Craig Thompson

After reading the beautiful novel Blankets by Craig Thompson, I had to get my hands on his other works. I absolutely loved his drawing style in combination with the way he told stories.

Blankets, an autobiography, was so highly personal and introverted but yet completely "relatable," so I wasn't surprised to find that Carnet De Voyage, a travel diary, was also fascinating and entirely non-boring as well. You would expect a travel diary to be uninteresting and just a list of experiences a person had on their journeys, but it's more than that. Thompson has a wonderful way of packing feeling and thought into places where they may not ordinarily be available. It's not just "I went here and did this." I probably do no justice to it with words, so I am recommending it to anyone. Read it, love it. If you're like me, it will only make you want more!

In the spirit of wanting/needing more Thompson, I checked out his only other available graphic novel to date, called Good-bye, Chunky Rice. It is a fictional tale of a mouse and turtle, beloved friends who come to part. The turtle, named Chunky Rice, finds himself needing to go on a journey to find his true home, realizing perhaps too late that his real home is merely on his back (his shell) and also in the shared company of his friend. However, he boards a boat and goes on his way, and the story in between is similar to Blankets in that it's so incredibly lovable and sad. Even though it's a very cartoony style, it certainly is no story for children. It's much too weighty a story even in light-hearted visual form.

After reading the three Thompson creations I feel that I have a true appreciation for his storytelling and his abilities to pull you in and make you feel the story rather than feeling apart from it as you read. Les belles histoires, Craig. Beau.