-
Get a Free Issue
of our Ezine!
Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Book Reviewed by:David Small's long-awaited graphic novel is a savage portrayal of male adolescence gone awry like no other work of recent fiction or film.
Wildly kaleidoscopic and furiously cinematic, Home After Dark is a literary tour-de-force that renders the brutality of adolescence in the so-called nostalgic 1950s, evoking such classics as The Lord of the Flies. Thirteen-year-old Russell Pruitt, abandoned by his mother, follows his father to sun-splashed California in search of a dream. Suddenly forced to fend for himself, Russell struggles to survive in Marshfield, a dilapidated town haunted by a sadistic animal killer and a ring of malicious boys who bully Russell for being "queer." Rescued from his booze-swilling father by Wen and Jian Mah, a Chinese immigrant couple who long for a child, Russell betrays their generosity by running away with their restaurant's proceeds. Told almost entirely through thousands of spliced images, once again "employ[ing] angled shots and silent montages worthy of Alfred Hitchcock" (Washington Post, on Stitches), Home After Dark becomes a new form of literature in this shocking graphic interpretation of cinema verité.
Home After Dark powerfully conveys the psychic and societal damage wrought by a culture of toxic masculinity. Russell is so unsure about which modes of masculinity are acceptable, his self-image so malleable and distorted (brilliantly portrayed as Russell examines his warped reflection in a Christmas tree bulb and, later, in a spoon), that he finds it almost impossible to trust anyone - including himself and, most poignantly, the Chinese immigrant family the Mahs, whose kindness Russell first betrays and then only reluctantly acknowledges and accepts. Nevertheless, the novel's closing pages - as Russell finds himself in an unexpected state of grace - offers a glimpse of hope for a better, kinder future...continued
Full Review
(606 words)
(Reviewed by Norah Piehl).
If David Small's Home After Dark is your first introduction to visual storytelling through book-length graphics, you're in for a treat. There is a wealth of wonderful, accessible yet profound books that can serve as a terrific introduction for new graphic novel fans. This list just scratches the surface of this fantastically rich and diverse art form - readers who want to learn more should peruse past winners of the Eisner Awards as well as any number of online "best of" lists.
Maus by Art Spiegelman
It would be almost unthinkable to compile any kind of list of notable graphic novels and not include this 1986 masterpiece, which paved the way for countless works to follow by retelling the atrocities of the Holocaust via a cat-and-mouse ...
If you liked Home After Dark, try these:
by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Published 2018
Hey, Kiddo is a profoundly important memoir about growing up in a family grappling with addiction, and finding the art that helps you survive.
by Chris Cleave
Published 2017
From the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Little Bee, a spellbinding novel about three unforgettable individuals thrown together by war, love, and their search for belonging in the ever-changing landscape of WWII London.
Pony Confidential
by Christina Lynch
In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.
.png)
To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be ...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!