rosepetals1984's review
3.0
I never knew a biographical account of a bicycle thief presented in graphic form could be so fascinating, at least from what little I was able to peruse of it.
I think having only a brief view of this story somewhat skews my rating for what seems to be an otherwise strong presentation of Igor Kenk, a Yugoslavian, seemingly prolific prodigy growing up that turned to a life of crime. Given his theft of over 3,000 bikes, he caught headlines around the time Obama was elected into public office. The mystery, as it's presented, is why he had need for stealing that many bicycles and what he wanted to do with them, even in a society that believed, for a long time, what he was doing was hearsay and not concrete - no one could prove it until a bust that involved officers and students from a local university that led to Kenk's arrest.
One of the fascinating things this story presented, aside from Kenk's own commentary through the story coupled with pictures, is the fact that Toronto police pointed out that he stole the equivalent of 10,000 Mars bars (candy) and still they couldn't put Kenk in front of a judge based on hearsay. It's a bit insane that it took so long for Kenk to be apprehended, and at the same time, it's a bit fascinating to see his reasoning and walking/manipulating fine morality lines.
I wouldn't mind reading this particular story in its entirety, though I wonder if this couldn't have been a traditional biography and been just as fascinating. But I think the fact they used actual footage, conversations and collected data is interesting in the way it's pulled together in graphic form, though I'll admit the distortion makes certain pictures difficult to see (such as the bikes).
Overall score: 3/5
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley from the publisher Pop Sandbox.
I think having only a brief view of this story somewhat skews my rating for what seems to be an otherwise strong presentation of Igor Kenk, a Yugoslavian, seemingly prolific prodigy growing up that turned to a life of crime. Given his theft of over 3,000 bikes, he caught headlines around the time Obama was elected into public office. The mystery, as it's presented, is why he had need for stealing that many bicycles and what he wanted to do with them, even in a society that believed, for a long time, what he was doing was hearsay and not concrete - no one could prove it until a bust that involved officers and students from a local university that led to Kenk's arrest.
One of the fascinating things this story presented, aside from Kenk's own commentary through the story coupled with pictures, is the fact that Toronto police pointed out that he stole the equivalent of 10,000 Mars bars (candy) and still they couldn't put Kenk in front of a judge based on hearsay. It's a bit insane that it took so long for Kenk to be apprehended, and at the same time, it's a bit fascinating to see his reasoning and walking/manipulating fine morality lines.
I wouldn't mind reading this particular story in its entirety, though I wonder if this couldn't have been a traditional biography and been just as fascinating. But I think the fact they used actual footage, conversations and collected data is interesting in the way it's pulled together in graphic form, though I'll admit the distortion makes certain pictures difficult to see (such as the bikes).
Overall score: 3/5
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley from the publisher Pop Sandbox.
danarama's review
4.0
I quite enjoyed it and they did a great job giving you a sense of Igor Kenk's attitude and personality, although it suffers from being one-sided. The book is based on a documentary done about him and the focus is squarely his voice. So we are getting his side of the story and then -- BAM! -- the narrator tells us he was arrested for cocaine possession, possession of a few kilos of pot and almost 3000 bicycles. We get a brief summary of the court proceedings and that's it. So it felt a little one-sided.
Awesome customer service note: I'd originally complained in my review about how the binding on my copy sucked and the cover fell off after a couple of days. Alex from Pop Sandbox saw my review, apologized (their printer had apparently messed up some of their first run) and offered to send me a replacement copy! How great is that?
Awesome customer service note: I'd originally complained in my review about how the binding on my copy sucked and the cover fell off after a couple of days. Alex from Pop Sandbox saw my review, apologized (their printer had apparently messed up some of their first run) and offered to send me a replacement copy! How great is that?
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