rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Arrival was a heart warming story about a man and his family.
The man had to leave his family and his home town to immigrate to a strange and unfamiliar place. As the man moves around the strange town, he meets knew people, and learns about what happened to them and how they are surviving. When the man finds the place that he is to stay, he finds an unusual creature in his apartment; everyone has their own unusual looking pet. He then sets out to find a job, they are all too confusing for the...more

2 likes · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (14)

More editions...

Genres

Sequential Art > Graphic Novels

840 users

Sequential Art > Comics

233 users

Fantasy

210 users

Childrens > Picture Books

180 users

Young Adult

154 users

Art

80 users

Childrens

61 users

Graphic Novels Comics

33 users

Adult

31 users

Young Adult > Teen

28 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan (born 1974) is the illustrator and author of award-winning children's books. After freelancing for some years from a studio at Mt. Lawley, Tan relocated to Melbourne, Victoria in 2007. Tan was the Illustrator in Residence at the University of Melbourne's Department of Language Literacy and Arts Education for two weeks through an annual Fellowship offered by the May Gibbs Children’s Liter...more

More about Shaun Tan...

Books by Shaun Tan

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Arrival

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: The Arrival
avg rating	preview: The Arrival Goodreads rating: 4.33 (16485 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://gr-assets.com/book/show/920607.The_Arrival?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312827620l/920607.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://gr-assets.com/book/show/920607.The_Arrival?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Arrival by Shaun Tan[/url]

The Arrival

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website