Another Gorgeous Publication Another gorgeous publication. I just wish the author would follow up with another wonderful story like Time Traveler's Wife. Something I can really sink my mind into.
I love it - I think Niffenegger appears to be publishing her work in reverse order - this offering includes ideas developed from her art-school sketchbooks. Maybe this author's "Time Traveler's Wife" was more autobiographical than she's letting on.
It's not another "Wife," though. It more closely resembles her "Three Incestuous Sisters." Like the "Sisters," it's a Gorey-esque series of images, one per two-page spread, with just a few words on the facing page. And, even more than the "Sisters," it baffles the reader with dream-like transitions that defy normal logic.
The imagery is what counts here. It appears to be a sequence of aquatints with line etching, a printmaking technique that looks a little like pen drawing with solid color washes. The un-named heroine of this story is an elfin young woman with short hair and missing shirt. As with Gorey, it's a style that will catch your eye or won't, and a story (I think it's a story) that will catch you imagination or won't. I'm caught, partly because of the charm of the story and art, and partly because my mind can't let go of the mystery and ambiguity in them.
-- wiredweird
A woman gives birth to a cat...what more could you want from a book?! "The Adventuress" is another one of Audrey Niffenegger's picture novels. This particular book was created during the mid-80's when Niffenegger was a student at The Art Institute of Chicago. The story follows the life of an alchemist's daughter who is kidnapped by an evil, salacious baron. She kills the baron and is imprisoned, but she manages to escape by turning into a moth and flying into Napoleon Bonaparte's garden. The two become lovers, and the alchemist's daughter becomes pregnant and gives birth to Maurice...a cat. Ultimately, the affair between Napoleon and the Adventuress meets a tragic end because of Napoleon's betrayal, but the story manages to end on a positive note.
I really loved this book. It has a very similar feel as "The Three Incestuous Sisters," which is the other picture book that Niffenegger has released. There are very few words to the story, but the entire tale can be absorbed just by looking at the amazing images. I understand why other reviewers compare Niffenegger's work to that of Edward Gorey, but in my opinion, Niffenegger's images evoke much more emotion and passion than Gorey's ever did. I also want to mention how lovely the actual book itself is: the paper is absolutely gorgeous and the book is bound in lush dark green velvet. Lovers of fine art will appreciate this book, as will anyone else who takes pleasure in beautiful things.
Visually appealing, but not great fiction As others have noted, if you buy this book with the expectation that the story will be even an ounce as compelling as The Time Traveler's Wife, you will be disappointed. I gave this book 2 stars for the quality. As picture novels go, it is given the royal print quality treatment. However, I was underwhelemed by the illustrations and storyline. I know it was written years ago and I like that it was dusted off and resurrected, but it just didn't draw me in. Pardon the pun ;)
A novel in pictures Don't buy The Adventuress hoping to have the same sense of wonderment and awe that you felt when you finished The Time Traveler's Wife. It isn't that sort of book.
The Adventuress is the second of Niffenegger's picture novels (that were mass produced at least. The first being the Three Incestuous Sisters), but it's the first one she wrote. In a footnote at the end of the book, she says it was made between 1983 and 1985 when she was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The book is beautifully bound, the pictures are amazing. Some of them I'd be tempted to cut out and frame if it wouldn't ruin the book. In the epilogue, she describes the process it takes to create these images and thanks the people who taught her the technique.
The story, itself, isn't much of a story so much as words that take you through the story the pictures tell. The art itself is the story, so if the words she wrote before in her amazingly successful novel The Time Traveler's Wife are what drew you to this story, prepare to be disappointed.
But if you want to see inside the mind of an artist, who can write as well as create, I think you'll be impressed. I didn't know what to expect, but knew that I liked her work and this book was a pleasant surprise. The Adventuress is indeed an adventure for those who have never seen the work of a visual artist in which the pictures themselves are the story. It isn't a graphic novel. The words are there to enhance the images, but the pictures themselves are the star.
I don't know what to tell you, but to pick it up and take a look. You could read it in 15 minutes at Barnes and Noble and know whether or not you wanted to take the chance and buy it. Myself, I'll probably keep it out as coffee table book, because it would be a shame for her art to be hidden on a bookshelf.
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