From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

Watchmen

Alan Moore,

Dave Gibbons (Illustrator/Letterer)

Why we're reading this: #15 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...

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[close] #15 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...

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What Members Thought

Jan 20, 2011 Andrew rated it really liked it

Shelves: graphic

One of the first graphic novels I ever read at uni, I loved it as this was the first time I realised they could have "grown up" story lines, still one of my favourites. ...more

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Nov 27, 2016 Tani rated it liked it

Shelves: male-author, scifi, comics, sff-comics-2016, 2016-comics

I really expected to love this. It's a classic, after all. How could I not?

Instead, I took almost 2 months to read it. And that's after forcing myself to sit down and read the final 3 chapters today just so I could move on to something different. Here's the reality: This graphic novel never grabbed my attention. Ever. Even near the very end of the book, when plots are finally coming clear and I should have been completely entranced, I seriously considered putting the book down to go do somethin I really expected to love this. It's a classic, after all. How could I not?

Instead, I took almost 2 months to read it. And that's after forcing myself to sit down and read the final 3 chapters today just so I could move on to something different. Here's the reality: This graphic novel never grabbed my attention. Ever. Even near the very end of the book, when plots are finally coming clear and I should have been completely entranced, I seriously considered putting the book down to go do something else. For two-thirds of this, I was, quite frankly, bored. I guess I just didn't see what other people saw in it.

Part of it was probably that I found a lot of the characters distasteful. Rorschach was probably my favorite, and I didn't particularly love him either. Considering that a lot of my enjoyment of fiction tends to stem from characters, that's a big strike against it. I'll admit that the explorations of character, when they happened, were interesting. My favorite chapter was most certainly the one that delved into Rorschach's past. And yet, I felt like those explorations were too thin on the ground to make a difference.

I really strongly disliked all the female characters and the sexism that surrounded their treatment. I know, I know, it's the times that it was written in, etc. Blah blah blah. That doesn't mean that I have to find enjoyment in the periodic punches in the face that the narrative was so kind as to provide to me. Laurie, for example, had the potential to be a good character, but the way that her story was made to revolve only around the men in her life was pretty boring. Add in that, even though romance seems her only objective, nothing actually remotely romantic happens, and yeah...

Let's not talk about the art, OK? Suffice to say, not a fan.

I will give some props to the ending. It rose above the rest of the book, and I certainly didn't see it coming. I was glad to see the plot rise above the mundane murder-mystery that it had been. (And perhaps that's another root of my discontent. I'm not a big fan of the mystery genre.) I liked that there was finally a big moral question to everything. It just wasn't enough to save the whole thing from mediocrity, although it did earn it an extra star. ...more

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Aug 12, 2013 Louise rated it it was amazing

Dark, twisted, disturbing, depressing and thought-provoking doesn't begin to cover it. This story about the very human psyches of super heroes in the very depressing Cold War era is simply brilliant. The different methods of story-telling, the excerpts from diaries, newspapers, interviews, letters, etc make it feel all too real. How did I manage to only read this now? Thankfully I haven't watched the film yet and kind of missed the hype, so I am thankful for that. ...more

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Aug 08, 2008 Jen added it

Shelves: graphic-novels, well-read-list

Ironically, while dealing with my existential crisis, I had the good fortune to read this book (but really: collection of books). Complex and intersecting story lines transversing two generations and over-arcing themes.

It's hard to talk about this book without spoiling it for everyone. But I think it was book 8 (or was it 9?) - basically, the one with Laurie and Dr. Manhatten - that really resonated with me. ...more

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