Currently reading
The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindness
River of Smoke: A Novel
Alif the Unseen
Half of a Yellow Sun
Taoist Qigong for Health and Vitality: A Complete Program of Movement, Meditation, and Healing Sounds
Sea of Poppies
AyurVeda: The Science of Self-Healing
Medicine Buddha Teachings
Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: The Spiritual Classic and International Bestseller
The Fault in Our Stars
Fishtown
So I finally sat down with this yesterday and was blown the eff away. By far my favorite work of graphic fiction I have read this year (still have not read Bottomless Belly Button). I started reading this online, http://tr.im/1z9g, but quickly realized I wanted to hold it while I read it.Lets just say that I read it straight through two times in my first sitting. It is amazingly powerful and beyond beautiful to read. The story is far from pretty. Gruesome would be a far better descriptor. But that does not really work either, even though it covers and vividly depicts a viciously violent crime. Colden really relies on portraying the detachment of the protagonists. His rejected youth make the kids in River's Edge look more like the kids from The Sandlot (two obscure movie references there, for the uninitiated). The stark contrast of Colden's near sepia images only help to reinforce this severed nature the kids in his story exhibit. After I read it the first time I wondered why it was called Fishtown, other than it being the section of Philly where the story and crime take place. But when I read though the second time (and I really believe there will be more readings in the future) I saw Colden's use of background space, the cold desolation of Fishtown, really create a near Leviathan of a character. It was as if the cityscape directed the teens toward their crime. What other possibility did they have?This is a piece of masterful story telling. Amazingly harsh and far more full of apathy than pathos. It is sitting on a shelf somewhere challenging you to read it. Do it!
