Name: Asterios Polyp
ISBN: 9780307377326

David Mazzucchelli

Asterios Polyp, its arrogant, prickly protagonist, is an award-winning architect who's never built an actual building, and a pedant in the midst of a spiritual crisis. After the structure of his own life falls apart, he runs away to try to rebuild it into something new.

Asterios Polyp

I wish I didn't speed through Graphic Novels so quickly. I wish I could just savour the art.

Even though I read it waay too quickly, I still loved this. And the ending!

Ed Kay

Beautifully drawn, quirky characterisation, but a terrible ending.

Aviv Leo Zippin

A profound book of unique visual styling and storytelling

Sans

Asterios thought he understood why people believe in a solitary, omniscient god. If the creator of the universe is spending all his time watching you, it must surely be because he loves you. But my brother always preferred the gods of our ancestors. By giving them human personalities, the ancient Greeks could feel that the world made sense...because only the whims of a bunch of petty, bickering deities could explain the random events of joy and tragedy that befall human beings. Besides, it’s always nice to have someone else to blame. With such powerful, capricious forces at work, the pressure’s off, and everyone can be a supporting character in the larger story--however brief or collateral that role may be.

To live (as I understand it) is to exist within a conception of time. But to remember is to vacate the very notion of time. Every memory, no matter how remote its subject, takes place “now”, at the moment it’s called up in the mind. The more something is recalled, the more the brain has a chance to refine the original experience, because every memory is a re-creation, not a playback.

These two quotes, during the last couple of chapters from the book, really sum up the feel of this story for me. The artistic techniques used are fascinating and make this as much a visual journey (more so than most graphic novels if I'm honest) as it is a textual one. The accolades and awards are well deserved.