Tales from the Inner City

by Shaun Tan

Tales from the Inner City is a collection of incredibly original stories, rich with feeling, strangely moving, almost numinous. And when the reader comes to the artwork, it's like walking into an amazing room, and then throwing open a curtain to see a brilliant scene that makes you understand and appreciate everything you've encountered in a deeper way.

Genres: Short Stories, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Art, Poetry, Young Adult

221 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

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 Literature Trust. 2009 World Fantasy Award for Best Artist. In 2011, he won his first Oscar in the category Best Short Animated Film for his work The Lost Thing.

Reviews

[Stace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Reviewed by Stacey on www.whisperingstories.com

Tales from the Inner City is a strange, yet an eye-opening book about co-existing with animals and what they can teach us about ourselves. It is a book for older children, teenagers, and even adults.

With twenty-five stories about animals, mixed in with poems and some gorgeous artwork, this book has something for everyone. Most of the stories are quite dark and yet very intelligently written.

Shaun Tan has used his stories about animals to reflect the actions, mannerisms, and emotions of us humans. By understanding the essence of the stories you can take a lot of information away about human behaviour and yourself too. It is kind of like a weird self-help book if you look deeper at the stories, or you can just enjoy them and not look for any hidden meanings, the choice is yours.

This is a book to be treasured and delve into now and again. It would make a great coffee table book, one to get people talking. It may even help those going through a change in their lives – especially teenagers to understand the world around them.

[T.D. Whittle · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Your money is meaningless to us,' said the bears. 'You grasp economics with the same clawless paws you use for fumbling justice.'

And, once again, the bears showed us.

There they were, God help us, the Ledgers of the Earth, written in clouds and glaciers and sediments, tallied in the colours of the sun and the moon as light passed through the millennial sap of every living thing, and we looked upon it all with dread. Ours was not the only fiscal system in the world, it turned out. And worse, our debt was severe beyond reckoning. And worse than worse, all the capital we had accrued throughout history was a collective figment of the human imagination: every asset, stock and dollar. We owned nothing. The bears asked us to relinquish our hold on all that never belonged to us in the first place.

Well, this we simply could not do.

So we shot the bears.

Never fear, gentle reader, for while we cannot resurrect the bears, the cows will surely avenge their deaths. I have been following Shaun Tan's work for years now, and was exceptionally happy to attend a talk he gave at a Melbourne bookshop around the time The Bird King was published. This one is my favourite of his works so far, though I love quite a few of them, including the aforementioned Bird King.

In the Author Notes Tan released about Tales From The Inner City, he opens with this statement: Tales from the Inner City, a sister volume to my anthology Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008), is a collection of 25 illustrated stories about relationships between humans and animals. The basic premise I set for myself was quite simple: think about an animal in a city. Why is it there? How do people react to it? What meaning does it suggest? The first story I wrote concerned crocodiles living across the entire upper floor of a skyscraper, and this triggered a flow of similar daydreams. (See Allen & Unwin Book Publishers link to download Commentary by Shaun Tan.)

This type of artistic process fascinates me, which is probably why I love authors such as Murakami, too, who says he writes in the early mornings before he's fully awake because that's when his subconscious is still tossing up interesting ideas (that's my paraphrasing, not what he actually said). Like Murakami, Tan's books are shot through with images that evoke something powerful in us, through pictures and words, yet they are both elusive and ephemeral. We feel constantly that we are on the brink of grasping something important, which we may lose upon wakening.

Tan also had this to say in his notes: What I love about speculative fiction is the way it can address commonplace problems in unusual, hypothetical ways. He offers us a series of poetic and thoughtful illustrated vignettes in Tales From The Inner City , with each story spinning off one of his unusual hypotheticals. The results are stunning.











Importantly, my animals never really speak, and their animal natures remain inscrutable. They are beings that move in and out of each story as if trying to tell us something about our own successes and failures as a species, the meaning of our dreams, and our true place in the world . . . (See Allen & Unwin Book Publishers link to download Commentary by Shaun Tan.)

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Where money gathers, so do pigeons. They flock to great financial centers like so many accountants in smart grey waistcoats and glittering collars, bright-eyed, strutting, nodding, darting purposefully between the fiscal-black heels of merchant bankers, bartering every walking minute for a tidy profit.”

Tales from the Inner City is a picture book for adults by award-winning Australian illustrator and author, Shaun Tan. What a wonderful book! Shaun Tan is so talented. There are twenty-five tales, the beginning of each denoted by the black silhouette of a creature: perhaps an animal, bird, fish or insect. This is followed by text, sometimes as prose, sometimes as verse. Some stories are very short, others up to thirty-six pages long. Mostly at the end, but sometimes throughout the story, colour illustrations depict some part of the tale.

Those illustrations, wow! They are exquisite, evocative, luminous. The stories that accompany them vary: some are very sad; some are delightfully funny; some are sweet; some are portentous; some are insightful; and some perfectly illustrate the human race’s blindness to what is. Most are wise and some are clever, and Tan’s prose is often just as evocative as his art: “How much do I love our family? This much. When nothing turns out to be what we hoped, we still hope it turns out to be something. We are never the ones to say that life is disappointing. We are always too busy doing stuff., even if we have no idea why.”

All this elegance on quality glossy paper contained within a superb hardcover binding. The cover story (Moonfish) is likely to be a favourite, both for the story and the illustration, but the frogs, the dog, the owl, the cat, the bears and the butterflies are exceptional among a book full of tales bound to appeal to many readers. What will this brilliant man come up with next? An utterly beautiful book!

[Wim Oosterlinck]

Ik ben kinderpsychiater Winny Ang (drie boeken aflevering 211) voor altijd dankbaar. Zij leerde mij het boek Tales from the Inner City van de Australische kunstenaar Shaun Tan kennen. Ze sprak er zò vurig over in de podcast 'drie boeken' dat ik het meteen ging kopen.

Tales from the Inner City is een soort prentenboek met kortverhalen. Het zijn fantastische verhalen over dieren in een hedendaagse grootstad - denk New York City. Er zijn slakken, krokodillen in een wolkenkrabber, een tijger die door de stad zwerft. Er zijn nijlpaarden, beren met advocaten, een arend in de luchthaven, een overleden poes. Het verhaal van het varken dat steeds kleiner wordt, is onvergetelijk.

Sommige verhalen tellen enkele bladzijden, andere zijn maar enkele regels lang. Op het einde staat steeds een prachtige, vaak indrukwekkende illustratie. In quasi alle verhalen overheersen de dieren op één of andere manier de mens.

Op die manier gaat dit boek over menselijkheid, over onze relatie tot de planeet ook, maar nooit vlak of simpel of sloganesk, altijd subtiel, grappig, slim en ongelooflijk poëtisch.

Tales from the Inner City is surrealistisch, superorigineel én ontroerend, ik heb nog nooit zoiets gelezen. Een schitterend boek dat je geest openzet. Je kan de verhalen best in beperkte hoeveelheden consumeren, om het genot te maximaliseren. Dit is één van de allermooiste boeken die ik ken.

Danku Winny.

Volledig leesverslag: https://wimoosterlinck.wpcomstaging.c...

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original short stories and intriguing illustrations. Lines that spoke to me personally:
"Nothing shrinks the imagination like a waiting room, and a lift is nothing if not the smallest of all waiting rooms." So true! Yet, it is one of those things that we 'know' but don't acknowledge until someone else points it out to us.

"One day I threw my stick at you.
You brought it back.
My hand touched your ear.
Your nose touched the back of my knee.
Then we were walking side by side
as if it had always been this way."

This poem is poignant as I have enjoyed relationships with many canine companions over the years and my current one for a decade now. She can read me like a book and knows when I have saved some tidbits from my meal to share, or when we are going to walk in the woods versus a short walk. She leans into me when I need comforting. It feels as though she has always been by my side.

[cypt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Labai labai graži. Kiekviena Shaun Tano knyga (kol kas, be šitos, skaičiau dar dvi) būna ir wow, ir truputį spaudžia ašarėlę. Jis kažkaip sugeba ne tik labai gražiai iliustruoti, bet ir iš iliustracijų (ir kartais žodžių) padaryti tokį naratyvą, kuris užkabina ir nepaleidžia.

Neskaičiau Tales from Outer Suburbia, pagal pavadinimą atrodo, kad abidvi knygos galėtų būti gal ir ne dilogija (??), bet bent jau diptikas. Bet ji puikiai skaitosi ir atskirai. "Vidinio miesto" centre - gyvūnai (nerealus turinys, kur gyvūnų siluetuose tiesiog surašyti psl numeriai), kiekvienas iš 25 skyriukų skirtas vienam atskiram gyvūnui. Iš pradžių bijojau, kad tai bus esė kaip iš Knausgaardo, bet ne - tai maži pasakojimėliai, eilėraščiai, novelės. Pvz apie žuvis: kaip vaikai, žvejodami danguje nuo stogų, pagauna mėnulio žuvį (moonfish), kaip ji kraujuodama lieja šviesą, kaip jie paskui bando ją parduot, nes delikatesas. Kaip name gyvena paršelis, kuris sulig kiekviena diena vis po keletą gabaliukų nyksta, ir vaikams skauda širdį, nes mato, kad jis jau nebeturi kojų, uodegos. Tai jie išsiveža jį į miestą, pritaiso pačių padarytas kojytes ir paleidžia žaisti su kitais paršeliais. Mano mylimiausia istorija buvo apie katiną, kuris išeidavo į lauką ir kartą grįžęs numirė, o tada šeimininkės mama su dukra, eidamos per miestą, pamatė daugybę dingusio katino skelbimų su daugybe vardų - Tugboat, Captain Plush, Macbeth, Jonah, Potato King (kaip mano katinas!!!), Amadeus, Earl Grey - bet ta pačia nuotrauka - jų katino, ir suprato, kad jis gyveno daugybę gyvenimų ir visiems tiems žmonėms buvo pats brangiausias, ir su visais draugavo. Toks amžinas dabartistas.

Nors istorijos - apie gyvūnus, gana greit supranti, kad jos smarkiai alegorinės. Kaip kad apie žuvis, kurios visos turėjo žmonių veidus, todėl nekilo ranka jų užmušt, o auginamos vonioje jos užsiaugino galūnėles, išlipo iš vandens, pradėjo mokytis, viską daryti geriau, našiau, tvariau negu "mes", taisyti pasaulį, kurti savo įstatymus ir rodyti gerą pavyzdį. Bet paskui jų kuriamas pasaulis vis mažėjo, mažėjo, kol išnyko iš akių. Istorija apie koegzistavimą, taip, - bet juk iš tiesų apie senatvę. Toks šių dienų Ezopas.

Bet ir būdamas Ezopu, rašydamas alegoriškai jis nesusitelkia vien tik į pamokas žmogui vidiniam gyvenimui: gyvūnai jam yra šalia, ne palyginimo priemonė, o tikslas; keisti, verti pagarbos, atimantys žadą - bet ir žadinantys kaltę, ieškantys atpildo. Štai arklių skyriuje mažas dvimetis pyplys važiuoja mašina su tėvais ir visur aplink, didmiestyje, mato šuoliuojančius arklius, o tėvai, aišku, nemato. Paskui paaiškėja, kad tai suvartotų ir iki mirties, ir po mirties arklių sielos. Arba meškų skyriuje: meškos ateina su advokatais ir pareiškia kaltinimus žmonijai vagyste, genocidu, žudymu, kankinimu, priverčia juos pamatyti, kad jų teisinė sistema - ne vienintelė pasauly, netgi gana menkavertė, palygint su meškų teise, jūrų vėplių teise.

Pabaiga vis tiek labai graži, be nevilties, be pykčio ar smerkimo:

We do wipe away tears, or possibly sweat, or possibly just the passing memory of tears and sweat - the backs of our hands come away dry - above all else it's a distant curiosity that persists. Why did we fight so much? Why were we so cruel and callous, so selfish and separate, so lonely on this high band of rock? Only now, too late, do we remember quietly the things that bind all brothers and sisters in sediment, each husk and bone much the same carbonate as any other: shark, bear, crocodile, owl, pig, lungfish, moonfish, parrot, pigeon, butterfly, bee, tiger, dog, frog, snail, cat, sheep, horse, yak, orca, eagle, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, fox... at least we gave them our most beautiful words. (p. 219)

Ir gražiausia jo knygų dalis - iliustracijos:
katinas:


mėnulio žuvis:


arklių sielos:


lokys su advokate:


žuvelės:


ir pelėda, kuri būna kiekvienoje ligoninėje, kad neliktum viena/s:

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an enchanting collection of whimsical stories, enhanced by the imaginatively evocative artwork of this very talented artist.

This book is a series of stories that kind of defy the imagination to adequately describe. There is an element of urban-fantasy of the more unique variety. They could also be thought of as perfect bedtime stories for adults; reading them was meditative, unexpected and always replete with gentle enchantment that left me feeling emotionally richer for having read them. Each story is not so much about a specific animal, more like, each story adopts a specific animal as the totem of the story-line. As there are too many to review I will mention one or two.

One of the more imaginative, the painting for which is the cover art for the book and which enchanted me the most was the one about the moonfish. A small group of young boys go fishing each night, there is no ocean in their city, they fish off the roof of their apartment building for sky fish, one night they catch the most sought after - the moon fish.

In another bears get lawyers and charge humanity with crimes against their race and against the planet.

Another starts with ; Crocodiles live on the eighty-seventh floor. And very comfortably, too.

So the writing is delightful and the artwork is perfectly complementary to the unique stories. They are whimsical, mythological fairy tales for adults and they are absolutely joyous to read. They might also suit kids, but there is nothing realistic or concrete to ground these stories to reality, so some children might find them difficult.

[Renee Godding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful in so many ways...

Tales from the Inner City is a short story collection by author and illustration Shaun Tan, who has combined his talents in both these fields to create a book that is as stunning on the inside as it is on the outside.
Shaun Tan is known for his (for the lack of a better word) “experimental” work, and this signature style can be found in this collection as well. His stories are surrealist, without falling in the trap of being “ quirky for the sake of it”. On the surface, each one appears to focus on a different animal featured in it. At the same time, each story is a portrayal of a very human experience or emotion, that many of us will be able to relate to.
Some of my favorite stories were: “cat”, “dog”, “moonfish”, “tiger”, “bees” and especially “Owl”, which really got under my skin based on my own personal experiences with childhood illness.
The beauty of all these stories is in the way the pictures and words combine to form a unique and more intense, reading experience. Well written as they are, the stories by themselves would have probably gotten a 3.5 star rating on average for me. The illustrations are stunning, but would have been a 4 star on their own. It’s the synergy of both of them combined that makes this collection a full and well deserved five-star that I would love to revisit again in the future.

[Paula Mota · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*

The greatest curse of any animal is to be worth money to men.

Com o sexto livro do australiano Shaun Tan concluo toda a gama possível no seu reportório: sem palavras, com algumas palavras e com muitas palavras, a acompanhar as suas ilustrações sempre coloridas e expressivas.
Recorrendo a 25 histórias sobre animais, incluindo os “racionais”, Tan explora a ligação deles com os humanos, para o bem e para o mal, não só aqueles que esperaríamos ver no jardim de uma cidade, como os pombos, as borboletas e os caracóis, como também os inusitados, como por exemplo, tigres e crocodilos. Da vida selvagem, sobressai, para mim, a metáfora da orca que foi levada da mãe e paira sobre a cidade e a fábula dos ursos que levam os humanos a tribunal.

Reading any fraction of the material, a case against humankind gathered over some then thousand years, was an exercise in abject despair: Theft. Pillage. Unlawful Occupation. Deportation. Slavery. Murder. Torture. Genocide. Not to mention all the crimes we’d never heard of, things like Spiritual Exclusion, Groaking and Ungungunurumunre.

Embora haja contos mais ligeiros, a maioria é bastante soturna e angustiante, sendo os meus preferidos o do cão, devido aos seus painéis deslumbrantes, e o do gato que, quando morreu, levou a dona a perceber que, afinal, não tinha a exclusividade do seu amor, pois toda a gente sabe que são os gatos que escolhem os seus humanos e não o contrário.

Only now, too late, do we remember quietly the things that bind all brothers and sisters in sediment, each husk and bone much the same carbonate as any other: shark, bear, crocodile, owl, pig, lungfish, moonfish, parrot, pigeon, butterfly, bee, tiger, dog, frog, snail, cat, sheep, horse, yak, orca, eagle, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, fox...at lease we gave them our most beautiful words.

[Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating collection of what I can only think of describing as post-modern cautionary tales which, through our relationship with animals, explores man's materialistic obsessions and how we have lost our relationship with animals and the natural world.
As with all Tan's work, interpretation is left open and meanings will be rich and varied with some stories' messages clearer than others (perhaps). It is fascinating to think that the blend between extended written narrative and glorious paintings throughout all come after Tan's last venture which was The Singing Bones (retellings and explorations of Grimm's fairy tales). In this light, you can begin to see where Tan is going with these stories (wholly his own) and the journey he has taken to get to this point.
After a comment on social media about the appropriateness of one of the stories (the word 'shit' crops up in one tale) there is question about whether you could share the book with primary children. I am sure my opinion will differ from others but I will say that Tan's open, ambiguous message about how we are losing touch with the natural world and the creatures in it would be a powerful talking point for children that could affect their perceptions of the world. The openness of the tales means that the reader must make their own conclusions and in doing so, readers would claim a greater ownership over the ideas which Tan is trying to share. That is a very good thing indeed.

[Neva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Книгата е за възрастни. Книгата е за деца. Книгата е за животни. Книгата е за живота. Книгата е за дома. Книгата е за чувства. Книгата е за сънища. Книгата е за бъдещето. Книгата е за очите. Книгата е за ума. Книгата е за сърцето.

[Krissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Едно от най-красивите ми преживявания между кориците на книга.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mesmerizing collection of stories and corresponding artwork from Shaun Tan that is also kind of uncategorizable as some of his work tends to be. Each entry focuses on one species of animal in a world that feels like a futuristic, more bizarre version of our own. Nature still exists, but it's not the nature we know now, and animals are different—more populous or less, stranger, magical, changed, and directly in our day to day lives, perhaps because we've destroyed the places they used to live. Some connect, some suddenly appear, some take revenge, some are terribly, hopelessly wronged. There are humans in the stories as well, grappling with what we've done and what we can't take back and how to live.

Tan's surreal, beautiful art is always captivating.

Some of my favorite selections: dog, horse, rhino, frog, orca, tiger, and more.

"The bears asked us to relinquish our hold on all that never belonged to us in the first place."

"...I need you as much as you need me. And where could we live if not in the bottomless den of each other's shadow?"

"Only now, too late, do we remember quietly the things that bind all brothers and sisters in sediment, each husk and bone much the same carbonate as any other: shark, bear, crocodile, owl, pig, lungfish, moonfish, parrot, pigeon, butterfly, bee, tiger, dog, frog, snail, cat, sheep, horse, yak, orca, eagle, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, fox...at lease we gave them our most beautiful words."

[Callum McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love surrealism when it comes to art, but really struggle with it when it comes to prose, which often makes reading Shaun Tan's books a tale of two halves for me.

Conceptually, I thought this was excellent; 25 short stories, each one focussed on a different animal, commenting on the beauty, brutality, and complexity that make up man's relationship with nature. Each one is accompanied by at least one stunning double-page illustration.

Whilst plot-wise, most of the stories did little for me, I always admired what the author was saying thematically, and I could lose myself in the artwork time and time again. Indeed, looking at Tan's paintings is like stepping inside a dream world; a hypnotically rich and rewarding experience.

[Becket · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y'all, I am not a crier (at least not about books), but the stunning art in this book brought me to tears TWICE. If you're an animal lover, prepare yourself for the possibility of emotional onslaught with every page-turn reveal.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shaun Tan's books are hard to categorize: a kid/anyone could flip through them for the art. But you need a little more life-experience to grasp the nucleus of truths in his writing. Be prepared to 'think' when you read a Shaun Tan book! I like this requirement.

The first little story is about crocodiles living on the 87th floor:

"They've been living in this very spot for a million years, and I'll be they'll still be here long after the traffic has ground itself back into mud and we hairless apes conclude our final meeting, declare bankruptcy, and move on, as hairless apes will do. In the cool brain of a crocodile the city is just a waiting room: the biggest of all waiting rooms, rising up through an age with which they have no account, no appointment, and to which they owe no attention."

This book's depth goes deeper as the pages go by. These all would be great to discuss with a fellow reader. This book is filed in the Dewey Decimal of 823.9 TAN simply because:
8 = Literature
2 = English and Old English Literature
3 = English Fiction
9 = Modern Period

I think 128.4 could be just as appropriate though:
1 = Philosophy and Psychology
2 = Philosophy of Humanity
8 = The Human Condition
4 = Human Action and Experience, Love, Suffering, Pleasure

I really don't know, but books that make you THINK as much as Shaun Tan's books do feel like they should be filed in something other than 'fiction'.

I can't quite go to 5* on this. Even though I was inside Shaun's writing head as I progressed in the book, I found the later half had stories I could not fully interpret clearly. But that may be the beauty - interpret them however you'd like.

Chapters/Stories:
Butterflies - don't over-analyze!
Dogs - friendship here in short poetry and symbolic/beautiful/thoughtful imagery
Snails - mating near the city reminding us "it's natural"
Sharks - the crowd is happy the 'killer' is being cut open, but inside is infinity
Cats - posters of lost cats show the same cat (per ear-mark) that traveled to homes. To one girl, 'Tugboat' got her through life's waves. This cat got so many people through life's waves.
Horses - "the greatest curse of any animal is to be worth money to men"..."only the souls of horses are, mercifully, of no use to men"
Pigs - I'm not sure...
Fish - kids doing urban fishing in the sky, which loses its iridescence on earth
Rhino - "How could we have known it was the last one?"
Owl - all-knowing, waiting beside you when in the hospital
Frog - corporate board members holding a meeting
Sheep - respect the sheep! until a shift in wind
Hippo - "As if the thought of being ordinary becomes its own reassurance. Pity the exceptional".
Lungfish - if they grow to one day be like/better than us, why would we dislike them (ourselves?)
Orca - we venerate them at the expense of taking them from their mother
Tiger - we could wear a mask on the back of our head so the tiger won't attack. What do we simply not use/do because we think too much about what other will think about us?
Parrot - always so appealing to those who see them occasionally. But for anyone that lives with them it is a different story.
Bear - the bears got lawyers and sued humanity for injustice. So we shot them.
Eagle - its scary presence at each airport. I need to think about this one more...
Fox - who goes wherever he wants to go. "I know your every thought and feeling, more than you do yourself, every craving, every fear and dream and vice and embarrassing secret, I know them all."
Pigeon - what is our 'belief' in our money system?
Bee - Is this all a dream? Our 100 years nurtures a tree that feeds the bees
Yak - we are all lost in the fast lane of our job. Climb on the Yak and slow down.
Man - if you dug up remnants of man, how would you know what we dreamed? How would you rationalize how these men fought so much? We are made of the same carbonate as all the creatures mentioned so far in these stories.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know I'm an outlier here, but I just could NOT get into this one, despite having enjoyed so many of Tan's other books. I just found both these brief stories (more vignettes, really) of human/animal interaction uninteresting, and the single 2-page paintings that followed (except for that bizarre 20-page stretch of a dog sitting by the side of the road) nowhere near as engaging as Tan's usual work.

Generously rounding up to 3 stars as I like to give all artists credit for changing up their style and trying something new, but this was otherwise just meh writing and meh artwork — a classic example of TMBTLT.

[হাঁটুপানির জলদস্যু · Rating 3 out of 5]

ট্যানের এ বইটায় গল্পগুলো অনেক বেশি ছায়াঘন; হয়তো দুই হাজার কুড়ি সাল এমন বই পড়ার জন্যে খুব উপযোগী সময় ছিলো না। প্রায় পুরো বছর লাগিয়ে থেমে থেমে পড়লাম। ব্যাং, বেড়াল, চাঁদকুড়ো মাছ আর ফ্যাপসা মাছের গল্প চারটা চমৎকার লেগেছে, বাকিগুলো মোটামুটি। ট্যানের আঁকা ছবিগুলো যথারীতি দারুণ।

[Francesca Forrest]

How it started: Flipping through it on the way back from the library, I already fell in love with it

How it's going: I'm abandoning this because too many of the stories/poems are grim, and the grimness in large part seems to come from underlying assumptions I don't share. I love the paintings, though, and I really liked the crocodile, dog, and cat stories.

Shaun Tan's Arrival has been recommended to me. Apparently it's wordless, which could be a big improvement for me! I'll give that one a try.

[Kitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

täitsa umbropsu haarasin selle raamatu raamatukogust kaasa, sest tundus, et kenad pildid, ja lihtsalt... ta oli sellel ainsal riiulil, kust sai ise midagi võtta, ja see riiul oli juba üsna hõredaks jäänud. defitsiit!

aga oh, mis leid.

need pildid on tõesti absoluutselt võrratud.

juttude osas olin ette kõhklev, sest esiteks pole ma pärast varajase lapseea Seton-Thompsoni- ja Teofrastuse-traumasid eriline loomalugude sõber, ja teiseks pole lühijutt ka üldse minu stiihia. aga kohe esimese jutu esimestest ridadest olin konksu otsas: "Crocodiles live on the eighty-seventh floor. And very comfortably, too. Plenty of filtered water, mud, swamp grass, climate control, fresh meat delivered twice a week, big long walls of uninterrupted glass, along which to follow the sun all day, slowly moving from east to west; such luxurious reptilian basking would never be possible on ground level. Did I mention the spectacular view of financial district in all directions?" jah, ja nii ta läheb. krokodillidel on küll liftinupu kõrval kirjas, et korrus 87: krokodillid, aga kõik eeldavad, et ju see on moebränd või kindlustus- või reklaamifirma. ainult aknapesija teab, et nad seal on, ja teda ei usu keegi.

sellised linnaloomade lood on need kõik, mõnedel läheb inimeste kõrval paremini ja mõnel kehvemini, aga kõigil neil on mingid oma asjad ajada, keegi ei ela siin meie rõõmuks. päris hea nihe on sees iga kord. ja kas ma neid pilte mainisin? oo, seda teopilti ma tahaks endale koju seinale!

kõige rohkem kõnetas mind lugu karudest, kes palkasid advokaadid ja kaebasid inimkonna kohtusse. hästi see nende jaoks muidugi ei lõppenud. aga ikkagi.

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gorgeous collection of short fiction paired with stunning artwork. Each tale examines our relationships with the natural world and how animals intersect with humanity, all while using a lens of magical realism. The poetics of the prose, the themes, and the art all work together to create something truly wonderful.

My favorite piece by far was the one on dogs, which is no surprise. While it's primarily illustrations more than words that was the one that brought tears to my eyes. I also really loved the ones on snails, pigs, and foxes (so surreal), as well as frogs, tigers, & hippo (social commentary). Honestly I liked them all. Planning on searching out more work by this creator.


Book Club: 11/21

[Стефани Витанова · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Приказки от сърцето на града“ съдържа 25 истории за отношенията между хора и животни. Сюжетите са странна смесица между реалното и илюзорното с акцент върху справедливостта, която неизменно настъпва, дори в един привидно несправедлив свят като нашия. За последствията, които ни застигат. За това, че трябва да се отнасяме с уважение към всичко, което ни заобикаля, защото делим една Земя с много други видове. Голяма част от тях, пребиваващи тук много преди нас и такива, които ще останат много след нас.

Историите бяха затрогващи, а илюстрациите, създадени с маслена живопис, отлично допълваха престоя ми между страниците.

,,Подобно на тигъра, човекът е извънредно умел в изкуството на пасивната агресия. За разлика от него обаче, той я използва почти изцяло срещу себеподобните си".

[Frank-Intergalactic Bookdragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

"But explanation is a luxury we can't afford these days, and reality doesn't care for it, being far too busy following its own unknowable course."

By far one of the most beautiful and meaningful books I've read in a long time. The prose almost reads like poetry (in one story it's literal poetry) and the illustrations are breathtaking, I want to draw this well! Because it's anthology I found some of the stories forgettable but I like how each one had something interesting to say about humanity. My favorite stories were the dog, bear, and bee ones but I loved all the art pretty equally. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for something awe-inspiring!

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een surrealistisch boek dat zoveel verschillende gevoelens oproept, dat verdient vijf sterren!
Een boek dat uitnodigt tot traag lezen, verhaal per verhaal laten bezinken, want ze houden een spiegel voor. En ondertussen kan je kijken naar de soms prachtige soms pijnlijke tekeningen. Die van de cover lijkt licht te geven en zo zijn er nog heel wat pareltjes, maar ook enkele donkere, dreigende en melancholische tekeningen.
Een boek dat bij ons in de bib bij de 12-14 jarigen staat, maar ik kreeg mijn jongens jammer genoeg niet enthousiast. Te bizar vonden ze. Wie heeft dit ook al gelezen met kinderen?

[lethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the art is as beautiful as ever, this book didn't enchant me the way his other books do.

The 25 nameless stories all feature a type of animal. Each is preceded by a silhouette of the animal in question and ends with a double-page illustration (some have more than one). The stories are surrealistic and on the whole quite sombre in tone, although that may have been my own frame of mind.

My favourite is the one about the Dog, with its many colourful illustrations.

[John of Canada · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Shaun Tan magic. His philosophy is best shown on page 196. Economics and pigeons, technology, and human progress and the yak.
WARNING!!! Do not leaf randomly through this book. Read slowly and be astonished. I won´t warn you again. You will be rewarded when you finish each story and turn the page.

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nie czuję tego. Do tej pory Tan był dla mnie głównie ilustratorem, a tu jest przede wszystkim pisarzem. Krótkie historie, momentami tak abstrakcyjne jak rysunki autora, nie mają niestety tej samej siły rażenia i nie zostają w mojej pamięci dłużej niż kilka chwil. Schulz to to nie jest. Dodatkowo grafiki tym razem praktycznie nie funkcjonują poza kontekstem opowieści.

[Mikaela Revell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shaun Tan has not let me down.

[Bert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Iets in het boek overtuigde me niet, de tekeningen als foto's, de teksten gelaagd, maar het wit van de pagina's verstoorde het geheel, niet langer een prentenboek zoals van Shaun Tan gewend.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ Wondrously imaginative with a tinge of sorrow- what have we done?