A Book to Make Friends With

by Lukas Verstraete, Laura Watkinson (Translator)

A dizzying, psychedelic and psychological journey of a man in search of himself, rendered in hyper-energetic, eye-popping colored pencils. Tick, tick, boom. Open the cover of this graphic novel to unleash a bombastic bomb blast of frenetic line work, a cacophony of vibrant color, and an action-packed narrative that whirls and swirls in all directions like the furious, roaring winds of a mushroom cloud. Enter the blast radius of this conflagration of imagination and experience how brilliantly its creative fires burn. A Book to Make Friends With marks the explosive English language debut of Flemish cartoonist Lukas Verstraete. What begins as a Pulp Fiction -inspired heist, in which two masked gangsters rob a passerby of his mysterious briefcase, soon snowballs into a psychedelic journey full of chase scenes, shapeshifting, soul possession, spiritual hallucinations, and unrequited romance. It all culminates in an epic, breathtakingly rendered battle between good and evil.  At turns playful, philosophical, and kinetically riotous, you’ve never seen a graphic novel quite like this. Printed as an oversized hardcover edition encased in a luxurious slipcase, this book is as much a gorgeous aesthetic object as an engrossing work of fiction. Full-color illustrations throughout

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

208 pages, Hardcover

Published August 29, 2023

Reviews

[Bob Fish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just look at that style, those colors, the fun and surreal story, Simply Brilliant!

Don't believe me? See for yourself :
https://youtu.be/56EEIqiCdLk
https://youtu.be/VPkbahn4xkI

[Chris Brook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite possibly the largest graphic novel I've ever read.

[Alisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me

[Priya Charry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildly original, super colourful, at times confusing, and overall quite memorable.