Ethel And Ernest [Import] [Paperback]

RAYMOND BRIGGS (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape; First Edition edition (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0224046624
• ISBN-13: 978-0224046626
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.3 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,009,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glorious, October 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ethel and Ernest: A True Story (Hardcover)

An absolutely wonderful memoir, and I use the word memoir deliberately as this is not simply or solely a story told in images, Briggs shows as much in each picture as any prose writer could in several paragraphs of type. This book made me laugh and cry. I gave a copy to my parents and another to a teenage friend, I can't imagine anyone not enjoying Ethel and Ernest's story. A must have.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Sweet Ode To Briggs' Parents, March 19, 2002

By 

Tom Kelly "film fan" (Keyport, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ethel & Ernest: A True Story (Paperback)

Ethel and Ernest are two rather ordinary people. They get married around 1930, live together in the same house for 41 years, have a son, and then die the same year. Neither of them does anything more extraordinary than live and love.

And that's more than enough. Briggs' story is little more than a series of snippets of conversation and events of a long relationship. We see Ethel and Ernest bond, bicker, and regret. We see the love they have for themselves, and how they adjust over time. There's a great conversation between the two while Ernest is watching the moon landing, and Ethel just doesn't see the big deal of it all. I was greatly surprised when the story was done and I felt real sorrow for the two of them. Briggs' artwork is really moving, and displays the changing of the times on his parents very well.

This is a nice, quiet, loving character study about two people who may not have lived an exciting life, but that's probably one of the things that makes this piece of graphic literature work best. Highly recommended to all fans of serious graphic art.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a wide audience, absolutely charming, December 23, 2001

By 

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ethel & Ernest: A True Story (Paperback)

Told in mostly cartoon form, with dialogue alongside, this wonderful, unique book tells the true story of the author's parents, two "ordinary" people, from their first shy meeting to their last days together. World War two, the birth of television, the development and use of the atomic bomb are all seen through the eyes of Ethel and Ernest. I was charmed by the two of them, from their earliest days together to the purchase of their first house, birth of their son, wartime experiences (gas masks, blackout curtains, sending their 5 year old son to the country to be safe during the war), their son's marriage and the gradual decline and death of Ethel and Ernest. Jumps off the page!