Jetlag: Five Graphic Novellas

by Batia Kolton, Actus Tragicus (Illustrator)

This collection of five graphic novellas features a drab salesman who falls in love with a Romanian circus aerialist; a young woman who lives next to the entrance to Hell; a magician who loses control of his magic; a piggy bank named Margolis; and a young girl who claims that she is a porn obsessed dwarf on a flight to nowhere.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Short Stories, Israel, Jewish, Graphic Novels Comics

90 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[Leif Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you have probably gathered from the cover this is five stories of Egan Keret set to pictures. All are excellent interpretations of his frankly bizarre fiction. Go get a copy.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate this guy for the simple reason that he makes writing engrossing stories about everyday life seem as easy as tying your shoe. Seriously. A boy falls in love with his piggy bank? That's the premise of one of these stories? Yeah, and it's tragic and wonderful.

[Neven · Rating 2 out of 5]

My tolerance for quirky-serious Lynchian stories with woodcut-style art is currently at an all-time low.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of five short stories by Etgar Keret, each one illustrated by different artists. All the artists and the author are Israeli.

There are 5 stories in total in this book:

HaTrick: A magician's favorite trick becomes a horrible surprise every time he performs it.
Margolis: A kid is given a piggy bank to save up for a toy. However, he becomes more attached to the piggy bank.
Jetlag: A surreal story of a transatlantic flight where a guy is being wooed by a stewardess while being seated next to a demented little girl.
Passage To Hell: A town in Uzbekistan houses the gates of hell, and every damned soul gets a day out every hundred years. This is the story of a woman who falls in love with one of these damned souls.
The Romanian Circus: A man falls in love with a clumsy tight rope walker.

HaTrick was quite disturbing, and it may be an effect of the translation but it came across as quite ham fisted. I liked the story, Margolis, quite a bit. When I was a kid, I remember feeling bummed out about having to break a piggy bank to get the money out of it. So I sympathize with the kid, and his overly sentimental tendencies. Jetlag was really weird and kind of disturbing. The passage to hell was an interesting story, but i only liked it a little bit. The Romanian Circus was kind of a cute love story, but I didn't really like it that much. I only liked the art in Margolis story. The Romanian Circus had OK art. And I actively disliked the art in the other stories.

As a Jew, I feel some connection with Israel. As that is where most of the Jews in the world live. However, this book really underscores, to me, how different Israelis are from me culturally. Rarely, do books feel this foreign to me. Or, that may be Etgar Keret, or the translator. It is hard to say. Though, I may try to read some of his other works in translation, just to get an idea on if it is Israelis I feel alienated from, literarily, or just Keret.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five surreal stories/fables by Etgar Keret, drawn by five graphic artists. I loved "Margolis" about the misunderstood child and his toy - sort of the never-ending world of a kid whose parents eternally argue over him. Of course the kid turns to his toy - in the end rescues it, just as he would want to be rescued. "HaTrick" was somewhat disturbing, no doubt was meant to be. I loved "Romanian Circus" - could see the denouement coming but still enjoyed the final image of the guy probably happier and freer with the pet monkey than he would have been with the tightrope walker. All in all, a fun read, not altogether "nice" or "cute" but thought-provoking and funny.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm re-reading this as part of this month's extra-curricular writing project (that's supposed to sound flip, not pretnetious. I hope it comes across that way). It's really good, if slightly uneven mix-- I like Keret, and I really like the Actus Tragicus folks. The winner here is Modan's "Romanian Circus," which I think might be closer to a collaboration than an adaptation, since I can't find an original prose version of the story. But this is really good, and read alongside the originals, there's a lot to like here.

[Abraham · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 illustrators interpret etgar keret stories, rendering them shorter and even more surreal than they originally were. Something strange about reading this right after reading James Tate. They have similar minds, the thread of events in their narratives wanders in haphazard, surreal, and wonderful ways.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm beginning to think Etgar Keret's work can be just as effective in any medium. While the art wasn't in the styles I gravitate toward the story-telling is the reason to read this book. The artist pick up on what is essential Keret and make his work translate into images. Overall a nice quick read. But it did want to make me read more Keret instead of search out the illustrators.

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Etgar Keret, but the stories in this book didn't reflect what I feel are his best works. As for the graphic aspect, it felt as though the stories were just split into segments which were then displayed above or beside the graphics; I didn't feel as though the graphics were well integrated with the words. I also noticed quite a few typos in my copy.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I was spoiled by loving "The Nimrod Flipout". In "Jetlag", I found myself distracted by the graphics. Instead of the story being enhanced by the pictures, for me, I lost the rhythm and tone and sometimes even the story. One exception was the story "Margolis".

[Ярослава · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected this to be a comic book written by Etgar Keret; instead, it's more of an illustrated version of a bunch of his short stories (which I've already read!), where sometimes the illustrations do not even have an independent role.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very bizarre. Really expressive and loose illustration styles from Actus Tragicus, the group of comic artists who illustrated.

[Jim Talbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really enjoyable collection. I'd read all of the stories before, but it's great to see what different artists do with them.

[Becca]

I love Etgar Keret - but this graphic novel is awful. Maybe I'm just not a big fan of graphic novels.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stories, but I found the illustrations, except those by Yirmi Pinkus, to be disappointing.

[Yossi Yusuf Pinhas · Rating 4 out of 5]

israil toplumuna bir bakış atarken insanlık halini gerçeküstü zorluklarla değerlendiren aslında hüzünlü bir çizgi öyküler dizisi. her bir öykü farklı bir çizer tarafından resimlenmiş.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wry, depressing but funny comics from Israel. Rutu Modan illustrated the last story, which was a nice surprise.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this graphic novel because it contains stories by Contemporary Israeli author Etgar Kerat. A good read.

[ShannonCC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird. Just weird. But I liked it :)

[W.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The usual Keret turns between gruesome and tender. The artists clearly had fun. A super-fast read.

[Aaron Ambrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeously eerie. Keret’s stories are a hoot - menacing magical realism that dances between golden sunlight and moonless black. The five artists who translate his stories here add new layers of charm and weirdness, and I ATE IT UP. The words and pictures work on their own merits, and together they punch like a caffeinated kangaroo. A delicious treat with extra id sprinkled on top.

[David Kowalski · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, how is this for Clickbait? I kind of enjoyed this until the last page when I fucking loved it.

Keret tends to write with a surreal touch which is enhanced by the graphic novel approach. These are fun and slightly poignant. The last one, surprisingly, touched a nerve. It seems written for the graphic novel form. If you have found this and it’s a good price get it and have fun with it.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are great. Some of the art is very bad.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited for and REALLY ENJOYED my first Israeli writer AND the five new artists his prose guided!

Each artist adapted a short story of his to sequential art narrative with very freestyle approaches that all cashed in on the rewards of their various risks. Each story shared a funny variety of weird in words that the artists supplemented with their own brands of appropriate strange- ALL of which made the unique and pervasive suspense, ALSO unanimous, tremendously interesting!

You'll spend the entire book enthralled with guessing what's going to happen next!

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is funny as hell. Fast read. Fun read. Surprising.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Craziness.