Vroom With a View

Vroom with a View
by Peter Moore
Reviewed by Adelynn

The title caught my eye while I was browsing at Melbourne Airport. Coupled with a cheery picture of a couple on a Vespa, it enticed me to pick it up to read the blurb. I found out that it was a travel narrative, much in the vein of Bill Bryson, set in Italy (another plus point).

The romantic adventure to Italy on a Vespa was a teenage fantasy of the author's, and after reading his escapades, it became mine too.

Sophia the Vespa, named after Sophia Loren, is personified as a temperamental lady, who has to be coaxed into doing things she doesn't like. The author spends much of the time trying to persuade her not to leave him at the bottom of hills, or in the middle of wilderness. The author's partner was pretty impressed though.

I love the descriptions of the cities in Italy. If you're considering visiting Italy, this book will push you over the fence to book your air ticket to Tuscany! Siena! Milano!

I went "Aha!" when he described his impressions of Florence in less-than-glowing terms, much like my personal impression of it.

Each chapter begins with a model of the toy the author gets in his Kinder Surprise. He was waiting for a green Vespa to come along. I found myself looking forward to knowing whether he would get yet another Kitchen Pot Spy, or the elusive green Vespa, at his next meal. How apt it is that he eventually got one in his Kinder Surprise at the end of his journey.

I discovered that there are digital photos of his trip up on his website, and would recommend that you read the book first, then view the photos. Or you could even read it for the second time, while clicking onto the corresponding photo, if you prefer to be an armchair traveller.

Blankets

"Blankets" - a story of first love
by Craig Thompson

Reviewed by Dax


"We both knew that nothing existed for us outside of the moment"

I read a graphic novel today entitled Blankets, by Craig Thompson, printed by TopShelf Comix. It's a two-fold story about first love and family. The story is held together by a motif I can only describe as Christian belief. The author describes the story as "a really long book where nothing happens.. structured around an emotional experience of sleeping next to someone for the first time".

Time Magazine describes it as "... a rarity: a first-love story so well remembered and honest that it reminds you what falling in love feels like... achingly beautiful."

You know the feeling of discovering love for the first time, and you think back fondly on it occasionally. I always thought my experience was unique and almost laughable in some instances. But when I read Blankets, I realise how so many of us out there probably share similar experiences. Of the yearning, of the exclusivity, of the importance, of the hiding, of the oneness. Through the pages of the graphic novel, I was skilfully transported back to a plane of feeling, serving to remind me of a past that was almost forgotten. It allows the reader to identify with the pains of growing up and finding love.

I read the book, and felt like falling in love all over again.. to embark on a journey, to learn more about that special person, to share the problems ahead, and to have that special companionship through it all. It's that nice warm feeling you get from watching romantic comedies. To imagine a love. To feel it. To live it. To be blinded by a total infatuation from all the errors of the world. That feeling of bliss that wipes away your pain, and makes all problems seem small and totally conquerable. In the book, Thompson parallels this to the blanketing of the world with the year's first snowfall, a way to escape from what lies beneath.



But like all great loves, reality will soon set in with the melting of snow, and soon, the landscape changes revealing the inevitable indelibilities. "Nothing fits anymore". And of course, the age-old query - to ask why.

It probably helps that the artwork compliments the story so well. Thompson is able to convey the feeling of being a frightened helpless child as well as expressing the blinding joy of being in love. The absence of conversation or text even is used to
dramatic effect.

I sincerely recommend this graphic novel. It is groundbreaking in a sense because it is a story that is centred around an emotional experience, rather than being action-packed with the flip of every page. Being a hefty 582 page graphic novel, and available in
Kinokuniya, I wasn't surprised to find out it retails for about S$60. I believe it would be entirely worth it - open it again several years down the road and let the experience take effect once again.

• Praise for 'Blankets'


• Craig
  Thompson's website - more previews!