Blankets by

23 March 2010


Genre: , ,
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Blankets by Craig Thomspon

Blankets by Craig Thomspon

ISBN: 1891830430 DDC: 741.5973
LibraryThing : Author’s blog
Read for the Graphic Novels Challenge

When we were young, my little brother Phil and I shared the same bed.

This is one I picked up because I’d seen positive mentions on a few blogs, I think Nymeth’s post was the one that prompted the purchase. So it came with a little bit of hype. That being said, I don’t really read reviews before I read a book, just skim the opening paragraph for a sense of what the reviewer thought of the book, so I wasn’t all hyped out. And Blankets did live up to those positive reviews.

Blankets is basically a graphic coming-of-age memoir. It starts off with Craig and his younger brother sharing a bed, arguing over it and constantly fighting, in the manner of siblings. And it continues all through his first real love. And we also get a hint of what happens next with the final section. And it is just beautifully told. Both the illustration and the words work wonderfully together.

It was a surprisingly big book. But at the same time it is a quick read. I read it in two sessions on the train. Hiding some of the dirty bits so people wouldn’t think I was reading porn ;)

I don’t want to give anything at all away about this book. I’ll just echo Nymeth’s plea that if you haven’t read this yet, off you go and pick it up. You won’t regret it. It is a lovely, touching, and funny take on life, religion, and the whole growing up thing people go through.

Other reviews: Things mean a lot ; Zen Leaf ; Bart’s Bookshelf ; Stuff as dreams are made on ; One literature nut ;

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10 Responses

  1. Glad you liked this one. It really is a fantastic example of mixing words and art. Thanks for the link!

  2. Nymeth says:

    I'm glad you enjoy it as much as the rest of us did!

  3. Fence says:

    I'm glad I did too :)

  4. Kelly says:

    Oh my gosh, it's so fun to see you mention this book! I read it a couple years ago and was surprised by how transporting it was. It IS a huge book but I zoomed through it because it was so interesting and I was very invested in the characters. I loved it, too!

    • Fence says:

      It was a really quick read for something so huge wasn't it. I think I read somewhere that Thompson may be working on a sequel, but that may not be true as I can't remember where I saw that…

  5. Amanda says:

    This was such a good book! I'm glad it's making its rounds through the blogosphere.

    • Fence says:

      It is always nice to get to discuss things we love. I only read reviews after I've read a book so its fun to see what I missed in comparison to other people, and what we both noticed/thought

  6. Becky says:

    I meant to stop by a long time ago to comment on your review. I'm so glad you liked it as much as the rest of us did. Thanks for mentioning our reviews as well. It's nice to see that we give a nice graphic novel like this some good PR! :)
    Becky´s last blog post ..The Ws of Reading- The Lesser Knowns

  1. 1 January 2011

    […] Blankets by Craig Thompson. Brilliant graphic novel memoir, which has led to the in-joke of “I peed on you”. {My review} […]