Building stories by Chris Ware
Random House, 2012. ISBN 9780224078122.
(Age; Senior secondary) 'Books' are no longer books; groups of words and sentences arranged
in a usually pleasing fashion on a set of papers bound together in a
neat package. This is an era of ebooks, graphic novels, audio books,
and books as pdfs, kindle and various other arrangements. The
bottom-line is that in a book the words, phrases and sentences work
together to tell a story, to inform or to educate. This 'book', Building
Stories by cartoonist, Chris Ware, breaks many moulds. To
begin with it is a box; a large, colourful box with intriguing
images and lettering showing clever and careful design. On opening
the satisfyingly solid box one encounters an even more intriguing
assortment of books, pamphlets and papers of different sizes, weight
and organisation covered with detailed and intriguing graphics.
Through this medium this impressive work tells the stories of
residents of an apartment block in Chicago.
As the residents go through their daily lives we are made privy to
their thoughts, dreams, actions and most intimate activities. Every
graphic is part of the larger story and leads the reader to make
connections across the 'text'. The book is part puzzle, part
graphic, part narrative and always engaging. It brings to mind the
classic movie Rear Window, where James Stewart spends his
wheelchair bound days watching his neighbours, discovering their
secrets.
Chris Ware is highly talented cartoonist who shows a Dickensian feel
for the minutiae (and misery) of ordinary life. Much of this book is
about loss - loss of ideals and dreams, youth, partners and even
body parts. For me, it is this which ultimately made the book so
depressing. The voyeurism of this type of text reveals the
intimacies between couples which many will feel belongs solely
within a trusting relationship. These qualities lead me to recommend
this book only to senior secondary students with the maturity to
understand the complexity of people's motives and actions.
Diana Warwick