Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun TanBook 55 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge
Book 6 of 50 for the New Author Challenge
Book 6 of 10 for the Orbis Terrarum Challenge (Australia)
Award: Australian Aurealis Awards
rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a book that I'm glad I didn't judge by the cover. Honestly, it might be my least favorite illustration in the whole book. Tales From Outer Suburbia is one of the most unique books I've ever read. It's not a book to read quickly. You should savor each illustration, each word, each idea. Made up of 15 short stories, some are just funny, some are zany, and some are deceptively deep. You will get out whatever you put into this book tenfold.
I think my favorite selection in the book was about where discarded poems go. There's also a story about a guy who shows up in a suburban neighborhood wearing a dripping wet antique diving suit, a story about stick people that grow each night, and a story about a government machine that makes people forget about everything bad the government does. This book definitely gets bonus points for creativity, gorgeous illustrations and word choice that gave me chills.
I'm definitely a new Shaun Tan groupie and I look forward to reading more works by him.
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6 comments:
I think I'm going to have to find myself some Shaun Tan books, I've not heard a dissenting word about his stuff! (And I admit it looks amazing!)
Wow, Tan must be quite a write if his word choices gave you chills!
I don't read many short story or illustration books so I was happily surprised by enjoying this one. Mine had a different cover though-much better than this one. lol. You can see it here if you'd like.
Thanks for the shoutout on my review. I'm glad you liked this one by Tan.
Bart: I put The Arrival on my list to read next.
Bermuda: I think it was that as I was reading along, I would anticipate a certain word, but he would pick a better, more unique word instead. I loved the surprise.
Dar: I don't either, which I think added to the richness of the experience of reading this book for me.
Glad you liked this one. My favorite story was the one about Eric... I think it might have just been called "Eric." The Arrival is great - I have yet to go through it thoroughly.
Hmmm never heard of Tan but your review has convinced me to look for this book! Thanks!
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