Customer Reviews

The Eternal Smile: Three Stories

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really enjoyed American Born Chinese when I read it after it won the Printz award, so I was excited when I came across this one at my library. It combines Gene Leun Yang's storytelling with Derek Kirk Kim's artwork (who I know from his Minx comic, Good As Lily). The result is a great collection of short comics that are fun to read.

What I really like about Yang's writing is that there's always a little twist that I never see coming, but still totally fits with the story. It works in each one and I'm never disappointed. Kim's artwork stands out and he makes each story have a different feel-you can see samples of the panels on the Amazon page. I love the way everything blended together and each story flowed well with the art.

I enjoyed all three stories and how each one had a deeper story than what first appears on the surface, but my favorite had to be "Urgent Request," the last story in the collection. There was something about Janet that made her a sympathetic character and I really liked how Kim drew her and was able to get her emotions across the page. Her story was bittersweet and I really liked it.

If you need a way to convince someone that graphic novels and comics aren't all about superheroes and cute Japanese girls, give them The Eternal Smile. It's a graphic novel for non-graphic novel fans, and for those who have long enjoyed the format.

A good short story is hard to find. The writer doesn't have a lot of pages to make the reader care about the characters and in these same pages, a complete story also has to be told. There is nothing like finishing a good short story and just getting this great feeling of content. This book collects three short graphic stories that leave me feeling complete and really shows what a great storyteller both these creators are. Each story has a few twists and turns and they all have enough emotional impact to make you think after you finish each one.

Gene Yang's debut book, American Born Chinese, was such a great book. The interwoven stories in that book made it perfect, and I recommend that book to a lot of non-comic fans that want to give comics a try. I believe this book can also be recommended to anyone. The three short stories will appeal to anyone and I don't think it could be told as well in any other format except as a graphic novel.

This short read packs in an amazing amount of truth in such a small amount of time. It's cute and funny, without being fluffy. Sweet, but with glimpses at sad realities. I was surprised by how the story lines and artwork were able to say so much in such a short amount of time. A lot of satisfying depth, which is hard to find in short stories.

The Eternal Smile is a collection of short comics by authors and artists Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and Derek Kirk Kim (Same Difference and Other Stories). The comics follow different characters and even have very different drawing and writing styles, but all have the same theme: nothing is really ever how we perceive it and it only takes one event (or one scene, or one word) to change our world view. All three sections had a lovely twist at the end that really solidified the strength of these stories.

Duncan's Kingdom is about a young soldier who is determined to marry his sweetheart, who just happens to be the princess of the land. When her father, the king, is killed by the Frog King, the princess announces that whoever avenges her father's death with the head of the Frog King will earn her hand in marriage. Duncan, with the help of his adopted guardian The Patchwork Man, goes on a journey to avenge the king. Along the way things are out of place and Duncan begins to question the very foundation of his kingdom. The twist at the end of this story was not necessarily unexpected and I liked it, but I think it was the weakest of the three stories. This is not necessarily a fault of the story, but the other two were so strong.

I thought that Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile was going to be my least favorite comic. At first I really didn't like it and was going to skip it entirely. I just didn't love the story and thought it was kind of boring and I didn't understand the point. And then I did understand the point and it ended up being my favorite of all. I don't want to give anything away, but if you are reading this and consider giving up the story, don't. I think it's the strongest and most imaginative of the three.

If Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile is the most imaginative, then Urgent Request is the most beautiful. I really loved it and the message it sends is a good one. Janet Oh works at a boring, dead-end job and her life is as gray as the color on the pages. However, when a Nigerian prince emails her and asks for her help, her life suddenly turns colorful for more than one reason. I loved the twist at the end of this one. It was much more contemplative than the other two stories and the beautiful watercolors added to that. There is one particular panel of this story that is just gorgeous and I would love to have it on my wall.

Though this collection is not necessarily as strong as American Born Chinese or other graphic novels I've read lately, it certainly deserves a spot on your list of books to be read. It's a quick, enjoyable read and has me really interested in Derek Kirk Kim's other work. Fans of graphic novels will find a lot to love here.

Meet a knight in shining armor. His world may not be what it appears though. He may be just trying to find something better.

Picture talking, money-hungry frogs finding an Eternal Smile in the sky. They try to start a profitable religion, but then things go too far.

Find out what happens if you send that Nigerian Prince your bank account information and keep sending him money.

These were some really odd stories. Not quite what I was expecting. The prince one was interesting, but the ending was a little much. It seemed like there felt there needed to be a resolution, so they just made one. I liked finding out what the Eternal Smile was, but I think that was my least favorite story. I really didn't like the money-hungry frog. I guess the ending of that story was okay though. The third one may have been my favorite. It was a really interesting take on something that all of us have seen or heard of. I mean, everyone has gotten an e-mail from a Nigerian Prince asking for money. I liked how shy and quirky the girl was. She just sent the money no problem. Sometimes you do just need to feel like you're helping someone. This was not my favorite set of stories by this author, but they weren't bad. I loved the different illustrations styles for each of the three stories. It was a fast read, and worth checking out. I just feel like maybe I missed some big purpose in some of the stories.

First Line of each story:

"zZZZz"

"Frogville USA! Gran'Pa Greenbax watches eagerly as the spoils of his latest profitable adventure pour into his legendary POOL O'CASH!"

"What are you milling around here for?"

Favorite Lines:

"Forgive me, sire, but perhaps it would behoove you to pay attention. This is, after all, your wedding."

"The Angel of Vengeance is ready!"

"You used my money to make genitals for a video game?"

Three great, moving short stories. Artwork is fine, though honestly I don't care much about artwork. Plot, theme, and character is what I like; and all 3 stories deliver. All 3 have a twist ending. Not a shocking, Shyamalan-style twist; just something that makes the story make more sense, and have more importance.

This graphic novel is a collaboration between two masters of the field--Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and Derek Kirk Kim (Same Difference)--with Gene writing wonderful short stories and Derek bringing his evocative drawing style. Together they show us three different stories about the worlds we create and the worlds that we live in. In the first story we meet a young prince who discovers his greatest enemy is not who it seems to be; the second story (which is where the title of the book comes from) shows us a wealthy frog that finds that sometimes things aren't as they seem and the simple life maybe better; and the final story is about a young woman who may have discovered her Prince.

Gene's stories create blur the line between fantasy and reality and create a world that we can all instantly recognize and feel a part of....and leave us wanting more. Even though he only has a few pages, the characters have more depth to them than many longer books and help us instantly feel a connection to them. Derek's evocative drawing style brings these characters and worlds to life. The greatest example of which is in the third story "Urgent Request," which alternates different color schemes and is drawn in a more lose style than the other two stories, but has a greater sense of power and purpose, which is difficult to describe in words.

If you've never read any of Gene's or Derek's work pick this book up and discover the magic they can create. Then....go pick up their other books and enjoy those worlds as well.

The Eternal Smile consists of three short stories: Duncan's Kingdom, Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile, and Urgent Request. Each story has a twist, and I have to admit I didn't see the twists coming nor were they cheesy.

In Duncan's Kingdom, Duncan seeks to win the princess and rule the land. Meanwhile he has visions of a woman sitting in a chair facing away from him, and he is haunted by recurring glimpses of bottles of Snappy Cola soda pop which holds some dark secret.

In the title story, The Eternal Smile, anthropomorphic frogs live in a 1930s-like world. Gran'pa Greenbax is obsessed with money, and when he discovers an eternal smile in the sky in a remote part of the desert he starts a religion in order to make money. The religion attracts true believers, and Gran'pa Greenbax eventually finds fulfillment from an unexpected avenue. This was my favorite, because despite details to the contrary, the story was very wholesome.

In Urgent Request, a secretary with a drab life and a dead end job receives an urgent request for aid from a Nigerian Prince. She day dreams of Nigeria while passing money to the person on the other end of her email.

Overall, this book is worth putting in a little effort to find and read, especially if you like stand-alone comic books. Each short story was memorable. Each had a twist which actually surprised me but made perfect sense with the story (sometimes this came just after a predictable or an awkward twist).

"The Eternal Smile" contains three short stories by the brilliant Gene Luen Yang of "American Born Chinese" fame and Derek Kirk Kim. The first two are by Yang - one is about a young knight who goes to avenge the King's death by bringing the head of his murderer, the Frog King, to the princess, thus becoming the new King. The second is about a miserly frog (think Scrooge McDuck but amphibian) who exploits a constant smile in the sky by making it the centrepiece of a Christian Evangelical-like religion only to find the true nature of the Eternal Smile and his own life.

I won't give away the twists in both tales but the theme throughout the stories is that of finding your true self amidst the fantasy. Yang's drawing style is lush manga in the first story and disney-like cartooning in the second. Both stories are great little reads.

My favourite though was the third story by Derek Kirk Kim. I've never read anything by him but will look out for him based on this story. A downtrodden and shy office worker gets spam mail from a Nigerian Prince but decides to send money. Given you don't know much about the character you're reading on incredulous that someone could be that stupid. Again I won't give away the ending but the main character, like all the characters in this book, finds happiness through finding themselves and rejecting a fantastical life view for a realistic one.

Great little book filled with great art and excellent storytelling by two amazing artists. If you loved "American Born Chinese" as much as me or comics in general you'll love this book.

A beautiful jewel of a book that will delight and inspire you in equal measures.