Just the beginning...

The Winter by A. Ka

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A. Ka makes 16th century people more human. How? By making them think and talk and act in a direct, “modern” way. I’m not talking anachronisms like Alex Cox’s movie “Walker.” There are no soda bottles or helicopters. I looked up eyeglasses, muskets and the word “weird” in Wikipedia, to whom(?) the story is dedicated and they all existed in the 16th century. What I’m talking about is a modern no-nonsense, agnostic directness like a person stepping on cracks without concern for their mother’s back. What I’m talking about is a narrative with exquisitely simple black-and-white illustrations instead of gold-leaf illuminations; mental processing of challenges without cowering, religious machinations; conversations without endless preambles, prefaces and class-conscious genuflections. Winter’s characters “get to the point” as if heeding the great 19th century misanthrope, Ebeneezer Scrooge, when he beseeched his long-dead partner Jacob Marley, “Don’t be flowery, Jacob! Pray!” The colorful characters in Isaac The Fortunate are endearing and engaging without being flowery. They also have swagger. Swagger that a 21st century reader can appreciate. Swagger and smirks and squints and gawking and beautiful dangerous women tilting their heads just so. Frankly, that is enough for me but there is far, far more. Let’s be direct: Isaac the Fortunate (Part I) – Winter is mandatory reading. And this is just the beginning.



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