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The Cannibal
Based on an Inuit traditional story passed down orally for generations, The Cannibal tells the horrific tale of a family experiencing starvation when the animals they rely on for survival disappear. While the wife stays alive by eating plants she gathers daily, the husband does the unthinkable, resorting to murder and cannibalism. Horrified, and terrified for her life, the wife eventually finds herself alone in camp with her husband. She knows what will happen to her if she does not find a way to escape. Hatching a plan, the exhausted wife embarks on the journey with her murderous husband in pursuit. After safely arriving at a nearby camp, she shares the story of what has become of her camp, and her own children. Soon the husband arrives, and the camp must decide how to deal with the cannibal. Both horrific and poignant, this cautionary traditional story provides a window into the at times harsh realities of traditional life.
- GenresGraphic Novels
44 pages, Hardcover
Published June 11, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 8, 2024
I really wish this story was longer!
It does read like a scary story you listen to by the campfire. The illustrations really helped convey the characters, setting, and especially the mood. The actual cannibalism part definitely delivered.
It'd be great if this was part of a larger collection of Inuit short stories. I'd love to read more.
Thank you to Inhabit Media and Edelweiss for this arc.
It does read like a scary story you listen to by the campfire. The illustrations really helped convey the characters, setting, and especially the mood. The actual cannibalism part definitely delivered.
It'd be great if this was part of a larger collection of Inuit short stories. I'd love to read more.
Thank you to Inhabit Media and Edelweiss for this arc.
December 4, 2024
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.5 of 5
Based on an Inuit tale passed down for generations, The Cannibal is a graphic novel telling the tale of one family working through the hard times when food was scarce and a community suffered.
When the patriarch of this Inuit family hunts, day after day and the animals he relies on for food for himself and his family have disappeared. Day after day the hunt produces nothing, and the family is going hungry. He knows where there is meat, though, and after another fruitless day, he he kills, skins, and boils the meat off the bones of the family pets.
When that meat is gone, the man attacks his fellow villagers, providing a good stockpile of meat. But still the animals don't return and the man does the unthinkable, killing and eating his own children. His wife, heart-broken, refuses to eat her own children and settles for what few plants she can forage.
But now the woman knows that her husband will stop at nothing to fill his stomach and there's only one source of meat left and it's only a matter of time - his next failed hunting day - and he'll look to kill and eat her as well. So she hides when he goes out and when he comes back, prepared to kill her, he flies into a rage and runs off looking for her. She runs then, surviving on the plants she's used to finding, until she comes to another community who welcome her.
When the man finally comes to the same community, the people, who know the woman's story, have a special surprise for the man.
I've been fascinated by Inuit stories for a number of years now, so it was the fact that this was both a graphic novel and an Inuit tale that drew me to this book. I was shocked and disgusted by the graphic nature of this story. I read a lot of horror and splatter-punk, so it's not easy to disgust me. In part this comes because I wasn't finding a moral or even a purpose to this tale. I'm still not at all sure what I'm supposed to be taking away from this.
Even the ending strikes me as strange and a let-down. It comes about quite suddenly and we miss the woman's growth in her new community and we miss what has driven and kept the man alive during the time the woman has been gone.
The artwork is good, but again, graphic. And graphic without cause.
Looking for a good book? The Cannibal is an Inuit tale, told in graphic novel form by Louise Flaherty, Solomon Awa, and artist Raphael Ter-Stephanov. It is dark, disgusting, and could be interesting, but it's missing the climax.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
Based on an Inuit tale passed down for generations, The Cannibal is a graphic novel telling the tale of one family working through the hard times when food was scarce and a community suffered.
When the patriarch of this Inuit family hunts, day after day and the animals he relies on for food for himself and his family have disappeared. Day after day the hunt produces nothing, and the family is going hungry. He knows where there is meat, though, and after another fruitless day, he he kills, skins, and boils the meat off the bones of the family pets.
When that meat is gone, the man attacks his fellow villagers, providing a good stockpile of meat. But still the animals don't return and the man does the unthinkable, killing and eating his own children. His wife, heart-broken, refuses to eat her own children and settles for what few plants she can forage.
But now the woman knows that her husband will stop at nothing to fill his stomach and there's only one source of meat left and it's only a matter of time - his next failed hunting day - and he'll look to kill and eat her as well. So she hides when he goes out and when he comes back, prepared to kill her, he flies into a rage and runs off looking for her. She runs then, surviving on the plants she's used to finding, until she comes to another community who welcome her.
When the man finally comes to the same community, the people, who know the woman's story, have a special surprise for the man.
I've been fascinated by Inuit stories for a number of years now, so it was the fact that this was both a graphic novel and an Inuit tale that drew me to this book. I was shocked and disgusted by the graphic nature of this story. I read a lot of horror and splatter-punk, so it's not easy to disgust me. In part this comes because I wasn't finding a moral or even a purpose to this tale. I'm still not at all sure what I'm supposed to be taking away from this.
Even the ending strikes me as strange and a let-down. It comes about quite suddenly and we miss the woman's growth in her new community and we miss what has driven and kept the man alive during the time the woman has been gone.
The artwork is good, but again, graphic. And graphic without cause.
Looking for a good book? The Cannibal is an Inuit tale, told in graphic novel form by Louise Flaherty, Solomon Awa, and artist Raphael Ter-Stephanov. It is dark, disgusting, and could be interesting, but it's missing the climax.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
April 19, 2024
Retold by a story-telling mayor (or is that mayoral story-teller?) and one of the founders of Inhabit Media, this is a graphic novel for teens and up audiences only – well, as a rule. If you're OK with the people-eating in "Titus Andronicus" you're OK with this, I guess. The lesson seems to be 'give it a rest', 'find a plan B', or suchlike, for in the time of hardship this small community is facing, the title character just cannot land a seal at the breathing hole he is obsessed with hunting at. When desperate times call for desperate measures, he and his family are forced to eat the dogs – and then the neighbours, and then the children have to get ready for the pot. Oddly enough, at about this time, the man's wife starts to rebel.
This is a peculiar legend for the non-Inuit audience. Yes, it talks of monomania, control and what the idiocy sticking to a failing plan can cause, especially in such a rarefied place as Arctic North America. But we also have magic, and the bizarre sport that proves to feature in the final third, where a kind of tightrope is used as both field of combat and weapon. To the general browser this is a strange, dark novelty, a rare thing to stumble on and gain an unlikely-seeming insight from. But to the Inuit audience this is geared for this is wonderful – giving the traditional story a full-on, westernised graphic novel formatting, and telling it straight and true, just as it has been told straight and true since first formed. This then is an earnest lesson for these peoples, and a recording of rich heritage. It's barely deserving of a star rating, as a result – but for my tastes, this small, quirky item was a solid four stars.
This is a peculiar legend for the non-Inuit audience. Yes, it talks of monomania, control and what the idiocy sticking to a failing plan can cause, especially in such a rarefied place as Arctic North America. But we also have magic, and the bizarre sport that proves to feature in the final third, where a kind of tightrope is used as both field of combat and weapon. To the general browser this is a strange, dark novelty, a rare thing to stumble on and gain an unlikely-seeming insight from. But to the Inuit audience this is geared for this is wonderful – giving the traditional story a full-on, westernised graphic novel formatting, and telling it straight and true, just as it has been told straight and true since first formed. This then is an earnest lesson for these peoples, and a recording of rich heritage. It's barely deserving of a star rating, as a result – but for my tastes, this small, quirky item was a solid four stars.
January 19, 2024
I really love learning traditionally oral stories from both my own and other cultures. Sometimes the art was odd here, though; like dog anatomy aren't the artist's strength. I found that a little distracting, but enjoyed the rest.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC.
June 10, 2024
This was to short
November 30, 2024
A treasure to be able to hold a traditional story in one's hand.
Library copy.
Library copy.
September 29, 2025
trigger warning for cannibalism
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews