haliahli's review
3.0
Read this 2 years ago. loved it til the end. plan on rereading to see if I've changed to like it more
spilled's review
2.0
I did not like this book. I am trying to discern if my disliking is because it's a story told awfully or an awful story told well, since the latter gives the author more credit. Part of the frustration is that it reads more like a short story, full of ambiguities and things left hanging, than the novel-type developed plot I think I expected. But that aside, I didn't like a single character, everything is disgusting, and the abrupt ending left me disgruntled.
Also the cover is not very representative of the book. I hate the cover. I hate her knock-kneed stance, I hate the gas mask, I hate the weird blue color. The title isn't what I would have picked, either.
Also the cover is not very representative of the book. I hate the cover. I hate her knock-kneed stance, I hate the gas mask, I hate the weird blue color. The title isn't what I would have picked, either.
lukeisthename34's review
4.0
I can see what Rapp won a Pulitzer. It reads like an upsetting, vague and violent short story.
atperez's review
4.0
If you're searching for something with a happy ending or closure, look elsewhere. This is a dark, gritty, raw story about a near future dystopia where a plague is indiscriminately killing off the citizens and although an antitoxin exists, no one has the will to seek it out. It features a horrifying ring of murderers and never answers the question as to why they do it or why they target those they do. And it shows the despair of those who have lost, and in some cases are so close to finding, those they love.
arachne_reads's review
5.0
A story of love and what we can't have, that brings into sharp focus all the cruelty of humanity. Fair warning: it offers no happy endings, for which I, personally, am grateful. It's a long hard look at the depths through the eyes of Exley and Welton, and their post-apocalyptic disease-nightmare world ain't pretty. It was a hard graphic novel to read, filled with scary sexual tensions, that asks difficult things of the reader.
xterminal's review
3.0
Adam Rapp, Ball Peen Hammer (First Second, 2009)
My last experience with the work of Adam Rapp (33 Snowfish) was, to say the least, unpleasant. But who could resist that George O'Connor cover? I also hoped that Rapp would, given the smaller size of this, distill his writing somewhat. Unfortunately, he went too far.
Ball Peen Hammer takes place in an unnamed city that first seems to have suffered from war, and now is in the grip of a massive plague, one from which, according to one character, only four percent of the population is immune. Rapp introduces us to four characters. There's Welton, the musician, dying of the plague, and Underjohn, his new roommate, a writer and one of the lucky four percent. They're living in the basement of an old clock tower. Welton is a sacker, and he works for the collector. There's no way I can explain this without spoiling it, so I won't. High above them are Exley, the lovely young bug-eyed lass from the cover who may also be one of the four percent, and Horlick, thirteen years old and utterly amoral, who when we first meet him is securely tied to a chair. They're in the top of the clock tower. Their storyline concerns Exley attempting to socialize Horlick, at least kind of. But Horlick's problem is that he has a brother...
In Adam Rapp's defense, I will say that Ball Peen Hammer is the beginning of a brilliant story. Problem is that it's only the beginning, and there's no indication that this is the beginning of a series. (I'm not certain, but I don't think First Second does series books.) Not resolving a story is an art form, and an extremely difficult one. As far as I can discern, the trick to not resolving your main storyline (which I attempted to dance around cleverly in the synopsis) is to resolve enough of the subtexts satisfactorily that the reader feels he's actually reached the end of the story. (To see a master of this sort of thing at work, check the works of Caitlin Kiernan.) There is some resolution here, but none of it is in any way satisfactory; you'll find yourself asking “why?” over and over again while reading this. (Or, if you feel like it, “what's my motivation?”. Same idea.) We get very little in the way of context; Rapp seems to have had four characters in mind and just wanted to see how they'd interact. All well and good, but I really wanted a lot more context here. What little we get about the world these characters live in is tantalizing, all the more so because if you squint right you'll see some of the obvious influences (both Requiem from a Dream and Fullmetal Alchemist come through especially well), and a more detailed understanding of how it all meshes (mashes?) together would be fascinating. But we get these very small stories, with the action rarely going outside the clock tower (and then mostly in flashbacks).
I wanted more of this. I hope that eventually we get a lot more of this. If we do, I will come back and revise this rating upwards, because as I said at the beginning of this, this could be the beginning of something truly great. ** ½
My last experience with the work of Adam Rapp (33 Snowfish) was, to say the least, unpleasant. But who could resist that George O'Connor cover? I also hoped that Rapp would, given the smaller size of this, distill his writing somewhat. Unfortunately, he went too far.
Ball Peen Hammer takes place in an unnamed city that first seems to have suffered from war, and now is in the grip of a massive plague, one from which, according to one character, only four percent of the population is immune. Rapp introduces us to four characters. There's Welton, the musician, dying of the plague, and Underjohn, his new roommate, a writer and one of the lucky four percent. They're living in the basement of an old clock tower. Welton is a sacker, and he works for the collector. There's no way I can explain this without spoiling it, so I won't. High above them are Exley, the lovely young bug-eyed lass from the cover who may also be one of the four percent, and Horlick, thirteen years old and utterly amoral, who when we first meet him is securely tied to a chair. They're in the top of the clock tower. Their storyline concerns Exley attempting to socialize Horlick, at least kind of. But Horlick's problem is that he has a brother...
In Adam Rapp's defense, I will say that Ball Peen Hammer is the beginning of a brilliant story. Problem is that it's only the beginning, and there's no indication that this is the beginning of a series. (I'm not certain, but I don't think First Second does series books.) Not resolving a story is an art form, and an extremely difficult one. As far as I can discern, the trick to not resolving your main storyline (which I attempted to dance around cleverly in the synopsis) is to resolve enough of the subtexts satisfactorily that the reader feels he's actually reached the end of the story. (To see a master of this sort of thing at work, check the works of Caitlin Kiernan.) There is some resolution here, but none of it is in any way satisfactory; you'll find yourself asking “why?” over and over again while reading this. (Or, if you feel like it, “what's my motivation?”. Same idea.) We get very little in the way of context; Rapp seems to have had four characters in mind and just wanted to see how they'd interact. All well and good, but I really wanted a lot more context here. What little we get about the world these characters live in is tantalizing, all the more so because if you squint right you'll see some of the obvious influences (both Requiem from a Dream and Fullmetal Alchemist come through especially well), and a more detailed understanding of how it all meshes (mashes?) together would be fascinating. But we get these very small stories, with the action rarely going outside the clock tower (and then mostly in flashbacks).
I wanted more of this. I hope that eventually we get a lot more of this. If we do, I will come back and revise this rating upwards, because as I said at the beginning of this, this could be the beginning of something truly great. ** ½
jodiwilldare's review
1.0
Here’s my advice to you, if you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Ball Peen Hammer, slowly back away and then when you are a safe distance run for your life. Don’t let this confusing, dreary, dreck suck you into it’s whirling vortex of confusion like I was. Let my pointless waste of time not be in vain. Please.
Ball Peen Hammer takes place in a post-apocalyptic city where people are dying because of a strange plague. We’re not quite sure how they got the plague, just that it’s killing people. We also know that there is food and an antidote beyond the viaduct of this mysterious, chaotic city. Why the main characters aren’t high-tailing it to the viaduct is never addressed. Neither is why there is so much chaos, or how long they’ve been living in this condition, or why we’re spending our time reading a story where the creators haven’t bothered to answer any of the questions they asked.
Read More
Ball Peen Hammer takes place in a post-apocalyptic city where people are dying because of a strange plague. We’re not quite sure how they got the plague, just that it’s killing people. We also know that there is food and an antidote beyond the viaduct of this mysterious, chaotic city. Why the main characters aren’t high-tailing it to the viaduct is never addressed. Neither is why there is so much chaos, or how long they’ve been living in this condition, or why we’re spending our time reading a story where the creators haven’t bothered to answer any of the questions they asked.
Read More
alexctelander's review
3.0
While the cover and title will certainly be misleading for some readers who look at this graphic novel for the first time, I recommend they read the inside flap for a description. It’s not about S&M and violent sex games, but in fact a world where a sickness has wiped out a considerable amount of the population. In the style of //Children of Men//, people are fighting to survive, fighting for food, and fighting to get a sample of the vaccine that will cure them of the lethal sickness. With a harsh, rough art style that lends greatly to the dark and doomed storyline, Rapp introduces a subplot on top of all the sadness with the murdering of innocent children. If the characters don’t comply, they will suffer for it, so what choice do they have? Rapp does introduce some happiness with the girl depicted on the cover searching for the musician whom she fell for, but //Ball Peen Hammer// ends before this is possibly reconciled, leaving the reader wondering if there’ll be more or is that the bleak end of it all?
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
gottabekb's review
2.0
I'm not really sure what to think of this graphic novel. I wanted more from it. I wanted to know more about the characters, more about the plague .... more about everything. The lack of information was quite frustrating because it felt as if I was dropped into the middle of the story, expected to know what was going on, and then the story just ended. At the same time, I appreciate how Adam Rapp did not shy away from the dark subject matter. I am going to have to think about this one some more.
More...