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Markttag
Der Teppichweber Mendelmann ist konsterniert, als er feststellen muss, dass der Laden, in dem er seine kunstvollen Arbeiten zu verkaufen pflegte, quasi über Nacht nur noch industriell gefertigte Massenware führt. Im verzweifelten Ringen um einen Abnehmer für seine Teppiche sieht Mendelmann an diesem Markttag nicht nur die Existenz seiner Familie in Gefahr, sondern mehr und mehr auch die eigene Identität…
In klaren Bildern zeichnet James Sturm ein unsentimentales Porträt jüdischen Lebens im Osteuropa des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts. Zugleich gelingt ihm eine zeitlose Erzählung darüber, wie ökonomische Zwänge sich im Schicksal jedes Einzelnen niederschlagen.
James Sturm wurde 1965 in New York geboren und ist in den USA insbesondere durch sein Buch “The Golem’s Mighty Swing” bekannt geworden, in dem er von einem jüdischen Baseballteam in den 1920er-Jahren erzählt. James Sturm leitet zudem das Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont.
In klaren Bildern zeichnet James Sturm ein unsentimentales Porträt jüdischen Lebens im Osteuropa des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts. Zugleich gelingt ihm eine zeitlose Erzählung darüber, wie ökonomische Zwänge sich im Schicksal jedes Einzelnen niederschlagen.
James Sturm wurde 1965 in New York geboren und ist in den USA insbesondere durch sein Buch “The Golem’s Mighty Swing” bekannt geworden, in dem er von einem jüdischen Baseballteam in den 1920er-Jahren erzählt. James Sturm leitet zudem das Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
James Sturm
55 books129 followersJames Sturm is the author of several award-winning graphic novels for children and adults, including James Sturm’s America, Market Day, The Golem’s Mighty Swing and Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow. He is also the founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies and the National Association for Comics Art Educators. He created Adventures in Cartooning with collaborators Alexis Frederic-Frost and Andrew Arnold. Sturm, his wife, and two daughters live in White River Junction, Vermont.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/jamess...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/jamess...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
February 11, 2020
Enigmatic but bleak, this day-in-the-life of the artist-at-selling-art is told with much confidence & reverence for the past. Leaving the shtetl, meeting the general populace, swallowing your pride: in this excursion we see what history does to its members, how entire cultures die or struggle to survive.
November 12, 2011
That James Sturm's Market Day would be a gloomy affair is evident from the start. The colours are murky and drab. The shadows loom large and dominate the frame. The dialogue is sparse. And the book is about an artiste. Which almost guarantees angst, self-doubt, and a large cereal bowl-full of mopiness.
Tch, artists.
The thing is: Sturm uses his protagonist's preoccupation with both artistic excellence and the recognition of those with taste to tell a quietly powerful tale of brute pragmatism versus the more fanciful propellant of idealism. Market Day, for what it offers, is a nearly flawless presentation. With the exception of one admittedly key event (that was difficult enough to interpret that my wife and I—both astute readers—differed on our belief of what Sturm intended), Sturm does a fantastic job laying out both the geographical and psychological landscapes his story inhabits.
Mendelman is a craftsman par excellence, a weaver of rugs with a sense for developing abstract ideas into a rug's design. His thread count is high and his design-oriented eye sharp. He abandoned working for a lesser manufacturer and purchased his own loom for love of the game. He believes in beauty and believes that beauty, being inherently valuable, ought to be worth more money.
The typical collision between art and commerce forms the central conflict of Market Day. Mendelman is on the cusp of first-time fatherhood and goes to market to profit from his creations. He is already nervous about the prospect of his new responsibilities and is plagued by dark premonitions of his wife's death in childbirth (he, like the stereotypical artist, is something of a drama queen) , but what will happen if things do not go as expected at market? As the clouds of pessimism gather, Sturm allows us to spend more and more time in the tumult of Mendelman's psychological morass.
Though the book is pare in both line and word, Market Day provides rich fodder for thought and even though he sometimes plays to stereotype, Sturm gives the reader the pleasure of a novella that finds its deep root in the soul of the human experience. Though Mendelman's fears are not my own and his interaction with them is an experience quite unlike my own, the character is accessible because of his humanity and intriguing because of his quirks.
Despite the one ambiguously presented instance (which occurs in the emporium for those who're wondering), Market Day is a laudable creation from and admirable creator, and well worth the small investment of time required to finish its ninety-some pages.
[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad]
Tch, artists.
The thing is: Sturm uses his protagonist's preoccupation with both artistic excellence and the recognition of those with taste to tell a quietly powerful tale of brute pragmatism versus the more fanciful propellant of idealism. Market Day, for what it offers, is a nearly flawless presentation. With the exception of one admittedly key event (that was difficult enough to interpret that my wife and I—both astute readers—differed on our belief of what Sturm intended), Sturm does a fantastic job laying out both the geographical and psychological landscapes his story inhabits.
Mendelman is a craftsman par excellence, a weaver of rugs with a sense for developing abstract ideas into a rug's design. His thread count is high and his design-oriented eye sharp. He abandoned working for a lesser manufacturer and purchased his own loom for love of the game. He believes in beauty and believes that beauty, being inherently valuable, ought to be worth more money.
The typical collision between art and commerce forms the central conflict of Market Day. Mendelman is on the cusp of first-time fatherhood and goes to market to profit from his creations. He is already nervous about the prospect of his new responsibilities and is plagued by dark premonitions of his wife's death in childbirth (he, like the stereotypical artist, is something of a drama queen) , but what will happen if things do not go as expected at market? As the clouds of pessimism gather, Sturm allows us to spend more and more time in the tumult of Mendelman's psychological morass.
Though the book is pare in both line and word, Market Day provides rich fodder for thought and even though he sometimes plays to stereotype, Sturm gives the reader the pleasure of a novella that finds its deep root in the soul of the human experience. Though Mendelman's fears are not my own and his interaction with them is an experience quite unlike my own, the character is accessible because of his humanity and intriguing because of his quirks.
Despite the one ambiguously presented instance (which occurs in the emporium for those who're wondering), Market Day is a laudable creation from and admirable creator, and well worth the small investment of time required to finish its ninety-some pages.
[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad]
January 4, 2024
A melancholy reflection on the loss of low-level economic communities and the effects that the erosion of such systems have on individuals and their lives. If the independent store that always purchases my rugs stops doing so, and I am forced to sell them to large chains for 1/8th of the price, what happens to my pregnant wife?
August 12, 2014
Really beautifully, lovingly done story based on historical materials. Wrenchingly harsh, but hopeful in that the rug weaver's anguish and his love for his family and his artistic vision and commitment come through... Not a sentimental, sappy, happy ending, a good and clear picture of a simple man suffering to make a living in harsh times. Gorgeously done, with muted tans and browns and greys, all in honor of the weaver's own artistic vision...
February 6, 2018
This is a beautifully drawn, atmospheric graphic novel. That it is not going to turn out well for Mendleman, the rug maker, is obvious from the start. No, the area’s version of Walmart has moved in and artiste’s products are no longer valued. What to do when this is your livelihood and you have a wife and baby on the way?
July 13, 2019
Sparse, dreary, and wonderful.
December 31, 2012
A rug maker in early 20th century Eastern Europe prepares to go to market to sell his rugs. He sits up at night worrying about money. He is soon to be a father and he needs to sell his rugs. When he goes to the market he finds his usual buyer has retired and sold his business to a young man who doesn't care for craftsmanship and wants to pay as little as possible. As he wanders the towns looking for a place to make some money, he thinks about his old buyer, the man who encouraged him in his rug making and who left without a word.
James Sturm's book is a quiet subtle story of the withering of an old society and the emergence of a new one, the one that will become the twentieth century and all but put out of work the skilled craftsmen and make way for mass produced goods.
Sturm's artwork is brilliant. From simple panels of the man, hunched over, walking along a country path in darkness, to rug designs of crowd scenes, to full double page layouts of a landscape or a rural scene, Sturm can draw them all beautifully and powerfully. It's similar in style to Seth whose own melancholic tales mirrors Sturm's.
"Market Day"'s story while perhaps not being as appealing to some, has it's merits. The main character is fully realised and the story is well written and drawn. It speaks of hope and renewal in the face of defeat and is ultimately a positive ending.
I really enjoyed the book and fully recommend it to fans of indie comics. It's a great read from a brilliant artist.
James Sturm's book is a quiet subtle story of the withering of an old society and the emergence of a new one, the one that will become the twentieth century and all but put out of work the skilled craftsmen and make way for mass produced goods.
Sturm's artwork is brilliant. From simple panels of the man, hunched over, walking along a country path in darkness, to rug designs of crowd scenes, to full double page layouts of a landscape or a rural scene, Sturm can draw them all beautifully and powerfully. It's similar in style to Seth whose own melancholic tales mirrors Sturm's.
"Market Day"'s story while perhaps not being as appealing to some, has it's merits. The main character is fully realised and the story is well written and drawn. It speaks of hope and renewal in the face of defeat and is ultimately a positive ending.
I really enjoyed the book and fully recommend it to fans of indie comics. It's a great read from a brilliant artist.
April 8, 2010
Sturm's most understated and best book yet, beautiful and thoughtful, with a sense of timelessness and universality pervading.
July 18, 2023
«¿Cuál es el momento exacto de la puesta de Sol? (…) hice una alfombra uniendo tejidos negros y púrpura. Cuando la luz se desvanecía lo suficiente como para no seguir distinguiendo la diferencia entre los dos colores.»
Una grata sorpresa en todos los sentidos.
Una grata sorpresa en todos los sentidos.
May 24, 2021
A graphic novel that draws on the photographs of Roman Vishniac, among other sources. I found this character way too relatable in his anxieties.
February 19, 2016
Tenderly rendered, this graphic novel delicately nurses the open wounds of what it is to be human. Our vulnerabilities, our hopes and fantasies, the constant whirr of thought in our head, and the ache to create and be inspired by all we live among.
This is one day and night in the life of a Jewish rug weaver and his impending fears coming to life; his sense of dismay and dejection when he finds he will soon have no work. The utter hopelessness of his situation coupled with the new chapter of his life soon to begin - that of fatherhood, leave him terrified. And yet with morning comes a renewed faith and the will to move on.
This is one day and night in the life of a Jewish rug weaver and his impending fears coming to life; his sense of dismay and dejection when he finds he will soon have no work. The utter hopelessness of his situation coupled with the new chapter of his life soon to begin - that of fatherhood, leave him terrified. And yet with morning comes a renewed faith and the will to move on.
December 27, 2023
Just great: the cartoon panels become rug panels, the story has room to breathe, and Strum shows us what comics can do with the room and the landscape.
Highly recommended, for all readers.
Thanks Fulton County Public Library for the loan.
Highly recommended, for all readers.
Thanks Fulton County Public Library for the loan.
January 27, 2026
Idk. A good read. Classic story of how products shift within capitalism. I wasn’t drawn to the characters or the setting specifically. But the story was clear. I will forget about this one in 2 months or less.
March 3, 2023
3,25.
A very interesting psychological portrait of the main character and the visual depiction of his thoughts. Artistic in the way the story is executed.
A very interesting psychological portrait of the main character and the visual depiction of his thoughts. Artistic in the way the story is executed.
November 1, 2024
Ein paar Tage im Leben eines Teppichknüpfers in Zeiten des Umbruchs (spielt in den frühen 1900ern). War mir etwas wurscht.
February 26, 2023
Histoire assez intéressante, au travers de la conscience d'un tapissier du Yiddishland acculé à une misère probable s'il ne peut vendre son artisanat de qualité à bon prix. Joli dessin mais qui ne m'a pas non plus transcendé.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2024
Market Day, one of my favourite comics!
This is such a beautiful book. It's a very relaxing read. Sturm creates the universe of Market Day so perfectly and realistically. I really feel for the rug weaver that has troubles selling his wares now that his favorite shop keeper has retired. He has marital stresses and now his art is less marketable and he's going to have trouble making a living doing what he loves. It's a story that's probably familiar to most people, the day you realize you won't be making a living doing what you love - that it'll probably just be a hobby.
But wait a second... Sturm has managed to make a living doing and teaching what he loves. So maybe there is a positive message somewhere in this book.
I have all the respect in the world for Sturm. I think he has an attention to detail that is only matched by a select few comic artists. I just wish he'd put out more work... this and the 3 stories contained in James Sturm's America seem to be make for his completed mature works still in print. He also has a bunch of books targeting towards a younger audience including the beautiful Birdsong and the popular Adventures in Cartooning series. He also did a wonderful series called Cereal Killings in the early 90s that seems to have been forgotten. I still want to read more of his kids books and Satchel Paige. I read "Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules" but I didn't enjoy it (he wrote and did the panel layouts for it).
This is such a beautiful book. It's a very relaxing read. Sturm creates the universe of Market Day so perfectly and realistically. I really feel for the rug weaver that has troubles selling his wares now that his favorite shop keeper has retired. He has marital stresses and now his art is less marketable and he's going to have trouble making a living doing what he loves. It's a story that's probably familiar to most people, the day you realize you won't be making a living doing what you love - that it'll probably just be a hobby.
But wait a second... Sturm has managed to make a living doing and teaching what he loves. So maybe there is a positive message somewhere in this book.
I have all the respect in the world for Sturm. I think he has an attention to detail that is only matched by a select few comic artists. I just wish he'd put out more work... this and the 3 stories contained in James Sturm's America seem to be make for his completed mature works still in print. He also has a bunch of books targeting towards a younger audience including the beautiful Birdsong and the popular Adventures in Cartooning series. He also did a wonderful series called Cereal Killings in the early 90s that seems to have been forgotten. I still want to read more of his kids books and Satchel Paige. I read "Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules" but I didn't enjoy it (he wrote and did the panel layouts for it).
October 10, 2010
James Sturm, you are really a treasure.
Your work is such a work of art, carefully not drawing attention to the artist himself, celebrating the fact that you're making a graphic novel, and not just writing a story and not just bombarding us with new and interesting art.
And the story, too, of the way the world changes, painfully, imperceptibly but somehow also all at once, in a Jewish Eastern European context here, but very easily universalized... it was a great one for the medium of light and shadows, lines and figures, to tell. The protagonist, a rug weaver, looks at the world through his detail-seeking, abstracting eyes, as well as through his role as an artisan in an increasingly cruelly fast-moving-capitalist world. But somehow, it's a story about how little individual contributions are valued and how lonely and racous the world is simultaneously.
At the same time, having said all that, it's just a story. About this one dude. And one day of his life. It doesn't have to mean all of that, and it's still great. Yeah Sturm, I love your historical sense and the care you take with your storytelling. It works.
Your work is such a work of art, carefully not drawing attention to the artist himself, celebrating the fact that you're making a graphic novel, and not just writing a story and not just bombarding us with new and interesting art.
And the story, too, of the way the world changes, painfully, imperceptibly but somehow also all at once, in a Jewish Eastern European context here, but very easily universalized... it was a great one for the medium of light and shadows, lines and figures, to tell. The protagonist, a rug weaver, looks at the world through his detail-seeking, abstracting eyes, as well as through his role as an artisan in an increasingly cruelly fast-moving-capitalist world. But somehow, it's a story about how little individual contributions are valued and how lonely and racous the world is simultaneously.
At the same time, having said all that, it's just a story. About this one dude. And one day of his life. It doesn't have to mean all of that, and it's still great. Yeah Sturm, I love your historical sense and the care you take with your storytelling. It works.
April 10, 2012
As I was reading this, I was expecting to give a GLOWING review with my strong stamp of approval... but this book has ONE flaw. One BIG flaw:
It doesn't really have an /ending/.
I hate that. Oh I hate that so MUCH...
It doesn't /need/ one... but I like my stories to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. We have to guess at the end in this one...
Even so, This is a definate four stars out of five, because with VERY few words and a lot of very simple drawings, James Sturm has managed to tell us an amzing story, provided a wonderful character study, of a man... like us. More like us than we care to admit. ...in a situation MUCH more like ours than is comfortable to consider.
The story is simple, and I couldn't even begin to explain- but what happens in today's world as the 'big chain' stores take over smaller, sellers who buy handmade or craftsman made items instead of factory made that is so much cheaper in every way... has happened before. It will happen again.
One man's struggle with it is somehow MORE for having been removed from our world and presented in this one. :)
Powerful stuff.
April 19, 2010
Artistically, James Strum's latest is hauntingly beautiful, capturing the day in a life of a rug artisan...from his nervous few steps out in the morning light journeying to the market till the shroud of night falling around him. My favourite moments were of the hustle and bustle of an early 1900's market illuminating the personalities and energy of artisans and market shoppers, which quickly fades away into the dark realizations of an uncertain world and an even more uncertain future predicted of Mendelman, the rug artisan.
My rating reflects mostly the subjective feeling left after reading this short tale. I was left wanting more, with a strong feeling I had only just begun to feel the world Strum was shaping before he wiped it into an intentional blur of uncertainty at the conclusion. It is perhaps the best three stars I could award, with those few pages earning your rapt attention of colour and line work, but three stars nonetheless.
My rating reflects mostly the subjective feeling left after reading this short tale. I was left wanting more, with a strong feeling I had only just begun to feel the world Strum was shaping before he wiped it into an intentional blur of uncertainty at the conclusion. It is perhaps the best three stars I could award, with those few pages earning your rapt attention of colour and line work, but three stars nonetheless.
January 15, 2019
James Sturm's illustration is beyond reproach. The atmosphere he puts together in Market Day will really wrap you up; the crowd scenes feel open and airy like you're watching a film, and the deep, dark scenes creep up and induce exactly the kind of dread one imagines he was aiming for.
The blurbs on the back of the book note things like Sturm being a "master of suggestion," and make note of the ending's ambiguity. These don't necessarily translate to strengths of the book. The characters suffer a little bit as a result of Sturm's aim at ambiguity. Very clear events happen to the characters, and the balance that comes after is often unclear or absent. It crosses over from a case of purposeful, strong ambiguity, over to "why do I even care?" and, worse yet, "Did James Sturm even care?"
While the story is, again, beautifully rendered, there's a lot of empty space, and I'm not talking about his use of dark ink.
The blurbs on the back of the book note things like Sturm being a "master of suggestion," and make note of the ending's ambiguity. These don't necessarily translate to strengths of the book. The characters suffer a little bit as a result of Sturm's aim at ambiguity. Very clear events happen to the characters, and the balance that comes after is often unclear or absent. It crosses over from a case of purposeful, strong ambiguity, over to "why do I even care?" and, worse yet, "Did James Sturm even care?"
While the story is, again, beautifully rendered, there's a lot of empty space, and I'm not talking about his use of dark ink.
October 6, 2010
This book is wonderful. A compact story with glorious art. Seeing the world through the eyes of carpet maker was a revelation that worked quite well with the artwork. The reader is exposed to both the creative energy of an artist and the pride of creation of an artisan. Watching these two elements collide with the impeding industrialization of the world was breathtaking.
For those readers who did not like how abruptly the book ends try to figure out how you would have ended it. I also felt abandoned at the end, but had no idea what should come next. What resolution would alter the conflict between industry and art? Does he leave his family? Does he keep making rugs? What does it matter? I felt the points were made during the day (the "Market Day") and expanding much beyond where the book ends would only cheapen the message.
For those readers who did not like how abruptly the book ends try to figure out how you would have ended it. I also felt abandoned at the end, but had no idea what should come next. What resolution would alter the conflict between industry and art? Does he leave his family? Does he keep making rugs? What does it matter? I felt the points were made during the day (the "Market Day") and expanding much beyond where the book ends would only cheapen the message.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2010
Completely heartbreaking. And completely stunning.
A fine rug maker in early 1900s eastern Europe finds he can no longer get good prices for his work. As I read, I found myself thinking about how isolated this society was (he walks everywhere), thinking about management theory, thinking about the loss of quality, and my knowledge of the horrors of WWII just loomed in the background.
Really amazing illustrations, with nice use of full-spread bleeds, demonstrations of this artistic mind to create rugs, accessible pictures of people.
Just amazing and a very quick read.
A fine rug maker in early 1900s eastern Europe finds he can no longer get good prices for his work. As I read, I found myself thinking about how isolated this society was (he walks everywhere), thinking about management theory, thinking about the loss of quality, and my knowledge of the horrors of WWII just loomed in the background.
Really amazing illustrations, with nice use of full-spread bleeds, demonstrations of this artistic mind to create rugs, accessible pictures of people.
Just amazing and a very quick read.
December 8, 2012
Market Day is a very moving, sad, and subtle graphic novel for older readers. Set in a European Jewish community of the last century, Market Day shares one day in Mendelman's unraveling life. A rug maker of distinction and a father-in-waiting, Mendleman goes to the Market town to sell his rugs, only to find his supply chain is upended and nothing is as it was. This book makes me wish I had an "Economics" tag. . . it's contemplative and sad.
October 9, 2017
I'm currently working my way through a gigantic book celebrating Drawn + Quarterly's 25th anniversary (which is excellent so far, by the way) and it references James Sturm's "Market Day" as one of their early successes in bringing unique graphic novels to the public. Having never read the book before, but intrigued by the description in the D+Q retrospective, I snatched it off the library shelf the other day. I can see now why it blew away the prosaic idea of what kind of comics an indie publishing house could expect to produce. It's a marvel of a book.
"Market Day" briefly tells the story of Mendleman, a Jewish rug maker and father-to-be, who travels to the local market to sell his wares, only to discover that his usual buyer has retired. The only businesses willing to display his rugs are ones that pay him far less money, despite the fact that his work is much more thoughtful and durable than his competitors; these new buyers don't have any appreciation for quality and Old World craftsmanship. And therein lies the classic dilemma of art versus commerce. Should Mendleman hold out to get what his rugs are worth? Or, with a baby on the way, should he compromise his principles and devalue his art? It's a time-honored question, one that's as relevant today as it was in the old Jewish bazaars of "Market Day." If you're looking for an answer, Sturm doesn't provide one, but he explores the question with great poise and compassion. His pacing is perfect, his drawing is absolutely stellar, and his coloring and lettering are outstanding. As both an examination of the meaning of art and as an artifact itself, "Market Day" is flawless.
I'm ashamed that it took me so long to read this book. Not only because it's such an influential comic - and deserves to be so - but also because it's just such a moving story. There's no wasted space or superfluous scenes in Sturm's work. Everything feels real and genuine and that's why it's so successful: it reveals the frustrations of what it means to be an artist as well as a merchant, husband, and father.
"Market Day" briefly tells the story of Mendleman, a Jewish rug maker and father-to-be, who travels to the local market to sell his wares, only to discover that his usual buyer has retired. The only businesses willing to display his rugs are ones that pay him far less money, despite the fact that his work is much more thoughtful and durable than his competitors; these new buyers don't have any appreciation for quality and Old World craftsmanship. And therein lies the classic dilemma of art versus commerce. Should Mendleman hold out to get what his rugs are worth? Or, with a baby on the way, should he compromise his principles and devalue his art? It's a time-honored question, one that's as relevant today as it was in the old Jewish bazaars of "Market Day." If you're looking for an answer, Sturm doesn't provide one, but he explores the question with great poise and compassion. His pacing is perfect, his drawing is absolutely stellar, and his coloring and lettering are outstanding. As both an examination of the meaning of art and as an artifact itself, "Market Day" is flawless.
I'm ashamed that it took me so long to read this book. Not only because it's such an influential comic - and deserves to be so - but also because it's just such a moving story. There's no wasted space or superfluous scenes in Sturm's work. Everything feels real and genuine and that's why it's so successful: it reveals the frustrations of what it means to be an artist as well as a merchant, husband, and father.
October 9, 2021
James Sturm w swoim komiksie przenosi nas 100 lat wstecz, do małego sztetla gdzieś w Europie Wschodniej i pokazuje jego codzienność. Razem z głównym bohaterem, tkaczem produkującym dywany inspirowane jego obserwacjami świata, wstajemy jeszcze po ciemku i wyruszamy na targ sprzedać towar. Możemy podejrzeć świat, którego już nie ma, a który był tak blisko. Kipiące energią targowisko, charakterystyczne dla społeczności żydowskej relacje i specyficzny stosunek do rzeczywistości. To też moment zmian zachodzących na świecie. Rzemieślnicy, którzy poświęcali czas i serce na wytwarzanie przedmiotów idealnych muszą ustąpić przed rozpędzającą się rewolucją przemysłową. W powietrzu czuć, że nadciągają jeszcze poważniejsze problemy. Główny bohater, który kocha swoją rodzinę i swoją pracę na skutek jednej porażki zaczyna powątpiewać w sens wszystkiego co robił, popada w rozpacz i smutek, widzi wszystko w czarnych barwach, aż w końcu się upija i przegapia narodziny dziecka.
Fabuła jest raczej smutna i przygnębiająca, jakby miała zapowiadać to, co historia przyniesie później - prawdziwy koniec ich świata. Główny bohater mnie drażnił, jego sposób myślenia był dla mnie kompletnie irracjonalny, do tego nie znalazłam tu ironii, do której przyzwyczailiśmy się w literaturze żydowskiej. Poza tym były tu momenty, które burzyły mi obraz świetnie odtworzonego świata, bo trzeba przyznać, że rysunki na podstawie zdjęć Romana Vishniaca są najmocniejszym atutem tej książki. Bardzo autentyczne i oddające ducha epoki. Nie wiem jednak czy na początku XXw, na targu gdzieś na naszym kawałku mapy świata, Żydzi pokazywali sobie środkowy palec, albo używali w rozmowie określeń typu lodzik i łoniaki.
Ciekawy pomysł, ale coś mi nie do końca zagrało.
April 22, 2018
La gestione dei tempi narrativi è ottima. Il comparto grafico “a la Seth” vede le tavole disporsi secondo una griglia ordinatissima, che vede poche vignette per pagina, a eccezione delle pagine finali. C’è una predominanza opprimente di tinte marroni tendenti allo scuro, di ombre che descrivono le figure. Fisionomie ed edifici sono resi con grande efficacia e con altrettanto grande economia di dettagli, trasformando ogni soggetto nella sua controparte simbolica e archetipica.
Se quanto appena detto è un grande merito dell’opera, a fare da deciso e assoluto contraltare c’è la tematica trattata. C’è questa disperazione nera, insopprimibile, invincibile, e il viaggio dell’eroe si rivela un tentativo di fuga dalla disperazione stessa, di cui il protagonista prende coscienza davvero solo nelle pagine finali, in quello che si potrebbe definire un “colpo di scena emotivo” che non mi è sembrato ben preparato, perché i semi dello stesso sono sì piantati nelle pagine precedenti, ma con riferimenti totalmente svianti. A me questa cappa devastante che pesa su tutto il racconto ha dato un senso di malessere, non tanto perchè non si possa parlare di cose del genere, quanto per l’assoluta mancanza di una dinamicizzazione del racconto. E’ tutto assolutamente piatto. Ed è un vero peccato.
L’impressione a romanzo letto è che sarebbe potuto essere un bellissimo racconto, ma per qualche motivo Sturm si sia lasciato prendere la mano.
Se quanto appena detto è un grande merito dell’opera, a fare da deciso e assoluto contraltare c’è la tematica trattata. C’è questa disperazione nera, insopprimibile, invincibile, e il viaggio dell’eroe si rivela un tentativo di fuga dalla disperazione stessa, di cui il protagonista prende coscienza davvero solo nelle pagine finali, in quello che si potrebbe definire un “colpo di scena emotivo” che non mi è sembrato ben preparato, perché i semi dello stesso sono sì piantati nelle pagine precedenti, ma con riferimenti totalmente svianti. A me questa cappa devastante che pesa su tutto il racconto ha dato un senso di malessere, non tanto perchè non si possa parlare di cose del genere, quanto per l’assoluta mancanza di una dinamicizzazione del racconto. E’ tutto assolutamente piatto. Ed è un vero peccato.
L’impressione a romanzo letto è che sarebbe potuto essere un bellissimo racconto, ma per qualche motivo Sturm si sia lasciato prendere la mano.
November 25, 2018
I bought this because I could not put it down after opening it and seeing the artwork, and I read it as soon as I got home. I'm not sure what I think about the ending, and I sometimes wonder why I keep it when the bookshelves are straining at their splintering limits but, when I open to any page, it's like turning on the t.v. and finding a film halfway through and watching it even though you've seen it many times before.
The page design, each frame's composition, lines and tonality are so very simple and perfectly dour as we follow a rug maker to his disappointment in the market. Sometimes we are in his head looking out at the world, sometimes we are looking in at his thoughts. At times we are watching from an objective distance in the street and then we are exploring inside a general store by his side. And then we are getting drunk under a bridge in the middle of the night with gutter poets and shouting obscenities into the dark. But those landscapes! Sturm draws landscapes with a sparse lonely geometry, and that may be why I connect with it so strongly. It may also be the desperate humour that sometimes sparks off the heel.
There are scenes in this short story that remind me of Lowry paintings, and then there are comic outbursts from characters that remind me of Herge's Tintin. The tale may be bleak with nary a gleam of hope, but there is, nevertheless, something very life affirming somewhere in those shadows.
The page design, each frame's composition, lines and tonality are so very simple and perfectly dour as we follow a rug maker to his disappointment in the market. Sometimes we are in his head looking out at the world, sometimes we are looking in at his thoughts. At times we are watching from an objective distance in the street and then we are exploring inside a general store by his side. And then we are getting drunk under a bridge in the middle of the night with gutter poets and shouting obscenities into the dark. But those landscapes! Sturm draws landscapes with a sparse lonely geometry, and that may be why I connect with it so strongly. It may also be the desperate humour that sometimes sparks off the heel.
There are scenes in this short story that remind me of Lowry paintings, and then there are comic outbursts from characters that remind me of Herge's Tintin. The tale may be bleak with nary a gleam of hope, but there is, nevertheless, something very life affirming somewhere in those shadows.
November 19, 2017
The story is simple, but this is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel with subject matter and location (a small village somewhere in Eastern Europe in pre-World War II 20th Century) that would not be out of place in an Isaac Bashevis Singer short story. The hardcover edition has unnumbered pages and is gorgeously bound. I don't read many graphic novels, but Drawn & Quarterly is a first-rate publisher of the genre as far as I am concerned.
October 13, 2018
Dark, melancholic and gloomy and the color palette of the graphic novel refelects that. James Surm covers the story of a rug merchant as he struggles with a lack of demand for his fine artisanship in the market and new life changes.
The artwork is fabulous with the darkness of the story reflected in the panels. The use of grids of panels is done effectively whether to show a rush of emotions or to dwell on the dark mood of a scene (both well drawn and narrated)
The artwork is fabulous with the darkness of the story reflected in the panels. The use of grids of panels is done effectively whether to show a rush of emotions or to dwell on the dark mood of a scene (both well drawn and narrated)
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