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The River at Night
A man has trouble falling asleep and reflects on his life, marriage, and time itself
In The River at Night, Kevin Huizenga delves deep into consciousness. What begins as a simple, distracted conversation between husband and wife, Glenn and Wendy Ganges—him reading a library book and her working on her computer—becomes an exploration of being and the passage of time. As they head to bed, Wendy exhausted by a fussy editor and Glenn energized by his reading and no small amount of caffeine, the story begins to fracture.
The River at Night flashes back, first to satirize the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and then to examine the camaraderie of playing first-person shooter video games with work colleagues. Huizenga shifts focus to suggest ways to fall asleep as Glenn ponders what the passage of time feels like to geologists or productivity gurus. The story explores the simple pleasures of a marriage, like lying awake in bed next to a slumbering lover, along with the less cherished moments of disappointment or inadvertent betrayal of trust. Huizenga uses the cartoon medium like a symphony, establishing rhythms and introducing themes that he returns to, adding and subtracting events and thoughts, stretching and compressing time. A walk to the library becomes a meditation on how we understand time, as Huizenga shows the breadth of the comics medium in surprising ways. The River at Night is a modern formalist masterpiece as empathetic, inventive, and funny as anything ever written.
In The River at Night, Kevin Huizenga delves deep into consciousness. What begins as a simple, distracted conversation between husband and wife, Glenn and Wendy Ganges—him reading a library book and her working on her computer—becomes an exploration of being and the passage of time. As they head to bed, Wendy exhausted by a fussy editor and Glenn energized by his reading and no small amount of caffeine, the story begins to fracture.
The River at Night flashes back, first to satirize the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and then to examine the camaraderie of playing first-person shooter video games with work colleagues. Huizenga shifts focus to suggest ways to fall asleep as Glenn ponders what the passage of time feels like to geologists or productivity gurus. The story explores the simple pleasures of a marriage, like lying awake in bed next to a slumbering lover, along with the less cherished moments of disappointment or inadvertent betrayal of trust. Huizenga uses the cartoon medium like a symphony, establishing rhythms and introducing themes that he returns to, adding and subtracting events and thoughts, stretching and compressing time. A walk to the library becomes a meditation on how we understand time, as Huizenga shows the breadth of the comics medium in surprising ways. The River at Night is a modern formalist masterpiece as empathetic, inventive, and funny as anything ever written.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 2019
26 people are currently reading
771 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Huizenga
37 books90 followersKevin Huizenga was born in 1977 in Harvey, IL and spent most of his childhood in South Holland, IL, near Chicago. He attended college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and moved to St. Louis in 2000 where he lives and works.
He began drawing comics in high school, xeroxing his first issue (with friends) at the neighborhood Jewel Osco in 1993. Since that time he's made approximately 30 more. In 2001 the Comics Journal named him "Minimalism Cartoonist of the Year" and called #14 of his "Supermonster" mini-comic series "one of the best comics of any kind released in 2001."
In 2001 he also started the Catastrophe Shop http://www.usscatastrophe.com, an online shop for self-published mini-comics (now run by Dan Zettwoch http://www.usscatastrophe.com/zettwoch/).
He began drawing comics in high school, xeroxing his first issue (with friends) at the neighborhood Jewel Osco in 1993. Since that time he's made approximately 30 more. In 2001 the Comics Journal named him "Minimalism Cartoonist of the Year" and called #14 of his "Supermonster" mini-comic series "one of the best comics of any kind released in 2001."
In 2001 he also started the Catastrophe Shop http://www.usscatastrophe.com, an online shop for self-published mini-comics (now run by Dan Zettwoch http://www.usscatastrophe.com/zettwoch/).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
March 10, 2021
I feel like I have been waiting for many years for this book to come out, and feared that like anyone might switch gears that Kevin Huizenga had just decided to do something else with his life. But oh boy, as with other long projects that took a long time, such as Berlin and Clyde Fans, this is worth the wait. This more than 200-page book is (so far) Huizenga’s crowning achievement, his most ambitious work. What’s it about? On the simplest level, it is a series of short interconnected stories about sleep, sleeplessness, insomnia. Call it a novel, sure, but it’s not really so much about narrative. At one point, he and his wife debate how such a project about sleeplessness might end, and they both think it would be too obvious to have him fall asleep. So it doesn’t even really “end” in any really typical way.
On a larger level Glenn Ganges in The River at Night is a kind of meditation on time, the restless mind, the imagination, and (I think) cartooning itself. I mean, what is your mind like when you are awake and everyone is sleeping? Is this a topic for the arts? How can this mind be "captured"? Most novels are about something significant in a character’s life, with some rising action and dramatic conclusion. Macbeth! But Chris Ware (Building Stories) and Richard McGuire (Here) remind us that most of our lives are lived in quiet desperation, not doing anything earth-shattering.
Glenn Ganges (which is the name of a small town in western Michigan passed on the way from South Holland to Grand Rapids where he went to college [at my former college, I believe] and also the name of the title character of a series of stories Huizenga has worked on for many years) works for a time in a tech start-up, but is “let go” as the dot-com era seems to tank. What else does he do in this book? He tries and fails to sleep, as his wife obsessively works on her own art/comics/illustration projects. Publisher Drawn & Quarterly calls River at Night a “modern formalist masterpiece” and this seems right to me, though I warn you that if you are looking for a good yarn that this will be as engaging on that level as counting sheep.
I think of Proust’s opening to In Search of Long Time, where we learn of everything that goes through a kid’s mind while he is in bed, ready to sleep, for forty single-spaced pages. It’s a portrait of a young child’s mind, stream of consciousness. Or think of Joyce’s Ulysses, one day in the life of one man in the waking hours of a day in Dublin. For something like 800 pages! So River is a portrait of a mind, of a life, from one angle: Insomnia and what this is like.
So this is Huizenga’s contribution to the modernist project of Proust and Joyce, with an ounce of Bill Murray’s Groundhog’s Day humor where we relive, story after story, the nightmare of sleeplessness and mundanity. We worry about Glenn ‘s marriage as he does basically nothing, as far as we can tell, post-job. We also wonder why he can’t sleep. Well, getting fired? Financial woes? Just generalized anxiety? Too much coffee? It’s not about causation or solution, though much time is spent on how to get to sleep, all of it familiar. Glenn along the way reads a book about geologic time, listens to a TED talk on time. But the thing to focus on here is the cartooning, the way cartoons depict the passage of time. Huizenga captures Glenn, or Everyman Mind, just rambling, amusingly. Okay, it’s potentially annoying, as this man does not share Deep Thoughts. He’s not Dali (though some of this is dream-like and surreal in fantastic ways), and he’s not Einstein, or Gandhi.
So almost none of you would agree that this is great comics (boring, some may say!), but I’m calling it that. Again, it’s not a great “story” but it’s an interesting formal experiment, call it “experimental” or alternative comics gorgeously rendered, think Chris Ware or Seth, not Macbeth, but Joe Blow, he is us. We care about and laugh with him. Oh, and Huizenga’s cartooning skills, they're on a par with Seth and Ware and McGuire.
On a larger level Glenn Ganges in The River at Night is a kind of meditation on time, the restless mind, the imagination, and (I think) cartooning itself. I mean, what is your mind like when you are awake and everyone is sleeping? Is this a topic for the arts? How can this mind be "captured"? Most novels are about something significant in a character’s life, with some rising action and dramatic conclusion. Macbeth! But Chris Ware (Building Stories) and Richard McGuire (Here) remind us that most of our lives are lived in quiet desperation, not doing anything earth-shattering.
Glenn Ganges (which is the name of a small town in western Michigan passed on the way from South Holland to Grand Rapids where he went to college [at my former college, I believe] and also the name of the title character of a series of stories Huizenga has worked on for many years) works for a time in a tech start-up, but is “let go” as the dot-com era seems to tank. What else does he do in this book? He tries and fails to sleep, as his wife obsessively works on her own art/comics/illustration projects. Publisher Drawn & Quarterly calls River at Night a “modern formalist masterpiece” and this seems right to me, though I warn you that if you are looking for a good yarn that this will be as engaging on that level as counting sheep.
I think of Proust’s opening to In Search of Long Time, where we learn of everything that goes through a kid’s mind while he is in bed, ready to sleep, for forty single-spaced pages. It’s a portrait of a young child’s mind, stream of consciousness. Or think of Joyce’s Ulysses, one day in the life of one man in the waking hours of a day in Dublin. For something like 800 pages! So River is a portrait of a mind, of a life, from one angle: Insomnia and what this is like.
So this is Huizenga’s contribution to the modernist project of Proust and Joyce, with an ounce of Bill Murray’s Groundhog’s Day humor where we relive, story after story, the nightmare of sleeplessness and mundanity. We worry about Glenn ‘s marriage as he does basically nothing, as far as we can tell, post-job. We also wonder why he can’t sleep. Well, getting fired? Financial woes? Just generalized anxiety? Too much coffee? It’s not about causation or solution, though much time is spent on how to get to sleep, all of it familiar. Glenn along the way reads a book about geologic time, listens to a TED talk on time. But the thing to focus on here is the cartooning, the way cartoons depict the passage of time. Huizenga captures Glenn, or Everyman Mind, just rambling, amusingly. Okay, it’s potentially annoying, as this man does not share Deep Thoughts. He’s not Dali (though some of this is dream-like and surreal in fantastic ways), and he’s not Einstein, or Gandhi.
So almost none of you would agree that this is great comics (boring, some may say!), but I’m calling it that. Again, it’s not a great “story” but it’s an interesting formal experiment, call it “experimental” or alternative comics gorgeously rendered, think Chris Ware or Seth, not Macbeth, but Joe Blow, he is us. We care about and laugh with him. Oh, and Huizenga’s cartooning skills, they're on a par with Seth and Ware and McGuire.
October 19, 2021
Glenn Ganges drinks coffee at night and then can’t get to sleep. His racing mind contemplates time. Time. Woah. So vast. And… woah. He also recounts his time at a dot com startup and tries to tire out his mind by reading dull books on philosophy.
And speaking of dull books, Kevin Huizenga’s The River at Night was soooooo damn dreary! Yes, he literally created a book about a tedious idiot who can’t sleep. Why?!
Huizenga’s a talented cartoonist. His art style is appealing and I appreciated the creative ways he chose to present some of the material like skipping inconsequential storylines by showing pages blurring by, or the ways a mind could look as comics pages with some panels obscured by the page physicality, and the ways time could look. And the visuals of Wendy, Glenn’s wife, and her computer game were really imaginative.
But he writes such boring stories! I’ve read some of his previous books so I know he’s not the most exciting storyteller but I’d completely forgotten how downright monotonous his comics could be. Page after page of Glenn droning on and on about trying to fall asleep - it’s so annoyingly repetitive.
The story of the dot com startup was rubbish - Glenn liked playing Unreal Tournament (the space station map gives it away) with his co-workers after hours on a LAN. That’s it?! He even quotes the most mind-numbing philosophy book for pages, and then really gets into the weeds with a geology textbook! Ugh…
He’s got nothing enlightening to say about time besides huge chunks of it (ie. millions of years) are unfathomable for human minds to really conceive, which, duh.
The art may be good but it’s not even close to enough to recommend The River at Night which is one of the most wearisome comics you’ll ever slog through.
And speaking of dull books, Kevin Huizenga’s The River at Night was soooooo damn dreary! Yes, he literally created a book about a tedious idiot who can’t sleep. Why?!
Huizenga’s a talented cartoonist. His art style is appealing and I appreciated the creative ways he chose to present some of the material like skipping inconsequential storylines by showing pages blurring by, or the ways a mind could look as comics pages with some panels obscured by the page physicality, and the ways time could look. And the visuals of Wendy, Glenn’s wife, and her computer game were really imaginative.
But he writes such boring stories! I’ve read some of his previous books so I know he’s not the most exciting storyteller but I’d completely forgotten how downright monotonous his comics could be. Page after page of Glenn droning on and on about trying to fall asleep - it’s so annoyingly repetitive.
The story of the dot com startup was rubbish - Glenn liked playing Unreal Tournament (the space station map gives it away) with his co-workers after hours on a LAN. That’s it?! He even quotes the most mind-numbing philosophy book for pages, and then really gets into the weeds with a geology textbook! Ugh…
He’s got nothing enlightening to say about time besides huge chunks of it (ie. millions of years) are unfathomable for human minds to really conceive, which, duh.
The art may be good but it’s not even close to enough to recommend The River at Night which is one of the most wearisome comics you’ll ever slog through.
abandoned
January 1, 2020Kevin Huizenga's work is just not for me. I find his concepts so incredibly dull that I can't enjoy his visual art, which is a shame, as he's quite talented.
If you like it when someone really high, or really into their own thought process tries and explain their worldview to you, you might love this book. If you find that sort of thing tedious, I'd avoid this at all costs.
If you like it when someone really high, or really into their own thought process tries and explain their worldview to you, you might love this book. If you find that sort of thing tedious, I'd avoid this at all costs.
February 21, 2020
I just did NOT click with this. This was a weird collection of vignettes about a character named Glenn Ganges. Glenn seems to have a hard time sleeping, so many of the “stories” follow his nighttime ruminations as he struggles to sleep.
Huizenga uses some interesting visuals to play around with the concept of space and time (comics is a really cool medium for exploring this topic imo) which initially pulled me in, but as I continued reading, I felt myself less and less interested and disengaged. Most of this was too weird and over my head.
For a much better review and analysis of this work, I highly suggest checking out David’s review here. He does a much better job explaining what’s going on here.
Huizenga uses some interesting visuals to play around with the concept of space and time (comics is a really cool medium for exploring this topic imo) which initially pulled me in, but as I continued reading, I felt myself less and less interested and disengaged. Most of this was too weird and over my head.
For a much better review and analysis of this work, I highly suggest checking out David’s review here. He does a much better job explaining what’s going on here.
December 4, 2023
A mind-altering philosophical novel in the form of an insomniac's restless night, which becomes the pretext for reflections on life and time. Sleepless Glenn Ganges lies awake, his mind turning over and over, while Huizenga's ingenious and beautiful art uses the diagrammatic qualities of comics to capture the involutions of his thought. The book encourages the reader to rethink their relationship to memory, duration, and place, and manages to be contemplative, serious, funny, provocative, and challenging all at once. There are pages and sequences of sheer drop-dead brilliance.
That said, The River at Night may be too much of a good thing. Driven to read through the whole thing in one sitting, I found that I enjoyed it not quite as much as Huizenga's shorter comics in similar vein. The book's lyricism and its encyclopedic fullness perhaps work against each other, and its metacognitive density feels taxing when taken to such length. Lyricism and massiveness combine oddly. I think I get more of a kick out of Huizenga's individual comic books, such as Or Else or Ganges: shorter bursts.
That said, I can't think of a cartoonist I like better.
That said, The River at Night may be too much of a good thing. Driven to read through the whole thing in one sitting, I found that I enjoyed it not quite as much as Huizenga's shorter comics in similar vein. The book's lyricism and its encyclopedic fullness perhaps work against each other, and its metacognitive density feels taxing when taken to such length. Lyricism and massiveness combine oddly. I think I get more of a kick out of Huizenga's individual comic books, such as Or Else or Ganges: shorter bursts.
That said, I can't think of a cartoonist I like better.
July 20, 2021
As I’ve seen in some other reviews here and would be inclined to agree with, this book is less about story/narrative, and more about exploring concepts on how we experience, well…experience. So fair warning: if you’re looking for a riveting traditional story or novel, you won’t find much of that here. But that’s okay, because not every book needs to be that. This book has carved out its own little corner, and is not afraid to be exactly what it is.
Much in the same modernist/post-modernist tradition as Nicholas Baker’s “The Mezzazine” where the entire novel takes place over a single escalator ride, or even James Joyce “Ulysses”, this story explores the infinite complexity of a single moment or small period of time to comment on the vast expanse of it. There is a surprising amount of depth here for a simple narrative about an Everyman that just can’t fall asleep. It invokes the “I contain multitudes” spirit of Walt Whitman and also has a tinge of Chris Ware.
As is the case with many post-modern works, I found myself getting kind of confused in the more chaotic/stream of consciousness pages in this book which are almost indecipherable in some moments, and even uninterested in some more of the sloggy-bits, but overall it’s an enjoyable experience, and gives much food for thought in one’s own nightly wanderings.
I definitely plan on revisiting this book, and although I would argue that it contains few profound insights that have not already been said—and said better—it remains fruitful enough for multiple re-reads. The humor here pops in and out as a perfect foil for some of the heavier moments, never being too over the top or inversely underwhelming.
The style is deceiving, as the cartoony veneer leads one to believe this book will be easy to read, but it gets philosophically dense, and the art crescendos into moments of psychedelic delirium that perfectly mirrors the stream of conscious wanderings of our main character. It’s solid cartooning, and it’s very obvious the author is a dedicated student of the craft and history of comics. The medium itself is the perfect medium to explore what the author is tackling here, namely how we experience time and memory.
If I had one critique, I’d say it’s the treatment of Wendy, his wife. With the exception of the ending, the moments in this book that don’t depict Wendy as a one-dimensional, demanding, unhappy, anxiety-ridden person that takes her frustration out on her husband are few and far between. It lacks many tender nuanced moments from her at all. But I think it’s more a lack of illumination of the character overall then it is any malicious intent on the authors part. This is a deep-dive character study of the titular Glenn Ganges after all, but I do think the narrative suffers a little bit for it.
In terms of story, I’d give it a 2.5/5, but on concept, creativity, and execution it’s a solid 4.5/5. This is my first book by this author, and definitely entices enough for me to want to read more.
Much in the same modernist/post-modernist tradition as Nicholas Baker’s “The Mezzazine” where the entire novel takes place over a single escalator ride, or even James Joyce “Ulysses”, this story explores the infinite complexity of a single moment or small period of time to comment on the vast expanse of it. There is a surprising amount of depth here for a simple narrative about an Everyman that just can’t fall asleep. It invokes the “I contain multitudes” spirit of Walt Whitman and also has a tinge of Chris Ware.
As is the case with many post-modern works, I found myself getting kind of confused in the more chaotic/stream of consciousness pages in this book which are almost indecipherable in some moments, and even uninterested in some more of the sloggy-bits, but overall it’s an enjoyable experience, and gives much food for thought in one’s own nightly wanderings.
I definitely plan on revisiting this book, and although I would argue that it contains few profound insights that have not already been said—and said better—it remains fruitful enough for multiple re-reads. The humor here pops in and out as a perfect foil for some of the heavier moments, never being too over the top or inversely underwhelming.
The style is deceiving, as the cartoony veneer leads one to believe this book will be easy to read, but it gets philosophically dense, and the art crescendos into moments of psychedelic delirium that perfectly mirrors the stream of conscious wanderings of our main character. It’s solid cartooning, and it’s very obvious the author is a dedicated student of the craft and history of comics. The medium itself is the perfect medium to explore what the author is tackling here, namely how we experience time and memory.
If I had one critique, I’d say it’s the treatment of Wendy, his wife. With the exception of the ending, the moments in this book that don’t depict Wendy as a one-dimensional, demanding, unhappy, anxiety-ridden person that takes her frustration out on her husband are few and far between. It lacks many tender nuanced moments from her at all. But I think it’s more a lack of illumination of the character overall then it is any malicious intent on the authors part. This is a deep-dive character study of the titular Glenn Ganges after all, but I do think the narrative suffers a little bit for it.
In terms of story, I’d give it a 2.5/5, but on concept, creativity, and execution it’s a solid 4.5/5. This is my first book by this author, and definitely entices enough for me to want to read more.
November 12, 2019
Well, color me perplexed. I read the GR blurb, and this comic sounded exactly like something I'd really like.
It's not a novel, but musings on insomnia and other things that make up a life. There were sections I did enjoy, and the art is really interesting throughout, but I didn't like this one overall.
As a non-gamer, there were entire sections that made no sense to me. I did like the ramblings of a mind unable to sleep, and the explorations of space and time, but it was all too disjointed for me. It was ironic that I read portions of it while I myself had a bout of insomnia. It's clever, sure, but at the end I was left scratching my noggin.
It's not a novel, but musings on insomnia and other things that make up a life. There were sections I did enjoy, and the art is really interesting throughout, but I didn't like this one overall.
As a non-gamer, there were entire sections that made no sense to me. I did like the ramblings of a mind unable to sleep, and the explorations of space and time, but it was all too disjointed for me. It was ironic that I read portions of it while I myself had a bout of insomnia. It's clever, sure, but at the end I was left scratching my noggin.
June 20, 2021
Glenn Ganges è un uomo qualunque. Lavora, passeggia, va in biblioteca, ama leggere e ascoltare la musica e vive con la moglie Wendy. In pratica, è tutti noi. E la notte vorrebbe dormire….ma appena si stende al buio, con gli occhi al soffitto, nella sua mente prendono l’avvio i pensieri più disparati, ricordi sepolti, paure inconsce, dubbi esistenziali, domande sui fatti della giornata appena vissuta (e su quella che arriverà all’indomani) che non hanno risposta. Il fiume di notte è appunto il corso dei suoi pensieri, all’apparenza banali, ma che lo rendono così fragile, dubbioso, affettuosamente umano. Attraverso questi pensieri ricaviamo infatti il quadro del comune uomo moderno, diviso fra le passioni più condivise, come quella dei videogiochi, i vizi più comuni, come quello del caffè, le ansie per il lavoro incerto, le domande su quello che è stato, e che sarà.
Glenn Ganges è tutti noi. E non a caso mi ha ricordato Zerocalcare, col suo celebre polpo in gola, quell’ansia che lo attanaglia nei momenti in cui la mente vorrebbe pace, e non ci riesce.
Non è una graphic novel per tutti, il rischio di bollarla come una banalizzazione è molto alto, e invece a mio avviso è tutto fuorchè banale. Oltre ad essere una perla dal punto di vista grafico.
Unico neo il prezzo, sicuramente eccessivo.
Glenn Ganges è tutti noi. E non a caso mi ha ricordato Zerocalcare, col suo celebre polpo in gola, quell’ansia che lo attanaglia nei momenti in cui la mente vorrebbe pace, e non ci riesce.
Non è una graphic novel per tutti, il rischio di bollarla come una banalizzazione è molto alto, e invece a mio avviso è tutto fuorchè banale. Oltre ad essere una perla dal punto di vista grafico.
Unico neo il prezzo, sicuramente eccessivo.
December 20, 2019
Huizenga’s long-in-process work takes place during a single, extended, sleepless night (imagine Winsor McCay meets James Joyce). The visual inventiveness, playfulness, and sheer artistry on display are absolutely jaw-dropping. There are images and sequences that I will long remember and return to in the years to come.
But for all of its incredible visual craft (the “how”), I just can’t get into the characters and themes (the “what”). The two main characters, Glenn and Wendy, are youngish, childless, white professionals (aka “aging hipsters”) anxious about their respective careers and shared domestic life. One night, as Glenn attempts futilely to fall asleep, his wandering mind reaches back through his life and connects it to his reading of John McPhee’s Basin and Range, to his obsession with scheduling and productivity, and to a thousand other inconsequential thoughts and meditations.
It’s all too grandiose and filled with dull armchair philosophizing. But, damn, Huizenga can draw!
But for all of its incredible visual craft (the “how”), I just can’t get into the characters and themes (the “what”). The two main characters, Glenn and Wendy, are youngish, childless, white professionals (aka “aging hipsters”) anxious about their respective careers and shared domestic life. One night, as Glenn attempts futilely to fall asleep, his wandering mind reaches back through his life and connects it to his reading of John McPhee’s Basin and Range, to his obsession with scheduling and productivity, and to a thousand other inconsequential thoughts and meditations.
It’s all too grandiose and filled with dull armchair philosophizing. But, damn, Huizenga can draw!
December 11, 2019
on phenomenology of time & present & memory; repetitive/cyclical nature of mundanity; memory/history as intertextuality; parallel vs spiral (2d vs 1d) / eternity vs beginning & the end; geography -> the unit of time is different; diagrams; two dimensionality / spacetime of comics: it doesnt need to go in the one direction, several directions; at the present, right now right here, so many different time and space flow (thanks to photos, books, video games (first pov: similar to huizenga’s appropriation of mona), instagram, youtube, memories, esp talking w ppl); airport: where different time zones & places meet; arbitrariness of “a”(n) artwork — when does it end & begin & predestined intertextuality.
art as everyday work; death of the author;
retelling things again and again — like sleep; everyday work
but then the beauty resides in it
structure zine
intertextuality — gloriana
rumblings?
fragmented last parts: internet is comics
“a moment” - a panel?
on present
unit of time / panel / 2min TED talk
art as everyday work; death of the author;
retelling things again and again — like sleep; everyday work
but then the beauty resides in it
structure zine
intertextuality — gloriana
rumblings?
fragmented last parts: internet is comics
“a moment” - a panel?
on present
unit of time / panel / 2min TED talk
August 10, 2024
This book, partially about insomnia, was my companion on the many nights I couldn’t sleep. Over time it became a security blanket, even a flying carpet, which carried me through restlessness to a lulling calm.
November 17, 2021
Kevin Huizenga first came onto my radar when The River at Night featured on various best-of-2019 lists. Since then, however, I've rarely seen him mentioned; no-one ever seems to name him as a personal favourite, a top recommendation, or an all-time great. As such, I was pretty surprised when I started reading The River at Night and found myself enjoying it just as much as any comic I'd read before.
The most striking thing about this work is its formal experimentalism: like Chris Ware and David Mazzucchelli, Huizenga truly pushes the envelope in terms of what can be done with the comic medium, employing wildly expressive panel layouts to explore the nature of time, and to depict the protagonist's stream of consciousness. What's more, the art is unfailingly gorgeous, again in a way that reminds me of Ware, or Mazzucchelli's work in Asterios Polyp – not because it looks similar as such, but because it's similarly stylized, cartoonish and just plain good-looking. The River at Night is also unashamedly intellectual, directly tackling metaphysical and scientific questions, particularly as pertains to the recurring theme of time. But despite this, it’s far from dour; its tone is generally playful, and at several points it’s laugh-out-loud funny. Most importantly, this comic exhibits a trait that marks all of my favourite work in any medium: it captures what it's like to be human. In this respect, it’s most reminiscent of Chris Ware’s Building Stories: not much actually happens, but the reader is constantly privy to the protagonist’s inner world, and the character’s thoughts and feelings invariably seem not just believable, but real. Like Ware, Huizenga finds the profundity in the mundane, and makes me look at my daily life in a new light (though unlike Ware, he does so without ever being depressing).
While reading the first half The River at Night, I really thought it would enter the illustrious ranks of what I consider true masterpieces of the medium, and that it would challenge the likes of Asterios Polyp, Building Stories, Black Hole and Daytripper for the distinction of being my absolute favourite comic. However, it doesn’t quite maintain that level of perfection in its second half, during much of which the protagonist is just lying in bed, trying to sleep. That isn’t to say the comic’s latter half is in any way bad – far from it! In fact, the second half contains the most formally impressive segments, as the protagonist’s mind races and wanders uncontrollably as he tries to will himself into slumber. At first I loved these bits as much as anything, but after a while it becomes a little repetitive, and it starts to feel that formalism and intellectualism are coming at the expense of story. Indeed, at times it becomes so abstract that I’m no longer sure what’s going on at all. In other words, the second half is a lot more dense and challenging than the first (though it does contain passages of very welcome respite), and at times it’s a bit too much for me – or at least it was on my first read-through.
In any case, the bottom line is that this is an amazing comic that really has it all: intellectualism, hilarity, formal experimentation, emotional resonance and gorgeous art. At times it’s heavy and difficult, and maybe even self-indulgent, but overall it’s an impressive achievement, a serious work that deserves every ounce of effort its reading requires, and a clear demonstration that Kevin Huizenga is one of the most formidable creators working in comics today.
The most striking thing about this work is its formal experimentalism: like Chris Ware and David Mazzucchelli, Huizenga truly pushes the envelope in terms of what can be done with the comic medium, employing wildly expressive panel layouts to explore the nature of time, and to depict the protagonist's stream of consciousness. What's more, the art is unfailingly gorgeous, again in a way that reminds me of Ware, or Mazzucchelli's work in Asterios Polyp – not because it looks similar as such, but because it's similarly stylized, cartoonish and just plain good-looking. The River at Night is also unashamedly intellectual, directly tackling metaphysical and scientific questions, particularly as pertains to the recurring theme of time. But despite this, it’s far from dour; its tone is generally playful, and at several points it’s laugh-out-loud funny. Most importantly, this comic exhibits a trait that marks all of my favourite work in any medium: it captures what it's like to be human. In this respect, it’s most reminiscent of Chris Ware’s Building Stories: not much actually happens, but the reader is constantly privy to the protagonist’s inner world, and the character’s thoughts and feelings invariably seem not just believable, but real. Like Ware, Huizenga finds the profundity in the mundane, and makes me look at my daily life in a new light (though unlike Ware, he does so without ever being depressing).
While reading the first half The River at Night, I really thought it would enter the illustrious ranks of what I consider true masterpieces of the medium, and that it would challenge the likes of Asterios Polyp, Building Stories, Black Hole and Daytripper for the distinction of being my absolute favourite comic. However, it doesn’t quite maintain that level of perfection in its second half, during much of which the protagonist is just lying in bed, trying to sleep. That isn’t to say the comic’s latter half is in any way bad – far from it! In fact, the second half contains the most formally impressive segments, as the protagonist’s mind races and wanders uncontrollably as he tries to will himself into slumber. At first I loved these bits as much as anything, but after a while it becomes a little repetitive, and it starts to feel that formalism and intellectualism are coming at the expense of story. Indeed, at times it becomes so abstract that I’m no longer sure what’s going on at all. In other words, the second half is a lot more dense and challenging than the first (though it does contain passages of very welcome respite), and at times it’s a bit too much for me – or at least it was on my first read-through.
In any case, the bottom line is that this is an amazing comic that really has it all: intellectualism, hilarity, formal experimentation, emotional resonance and gorgeous art. At times it’s heavy and difficult, and maybe even self-indulgent, but overall it’s an impressive achievement, a serious work that deserves every ounce of effort its reading requires, and a clear demonstration that Kevin Huizenga is one of the most formidable creators working in comics today.
April 26, 2022
Huizenga racconta bene, ha quello stile semplice e raffinato di alcuni fumettisti nordamericani che adoro. Ha pure un controllo sulla tavola spettacolare, che lo porta ad essere, quando vuole, estremamente innovativo, ma non ama strafare e quindi le sue soluzioni alternative appaiono per quello che dovrebbero sempre essere: strumenti narrativi e non elementi fini a se stessi.
Il fiume di notte è un racconto che segue la testa del protagonista, uno stream of consciousness che parte dall'essere (principalmente) ancorato con la realtà per poi inerpicarsi sui più strani territori della faticosa veglia notturna.
A gusto mio personale: il gioco inizialmente mi è piaciuto tantissimo, e penso sia un volume spettacolare sia come racconto che come cura editoriale. Ma con l'andare avanti delle pagine mi sono un po' stancato e ho iniziato a distrarmi.
Il fiume di notte è un racconto che segue la testa del protagonista, uno stream of consciousness che parte dall'essere (principalmente) ancorato con la realtà per poi inerpicarsi sui più strani territori della faticosa veglia notturna.
A gusto mio personale: il gioco inizialmente mi è piaciuto tantissimo, e penso sia un volume spettacolare sia come racconto che come cura editoriale. Ma con l'andare avanti delle pagine mi sono un po' stancato e ho iniziato a distrarmi.
December 13, 2019
Last night (a Thursday), I woke up around a quarter to 2 and couldn't get back to sleep. At 3:00 I finally slipped out of bed, sneaked into the basement, and searched my bookshelves for something to read. Perhaps it was inevitable that my eyes would fall upon Huizenga's The River at Night. "This is a little too on the nose," I thought to myself--but then, if one can't read about insomnia while one has insomnia, what's the point?
Huizenga is a master of exploring--and exploding--a single moment (or series of moments) in time. The River at Night reminded me of "The Sunset" in Or Else 2 (aka Gloriana), a story that illustrates a confluence of events in a series of increasingly abstract art panels--only The River at Night remains visually grounded (relatively speaking) as Huizenga's protagonist, Glenn Ganges, spends 200 pages drifting through several stream-of-consciousness meditations on a range of topics, from playing LAN video games with colleagues to the eighteenth-century scientist James Hutton and the historical origins of geologic time.
Unfortunately for my insomnia, the book is riveting from the first page to the last. Glenn is a likable everyman: a loving husband, but also a procrastinator, who's currently out of work and seems to have no apparent plan for finding a new job (though this infuriatingly mellow outlook [from his wife's point of view] is offset a bit by some money Glenn has inherited from an uncle). There are moments of low-key humor: Glenn tells Wendy, his wife, all about a kid he saw littering on the street, but his indignation and self-righteousness are deflated when Wendy expresses dismay that Glenn didn't pick up the trash after the kid peddled away on his bike. And I was delighted to see a few of Huizenga's wacko faux video game characters from his comic Fight or Run make a cameo in the book.
A brilliant evocation of sleeplessness and what the sleepless think about while conscious, The River at Night is another Huizenga masterpiece. It made me feel better about my own insomnia, but I never did get back to sleep....
Huizenga is a master of exploring--and exploding--a single moment (or series of moments) in time. The River at Night reminded me of "The Sunset" in Or Else 2 (aka Gloriana), a story that illustrates a confluence of events in a series of increasingly abstract art panels--only The River at Night remains visually grounded (relatively speaking) as Huizenga's protagonist, Glenn Ganges, spends 200 pages drifting through several stream-of-consciousness meditations on a range of topics, from playing LAN video games with colleagues to the eighteenth-century scientist James Hutton and the historical origins of geologic time.
Unfortunately for my insomnia, the book is riveting from the first page to the last. Glenn is a likable everyman: a loving husband, but also a procrastinator, who's currently out of work and seems to have no apparent plan for finding a new job (though this infuriatingly mellow outlook [from his wife's point of view] is offset a bit by some money Glenn has inherited from an uncle). There are moments of low-key humor: Glenn tells Wendy, his wife, all about a kid he saw littering on the street, but his indignation and self-righteousness are deflated when Wendy expresses dismay that Glenn didn't pick up the trash after the kid peddled away on his bike. And I was delighted to see a few of Huizenga's wacko faux video game characters from his comic Fight or Run make a cameo in the book.
A brilliant evocation of sleeplessness and what the sleepless think about while conscious, The River at Night is another Huizenga masterpiece. It made me feel better about my own insomnia, but I never did get back to sleep....
January 18, 2021
This was, well, it was a little peculiar. Huizenga's style is both simple and intricate, straightforward and almost fractally complicated. The paneling mirrors his style, varying from rigid simplicity to dizzying complexity, sometimes folding in on itself, sometimes...bizarrely...leaving the page entirely.
It captures the feeling of insomnia, of a mind working and churning and turning over and over upon itself. That, it does.
What's not there, if you want it,is any kind of sustaining narrative. "Glenn Ganges" just tosses and turns, night after night, and his thoughts have that close, suffocating, claustrophobic hyper-awareness that comes when you just can't get your dang brain to shut down. He lies next to his girlfriend, with whom he has a cold, awkward, distant relationship.
So it's slow. And not pleasant. And brilliantly drawn and paneled. All at the same time.
Did I enjoy it? No. Was it well done? Yes. A two point seven five.
It captures the feeling of insomnia, of a mind working and churning and turning over and over upon itself. That, it does.
What's not there, if you want it,is any kind of sustaining narrative. "Glenn Ganges" just tosses and turns, night after night, and his thoughts have that close, suffocating, claustrophobic hyper-awareness that comes when you just can't get your dang brain to shut down. He lies next to his girlfriend, with whom he has a cold, awkward, distant relationship.
So it's slow. And not pleasant. And brilliantly drawn and paneled. All at the same time.
Did I enjoy it? No. Was it well done? Yes. A two point seven five.
November 12, 2020
4.5 Stars!
“Gosh, what time is it? This book is good. I shouldn’t have drank all that coffee. I need to get to bed – it must be super late. I’m really enjoying this book. I’m glad I got the library in time. That part was great where…”
Insomnia, time travelling and time management seem to be the recurring themes throughout this lovely little collection. This is one of those delightful books where you find yourself really identifying with the main character. The drawing is really well done and there are some playful and clever techniques which work really well.
“Why couldn’t I just have had some beers and watched a movie?”
There were a few stand out stories for me, “Pulverise” was an all too accurate pop at Steve Jobs and his likes, with their BS, tax dodging, greed chasing, pseudo matey charm. “Getting Things Done” also has some clever touches. “Endless Night” had me laughing away, and the part when he’s describing the potential pitfalls of bed time reading were a pure joy. Huizenga really captures the full depth and darker texture of the wolfing hour in his scenes of insomnia, and there were certainly a few times where I was laughing away in recognition. This is a lovely, lovely book.
September 7, 2020
Well this was less... everything... than expected. I guess it might be interesting, if you're a middle aged man who suffers from insomnia?
I found Glenn wholly uninteresting, and his inner life boring - no idea what his wife Wendy would see in him? I find his musings both a little too neurotic and also just a little too occupied with the simple WOW of possible time travel and how endless the universe is - the way 9 year old boys are.
The drawing style is quite nice, and the page layout is used in interesting ways. So nothing wrong with the graphic art (hence the second star). Shame about the stories though. He's won all sorts of prices for graphic novels, but maybe his other works have less boring characters? Or maybe the committees all consisted of middle aged men, who identified?
I found Glenn wholly uninteresting, and his inner life boring - no idea what his wife Wendy would see in him? I find his musings both a little too neurotic and also just a little too occupied with the simple WOW of possible time travel and how endless the universe is - the way 9 year old boys are.
The drawing style is quite nice, and the page layout is used in interesting ways. So nothing wrong with the graphic art (hence the second star). Shame about the stories though. He's won all sorts of prices for graphic novels, but maybe his other works have less boring characters? Or maybe the committees all consisted of middle aged men, who identified?
September 24, 2021
Довольно изобретательный комикс о том, как парень за чтением книги выпивает слишком много кофе и потом не может уснуть. И вот он мучается и так, и сяк, пытается расслабиться, чем-то себя занять, не разбудив жену, думает о том о сём, вспоминает о жизни, о книгах, о чём угодно, как бывает, когда не можешь уснуть. У него местами происходят галлюцинации, разные мелкие приключения, и всё это тянется, по сути, всю книгу.
Нарисовано очень здорово, в духе Тома Голда и Криса Уэйра, и мне очень понравилась история про то, как герой работал в дот-ком стартапе, а вечерами они рубились в мультиплеерный шутер в офисе. Было бы очень здоровое, если бы вся книга была такая — более сюжетно-ориентированная, потому что всё остальное время я скорее скучал. Ещё были любопытно-познавательные вставки о возрасте Земли, ранней геологии и о том, что такое время в масштабах планеты. Они выглядели немного чужеродно, но, опять же, какой-то смысл в книге на 200 с лишним страниц лучше, чем никакого.
Вот небольшое превью.
Нарисовано очень здорово, в духе Тома Голда и Криса Уэйра, и мне очень понравилась история про то, как герой работал в дот-ком стартапе, а вечерами они рубились в мультиплеерный шутер в офисе. Было бы очень здоровое, если бы вся книга была такая — более сюжетно-ориентированная, потому что всё остальное время я скорее скучал. Ещё были любопытно-познавательные вставки о возрасте Земли, ранней геологии и о том, что такое время в масштабах планеты. Они выглядели немного чужеродно, но, опять же, какой-то смысл в книге на 200 с лишним страниц лучше, чем никакого.
Вот небольшое превью.
August 17, 2021
If you want to read some avant-garde stream of consciousness work, graphic novels are the way to go. Glenn is having trouble going to sleep and his brain goes into hyper drive and takes us on a journey of all his thoughts. This was a five star book until it got into debates on time, space, and the age of the earth. It got really hard to follow at the end, but I guess that's really how the brain works when it is right on the edge of sleep.
December 22, 2021
Glenn prend un café de trop avant d'aller se coucher et ne peut plus aller dormir. S'en suit un flot de pensée de 250 pages mélangées de flashbacks, de réflexion sur l'expansion du temps, de parodie heideggérienne quand Glenn essaye de lire un philosophe plate pour s'endormir. The River at Night réussit tellement à saisir le flux de la pensée dans ces moments entre la fatigue et le réveil, que ce soit narrativement ou graphiquement. Un vrai tour de force.
Read
March 10, 2021I think I would have liked this more if I hadn't tried to just sit down and read through it. Seems like a good book to meander through perhaps... Idk. There were parts that I was like "wow, this is awesome. I love the experiment and the experience of this" and some parts where I was like "wait, did I skip a page? Am I reading these in the right order? Do I want to finish this?"
I definitely loved the art though.
I definitely loved the art though.
November 29, 2019
This is just not for me. Trying to fall asleep, the narrator enters into a vast rumination about life, the universe, and everything. Too rambling.
April 10, 2022
Glenn can’t sleep and now neither can I
February 21, 2023
El dibuix, un 10. La història, un avorriment total.
April 23, 2021
Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte è la nuova graphic novel di Kevin Huizenga, uno dei fumettisti americani più conosciuti e apprezzati nel mondo, vincitore di cinque premi Ignatz e nominato diverse volte ai premi Harvey e Eisner. In Italia è la Coconino Press che lo pubblica.
Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte – Trama
Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte è una graphic novel incentrata sulle speculazioni e i pensieri filosofeggianti del protagonista. Glenn Ganges è un uomo normale a cui succedono cose normali, come andare in biblioteca, lavorare, perdere un parente, perdere il posto di lavoro, convivere con la moglie, incontrare uno sconosciuto che getta una carta a terra… eppure, nella semplicità – se vogliamo – delle sue giornate, Glenn si perde immancabilmente in ragionamenti astratti che lo portano a “viaggiare” nel tempo e nello spazio. Soprattutto Glenn beve troppo caffè e, inevitabilmente, la notte – una lunga, lunghissima notte – non riesce a prendere sonno. È lì che si mostra nel suo lato migliore – o peggiore, a seconda dei punti di vista – il ragionamento filosofeggiante del protagonista. Osserva sua moglie riposare tranquilla di fianco a lui e si domanda cosa sogni; specula sulla relatività del tempo, di come una vita intera possa passare in un secondo e di come certe notti, invece, non terminino mai; si chiede perché non riesca a dormire e nel tentativo di rilassarsi, immagina mondi paralleli, rammenta le parole del libro che stava leggendo prima di coricarsi; ricorda di un libro letto in gioventù e immagina di alzarsi e andare in giro per casa a cercarlo… e in un certo senso lo fa, una parte di lui si alza, gira per casa, esce nel bosco, si scontra con la polizia, torna in biblioteca…
Perché leggerlo
Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte è un flusso di coscienza che unisce alle parole, il disegno di tutto ciò che Glenn vive nella sua testa, immagina e sogna. Il racconto, in realtà, è mille racconti: dai diversi livelli e avventure di un videogioco, alle pagine di un libro di storia, alle conversazioni quotidiane con la moglie. I pensieri di Glenn si accavallano ai pochi reali o immaginari dialoghi e soprattutto alle didascalie di contorno. È difficile distaccare la realtà dall’immaginazione e persino dal fumetto che tanto tempo prima stava disegnando la moglie di Glenn. Le pagine scorrono, i vortici temporali si susseguono e i colori diventano più chiari o più scuri, a seconda che sia la notte, il giorno o la fantasia di Glenn.
In conclusione, Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte è stato per me quasi una sfida. Ho una maturata difficoltà nel leggere flussi di coscienza o speculazioni ideologiche. Raramente riesco ad affezionarmi a personaggi così. Riesco, sicuramente, a riconoscere l’arguzia e la genialità di questo tipo di narrazione, che comunque mi resta abbastanza ostica. Ciò detto, riconosco senza dubbio la capacità dell’autore di mettere in scena le sensazioni e i pensieri che affollano la mente quando proprio non si riesce a prendere sonno. Ed esattamente come succede a me quando mi giro e rigiro nel letto, leggendo la graphic novel, ho provato un filino di ansia. Avrei proprio voluto che Glenn prendesse sonno, per il bene di tutti.
La view fumettistica di Mirko
Leggo quasi sempre prima di andare a dormire. Mi si chiudono gli occhi mentre un libro o un fumetto sfugge dalle mie mani e si appoggia su di me. Poi apro gli occhi e mi rendo conto che devo andare a dormire dormire. Non c’è nessun problema: ero già crollato, mi addormenterò di nuovo in un secondo. Trovo la posizione giusta, chiudo gli occhi; il cervello non si spegne, vaga nei meandri dell’infinito – senza motivo e spiegazione – prima di lasciarmi finalmente riposare. A volte per due minuti, a volte per ore. Nel caso di Glenn Ganges, l’omonimo protagonista di ogni capitolo di Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte, quella sensazione dura tutta la notte; notti, mesi, forse cento milioni di anni, perché la vita non è solo la vita, ma è anche tutto l’insieme delle ipotesi multiversali e speculative verso le vite già vissute e mai vissute. Interpretare il sonno come riposo è quanto di più comune e necessario per la salute mentale, ma per qualcuno il sonno è una vera e propria sfida.
La cultura popolare ha portato gli individui a credere che il tempo si dilati durante il sonno (più specificatamente durante i sogni). Gli scienziati del sonno, invece, hanno spiegato che il tempo scorre in modo esattamente uguale. Mi proclamo scienziato del sonno, dato che viviamo nel mondo di Glenn Ganges, e teorizzo che la vera dilatazione temporale non avviene nei sogni, ma nel non-sonno. Quei momenti in cui non riusciamo a dormire durano davvero tutto il tempo del mondo. Ecco, questa graphic novel non è nient’altro che una catapulta all’interno di quella dilatazione di non-sonno, una irresistibile guida lungo le meraviglie cerebrali di una mente comune alla deriva nel fiume della straordinaria coscienza umana. I grandi capitoli del fumetto, e le piccole storie all’interno delle ancora più minuscole storie, trascinano il lettore lungo uno dei più grandi “viaggi da fermo” mai realizzati, spezzando e spingendo i limiti della narrazione e della composizione fumettistica verso direzioni sempre sorprendenti e inimmaginabili.
La mente di notte è un campo minato, e Kevin Huizenga la affronta con uno stile scanzonato e indie, non solo spezzando totalmente il racconto sotto il punto di vista narrativo (un device utile a restituire il feeling caotico, casuale e vagabondo dei pensieri), ma potenziando quella rottura attraverso continue follie artistiche: breakdown quasi matematici/statistici; moltiplicazioni continue e surrealiste del protagonista, che spesso supera le vignette e “entra” all’interno delle “dimensioni” da lui stesso create; balloons che inondano le pagine quasi come se fossero personaggi; riferimenti visivi ai medium più disparati; pagine costantemente scomposte, che a volte lasciano proseguire il racconto oltre la pagina stessa, tagliando delle vignette improvvisamente. Questo stile presenta una maturità e una complessità talmente rara da farmi credere che l’autore abbia avuto la possibilità di essere uno spettatore di una proiezione in live action dei suoi stessi deliri notturni.
Il modo in cui ogni situazione è presentata, e in cui i pensieri vengono sviscerati, è spesso geniale. Mi sono sentito in ansia durante diversi passaggi, perché basta aver dormito male una notte per aver paura di non dormire mai più, ma quell’ansia è stata quasi sempre stata sconfitta da una grassa risata o da una riflessione sincera e simpaticamente schietta; perché è sempre in quella direzione che la bussola è puntata: una storia visivamente e narrativamente complessa/artefatta per raccontare con bontà d’animo la “normale anormalità” di una vita semplice e genuina. La lunghezza della graphic novel e la verbosità di alcuni passaggi può sicuramente essere un forte ostacolo, per questo consiglio una lettura in pillole, piuttosto che tutta d’un fiato, sicuramente non da tutti. La dolcezza nell’intento di cercare un grande significato nel grande nulla di tutti i giorni, invece, è per tutti.
Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte – Trama
Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte è una graphic novel incentrata sulle speculazioni e i pensieri filosofeggianti del protagonista. Glenn Ganges è un uomo normale a cui succedono cose normali, come andare in biblioteca, lavorare, perdere un parente, perdere il posto di lavoro, convivere con la moglie, incontrare uno sconosciuto che getta una carta a terra… eppure, nella semplicità – se vogliamo – delle sue giornate, Glenn si perde immancabilmente in ragionamenti astratti che lo portano a “viaggiare” nel tempo e nello spazio. Soprattutto Glenn beve troppo caffè e, inevitabilmente, la notte – una lunga, lunghissima notte – non riesce a prendere sonno. È lì che si mostra nel suo lato migliore – o peggiore, a seconda dei punti di vista – il ragionamento filosofeggiante del protagonista. Osserva sua moglie riposare tranquilla di fianco a lui e si domanda cosa sogni; specula sulla relatività del tempo, di come una vita intera possa passare in un secondo e di come certe notti, invece, non terminino mai; si chiede perché non riesca a dormire e nel tentativo di rilassarsi, immagina mondi paralleli, rammenta le parole del libro che stava leggendo prima di coricarsi; ricorda di un libro letto in gioventù e immagina di alzarsi e andare in giro per casa a cercarlo… e in un certo senso lo fa, una parte di lui si alza, gira per casa, esce nel bosco, si scontra con la polizia, torna in biblioteca…
Perché leggerlo
Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte è un flusso di coscienza che unisce alle parole, il disegno di tutto ciò che Glenn vive nella sua testa, immagina e sogna. Il racconto, in realtà, è mille racconti: dai diversi livelli e avventure di un videogioco, alle pagine di un libro di storia, alle conversazioni quotidiane con la moglie. I pensieri di Glenn si accavallano ai pochi reali o immaginari dialoghi e soprattutto alle didascalie di contorno. È difficile distaccare la realtà dall’immaginazione e persino dal fumetto che tanto tempo prima stava disegnando la moglie di Glenn. Le pagine scorrono, i vortici temporali si susseguono e i colori diventano più chiari o più scuri, a seconda che sia la notte, il giorno o la fantasia di Glenn.
In conclusione, Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte è stato per me quasi una sfida. Ho una maturata difficoltà nel leggere flussi di coscienza o speculazioni ideologiche. Raramente riesco ad affezionarmi a personaggi così. Riesco, sicuramente, a riconoscere l’arguzia e la genialità di questo tipo di narrazione, che comunque mi resta abbastanza ostica. Ciò detto, riconosco senza dubbio la capacità dell’autore di mettere in scena le sensazioni e i pensieri che affollano la mente quando proprio non si riesce a prendere sonno. Ed esattamente come succede a me quando mi giro e rigiro nel letto, leggendo la graphic novel, ho provato un filino di ansia. Avrei proprio voluto che Glenn prendesse sonno, per il bene di tutti.
La view fumettistica di Mirko
Leggo quasi sempre prima di andare a dormire. Mi si chiudono gli occhi mentre un libro o un fumetto sfugge dalle mie mani e si appoggia su di me. Poi apro gli occhi e mi rendo conto che devo andare a dormire dormire. Non c’è nessun problema: ero già crollato, mi addormenterò di nuovo in un secondo. Trovo la posizione giusta, chiudo gli occhi; il cervello non si spegne, vaga nei meandri dell’infinito – senza motivo e spiegazione – prima di lasciarmi finalmente riposare. A volte per due minuti, a volte per ore. Nel caso di Glenn Ganges, l’omonimo protagonista di ogni capitolo di Glenn Ganges in: Il fiume di notte, quella sensazione dura tutta la notte; notti, mesi, forse cento milioni di anni, perché la vita non è solo la vita, ma è anche tutto l’insieme delle ipotesi multiversali e speculative verso le vite già vissute e mai vissute. Interpretare il sonno come riposo è quanto di più comune e necessario per la salute mentale, ma per qualcuno il sonno è una vera e propria sfida.
La cultura popolare ha portato gli individui a credere che il tempo si dilati durante il sonno (più specificatamente durante i sogni). Gli scienziati del sonno, invece, hanno spiegato che il tempo scorre in modo esattamente uguale. Mi proclamo scienziato del sonno, dato che viviamo nel mondo di Glenn Ganges, e teorizzo che la vera dilatazione temporale non avviene nei sogni, ma nel non-sonno. Quei momenti in cui non riusciamo a dormire durano davvero tutto il tempo del mondo. Ecco, questa graphic novel non è nient’altro che una catapulta all’interno di quella dilatazione di non-sonno, una irresistibile guida lungo le meraviglie cerebrali di una mente comune alla deriva nel fiume della straordinaria coscienza umana. I grandi capitoli del fumetto, e le piccole storie all’interno delle ancora più minuscole storie, trascinano il lettore lungo uno dei più grandi “viaggi da fermo” mai realizzati, spezzando e spingendo i limiti della narrazione e della composizione fumettistica verso direzioni sempre sorprendenti e inimmaginabili.
La mente di notte è un campo minato, e Kevin Huizenga la affronta con uno stile scanzonato e indie, non solo spezzando totalmente il racconto sotto il punto di vista narrativo (un device utile a restituire il feeling caotico, casuale e vagabondo dei pensieri), ma potenziando quella rottura attraverso continue follie artistiche: breakdown quasi matematici/statistici; moltiplicazioni continue e surrealiste del protagonista, che spesso supera le vignette e “entra” all’interno delle “dimensioni” da lui stesso create; balloons che inondano le pagine quasi come se fossero personaggi; riferimenti visivi ai medium più disparati; pagine costantemente scomposte, che a volte lasciano proseguire il racconto oltre la pagina stessa, tagliando delle vignette improvvisamente. Questo stile presenta una maturità e una complessità talmente rara da farmi credere che l’autore abbia avuto la possibilità di essere uno spettatore di una proiezione in live action dei suoi stessi deliri notturni.
Il modo in cui ogni situazione è presentata, e in cui i pensieri vengono sviscerati, è spesso geniale. Mi sono sentito in ansia durante diversi passaggi, perché basta aver dormito male una notte per aver paura di non dormire mai più, ma quell’ansia è stata quasi sempre stata sconfitta da una grassa risata o da una riflessione sincera e simpaticamente schietta; perché è sempre in quella direzione che la bussola è puntata: una storia visivamente e narrativamente complessa/artefatta per raccontare con bontà d’animo la “normale anormalità” di una vita semplice e genuina. La lunghezza della graphic novel e la verbosità di alcuni passaggi può sicuramente essere un forte ostacolo, per questo consiglio una lettura in pillole, piuttosto che tutta d’un fiato, sicuramente non da tutti. La dolcezza nell’intento di cercare un grande significato nel grande nulla di tutti i giorni, invece, è per tutti.
April 5, 2023
I just can’t with this one. The art is very well done, and the experimenting with comics layouts and tropes was commendable. But I was tired of sussing it out by page 50, and the remaining 160 pages only made me like the main character less.
There was one page where FBI agents knocked on the door and I had a glimmer of hope this might pay off in a Phildickian way. (It did not.) If it had only been 60 pages, I might have rated it a 3, but it felt like it went on forever. The only reason I fought to finish was being part of the IRCB 2023 Challenge.
There was one page where FBI agents knocked on the door and I had a glimmer of hope this might pay off in a Phildickian way. (It did not.) If it had only been 60 pages, I might have rated it a 3, but it felt like it went on forever. The only reason I fought to finish was being part of the IRCB 2023 Challenge.
July 4, 2020
The River At Night is a formalist comics masterpiece. It utilizes techniques and experimental storytelling styles to convey a simple story of a man unable to sleep. It gets pretty stream of consciousness at times, but the core idea of time and how we perceive it remains constant throughout. I don’t have much else to say about this book surprisingly, this is one that needs to be experienced to understand.
December 11, 2019
I’ve been a fan of Huizenga’s art and storytelling via his character Glenn Ganges for years. This book is a wildly trippy exploration of insomnia that had me lost at times but overall I was quite impressed with the book for the most part.
February 18, 2020
A wonderful graphic novel, a tour de force really, consisting of the protagonist's (Glenn's) struggle to fall asleep - having had too much coffee - and the thoughts racing through his mind, as he can't decide what to do next: Should he read, should he go online, etc. The book consists of episodes in Glenn's life, each of which invariably lead to questions on the nature of time, how time flows by - that it is gone in a flash, really, compared to geologic or cosmic time - and how Glenn seems to be a mere mote caught in the spider-web of time, existence, every-day life. This is a well-drawn graphic novel, with thought-provoking text - one of the episodes deals with Glenn trying to get into a philosophical book by a fictional French philosopher, it's actually very funny.
The author has managed to put complex ideas about time into a graphic novel format, using characters that most people can relate to, considering their foibles, and likes and dislikes. It is a though-provoking work to say the least. It has a matter of fact, flat, quality - perhaps reflecting the middle America middle class social environment in which it takes place. There are rarely hints of anguish, or any untoward emotions. However, it's relentless in returning repeatedly to the same basic problem or question: Where does the time go, and how can Glenn stop thinking and finally get to sleep? The book is both "everyday" and profound or weighty. It made me think about my own life, and how time the last few years has flown by - perhaps it does have something to do with having been laid off and having a lot of time of my hands since then. Sure, I can read and go to the library - like Glenn - but in the end, time is shapeless and seems to dribble away. In "The River at Night" Glenn remembers going to a TED lecture on time management - I've also tried to get a grip on time management since I became schedule-free several years ago. But, as in Glenn's case, it's pretty much hopeless.. you wonder where the day goes... weeks.. years.. exactly like Glenn. However, like Glenn, I try to maximize at least enjoying time even as it seems to evaporate - watching films and reading, walking.
I think time seems to go more slowly when we're at school at work, for a number of reasons. If we don't like school or work, then time drags. Even if school is interesting, it's inherently stressful, since you're expected to learn and then regurgitate the information in papers/reports or on tests. You have to simultaneously cope with myriad social situations - that may or may not be stressful. I remember not being too concerned about social concerns when I was in school.. for some reason I either wasn't aware, or didn't care, about cliques and so forth. I always had some friends, but never tried to have a lot of friends or be particularly popular. Actually from an early age, I didn't really like school - I would have preferred reading, writing, or just day dreaming at home. Then, when I began working, I suppose that was more exciting - but settling into an extremely long stint at one job, did become a bore after a while. Which probably made time go even more slowly. Multi-tasking, getting things done, running errands, talking on the phone - the day was packed with repetitive activities, but it was always the same essential pattern. The boredom also probably made time go more slowly. To make up for the ennui, I'd try to pack as many different things into my lunch break as possible - going to the park, going to the cafeteria or the deli, reading the paper, going to the ATM, shopping - everything could be done quickly, it was like living life within the space of an hour. I can identify with Glenn's dilemma. He was also laid off - when his job at a failed dot com company ended. Suddenly, he had tons of time. What to do, though?
This is a very interesting graphic novel about an abstraction - time - that is, however, at the heart of existence. The author manages to graphically portray various conceptions of time, as cubes, as segments, rectangles, grids, receding horizons, etc. The ingenious images will probably stick in the reader's mind for a long time..
The author has managed to put complex ideas about time into a graphic novel format, using characters that most people can relate to, considering their foibles, and likes and dislikes. It is a though-provoking work to say the least. It has a matter of fact, flat, quality - perhaps reflecting the middle America middle class social environment in which it takes place. There are rarely hints of anguish, or any untoward emotions. However, it's relentless in returning repeatedly to the same basic problem or question: Where does the time go, and how can Glenn stop thinking and finally get to sleep? The book is both "everyday" and profound or weighty. It made me think about my own life, and how time the last few years has flown by - perhaps it does have something to do with having been laid off and having a lot of time of my hands since then. Sure, I can read and go to the library - like Glenn - but in the end, time is shapeless and seems to dribble away. In "The River at Night" Glenn remembers going to a TED lecture on time management - I've also tried to get a grip on time management since I became schedule-free several years ago. But, as in Glenn's case, it's pretty much hopeless.. you wonder where the day goes... weeks.. years.. exactly like Glenn. However, like Glenn, I try to maximize at least enjoying time even as it seems to evaporate - watching films and reading, walking.
I think time seems to go more slowly when we're at school at work, for a number of reasons. If we don't like school or work, then time drags. Even if school is interesting, it's inherently stressful, since you're expected to learn and then regurgitate the information in papers/reports or on tests. You have to simultaneously cope with myriad social situations - that may or may not be stressful. I remember not being too concerned about social concerns when I was in school.. for some reason I either wasn't aware, or didn't care, about cliques and so forth. I always had some friends, but never tried to have a lot of friends or be particularly popular. Actually from an early age, I didn't really like school - I would have preferred reading, writing, or just day dreaming at home. Then, when I began working, I suppose that was more exciting - but settling into an extremely long stint at one job, did become a bore after a while. Which probably made time go even more slowly. Multi-tasking, getting things done, running errands, talking on the phone - the day was packed with repetitive activities, but it was always the same essential pattern. The boredom also probably made time go more slowly. To make up for the ennui, I'd try to pack as many different things into my lunch break as possible - going to the park, going to the cafeteria or the deli, reading the paper, going to the ATM, shopping - everything could be done quickly, it was like living life within the space of an hour. I can identify with Glenn's dilemma. He was also laid off - when his job at a failed dot com company ended. Suddenly, he had tons of time. What to do, though?
This is a very interesting graphic novel about an abstraction - time - that is, however, at the heart of existence. The author manages to graphically portray various conceptions of time, as cubes, as segments, rectangles, grids, receding horizons, etc. The ingenious images will probably stick in the reader's mind for a long time..
March 28, 2020
I finished the story and have no idea what the point of it even was. All throughout, it seemed like a very random, hodge-podge of disjointed mini-stories or subsets of panels. Early on, it did make sense to me and felt like it was going somewhere. Until it didn't.
Best way to describe my experience reading this is if a filmmaker shot a bunch of clips for a movie, put together a solid first act, and then inserted the rest of the footage at random.
The author's use and ordering of speech bubbles/captions throughout the panels was confusing at times. Sometimes a panel had so many speech bubbles and no matter what order I followed, the conversation still didn't make sense. Kinda like if it was translated from another language, but the team in charge of translating didn't understand the nature of the dialogue.
If the last 2/3 were simply about where the main character's mind goes in his attempt to fall asleep, it was about as boring and frustrating to get through as if I was trying really hard to fall asleep. If it was his intent to make the reading experience match that human situation, the author certainly nailed it.
Aside from that, the artwork is really good and consistent, and the book design is solid. It's a thick work that I imagine required a very dedicated mind and I truly admire this art form..
Best way to describe my experience reading this is if a filmmaker shot a bunch of clips for a movie, put together a solid first act, and then inserted the rest of the footage at random.
The author's use and ordering of speech bubbles/captions throughout the panels was confusing at times. Sometimes a panel had so many speech bubbles and no matter what order I followed, the conversation still didn't make sense. Kinda like if it was translated from another language, but the team in charge of translating didn't understand the nature of the dialogue.
If the last 2/3 were simply about where the main character's mind goes in his attempt to fall asleep, it was about as boring and frustrating to get through as if I was trying really hard to fall asleep. If it was his intent to make the reading experience match that human situation, the author certainly nailed it.
Aside from that, the artwork is really good and consistent, and the book design is solid. It's a thick work that I imagine required a very dedicated mind and I truly admire this art form..
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