REVIEW:- Audrey NIFFENEGGER - “The Night Bookmobile“ - And a comment on Graphic Novels

Year Published: - 2010
Where the book was from:- My own copy (2nd hand - ex Highland Libraries)
ISBN: - 978 0224 089 524
Pages: - 40pp
Genre: - Graphic Novel
Location:- Chicago
How I came across it: - Reading reviews
Rating: - ***** ***** (But see below re whether it is a novel)

One sentence summary:- A cartoon format short story about a woman, the books she reads and an unusual mobile library.

Describe the plot without giving anything away:-
A haunting tale of a girl who has an argument with her boyfriend and while wandering the streets afterwards, in the middle of the night, finds a strange mobile library with an unusual librarian.

General comments:- I've never read a 'Graphic Novel' before and I'm not sure that a graphic novel differs much from a cartoon or comic book. So does Asterix count as a novel? I don't really think so. According to Wikipedia “a graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format. The term is employed in a broad manner, encompassing non-fiction works and thematically linked short stories as well as fictional stories across a number of genres. Graphic novels are typically bound in longer and more durable formats than familiar comic magazines, using the same materials and methods as printed books, and they are generally sold in bookstores and speciality comic book shops rather than at newsstands. Such books have gained increasing acceptance as desirable materials for libraries which once ignored comic books.” Even by this definition 'The Night Bookmobile' is at best a Graphic Short Story rather than a Graphic Novel.

With that reservation I have to agree with Neil Gaiman who says “The Night Bookmobile is a love letter, both elegiac and heartbreaking, to the things we have read and to the readers that we are. It says that what we read makes us who we are. It's a graphic short story, beautifully drawn and perfectly told.”
If only one could have one's own night bookmobile to explore in the middle of the night when sleep won't some. How would we react to seeing all those forgotten books; the ones which we didn't finish and the well-thumbed pages of those we have re-read many times? Paradise is a night bookmobile.

AUTHOR Notes:- Audrey Niffenegger was born in 1969 in the USA. debut novel sold nearly 5 million copies worldwide and has been translated into thirty-three languages to date. She is also a widely exhibited artist. She lives in Chicago.

Review:- Audrey NIFFENEGGER – “Her Fearful Symmetry”

Publ: 2009
Pensby Library
ISBN: 9780224085618
Genre: General
Pages: 390p
Ordered from library because I loved the Time Traveller’s Wife
Rating: ***** *****

What led you to pick up this book?
The Time Traveller’s Wife was one of my favourite books of recent years so I had to read Niffenegger’s latest.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
Six years after the phenomenal success of The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger has returned with a spectacularly compelling and haunting second novel set in and around Highgate Cemetery in London.

When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers -- with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. The girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbours and I musn’t tell you more...


What did you think of the characters and style?
The characters are all brilliantly described in vivid detail. They are so believable. The style –as I anticipated – was wonderful with constant interaction between the characters and plenty of thrills, excitement and romance.

What did you like most about the book?
Never knowing how it might end.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
No.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Very pleasant and appropriate but see my grump about stickers tomorrow...

Would I recommend it?
Yes.

Audrey Niffenegger was born in 1969 in the USA. debut novel sold nearly 5 million copies worldwide and has been translated into thirty-three languages to date. She is also a widely exhibited artist. She lives in Chicago.