A review by jekutree
City of Glass: The Graphic Novel by Paul Karasik
5.0
Paul Auster: City it Glass is an adaptation of the Paul Auster novel city of glass. The adaptation done by Karasik and Mazzucchelli is a fantastic story. Now I haven’t read the original, but I can’t imagine how it would be because the way this ones told could only be done as a comic book. Karasik tells Auster’s story of self identity crisis perfectly and Mazzuchelli makes it something that could only be done in comics.
The story follows Daniel Quinn, crime fiction writer who gets mistaken for private eye Paul Auster. He takes on Auster’s identity and gets himself involved in a case that slowly breaks him down mentally. The plot is existential and there are heavy themes of identity. The story gets very stream of consciousness at times, but what Auster (or Karasik, I’m not sure how much of what Karasik injected into the story was original) remains engaging and though provoking. Don Quixote is used frequently as a symbol for Daniel Quinn and I don’t want to spoil too much, but it’s genius.
Mazzuchelli here annihilates the art duties on this book. He experiments in ways that would define later works like Asterios Polyp and adapts that style also. I have seen pictures of the pages he drew for his Rubber Blanket short story anthology and it looks similar to that, but I can really see where Asterios Polyp comes from aesthetically now. Mazzuchelli is an absolute master of utilizing unique layouts that add to the story. There’s a 9 panel grid in the story where he uses panels 2,4,6 and 8 to show a character aging around him while he’s walking through the city, explaining it doesn’t do it justice but I promise it’s extremely inventive and amazing at grounding Quinn after his first real ego death in the story.
Overall, Paul Auster: City of Glass is a fantastic graphic novel that’s boundary pushing and challenges the reader in all the right places.
10/10
The story follows Daniel Quinn, crime fiction writer who gets mistaken for private eye Paul Auster. He takes on Auster’s identity and gets himself involved in a case that slowly breaks him down mentally. The plot is existential and there are heavy themes of identity. The story gets very stream of consciousness at times, but what Auster (or Karasik, I’m not sure how much of what Karasik injected into the story was original) remains engaging and though provoking. Don Quixote is used frequently as a symbol for Daniel Quinn and I don’t want to spoil too much, but it’s genius.
Mazzuchelli here annihilates the art duties on this book. He experiments in ways that would define later works like Asterios Polyp and adapts that style also. I have seen pictures of the pages he drew for his Rubber Blanket short story anthology and it looks similar to that, but I can really see where Asterios Polyp comes from aesthetically now. Mazzuchelli is an absolute master of utilizing unique layouts that add to the story. There’s a 9 panel grid in the story where he uses panels 2,4,6 and 8 to show a character aging around him while he’s walking through the city, explaining it doesn’t do it justice but I promise it’s extremely inventive and amazing at grounding Quinn after his first real ego death in the story.
Overall, Paul Auster: City of Glass is a fantastic graphic novel that’s boundary pushing and challenges the reader in all the right places.
10/10