Customer Reviews

Gasoline

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

 

 

I'm a huge fan of both Meat Cake and Frightful Fairy Tales, but for whatever reason Gasoline falls short for me. Too much description of the landscape and appearance of the characters (especially considering the fact that these things are also drawn) and not enough plot substance. The illustrations, though still beautiful, seem like more of an afterthought than fully integrated pieces of the book. That said, however, I have not finished the book yet, so maybe it will get better. hopefully.

In a handful of ways, Gasoline is quite a departure from the spectacular Dame Darcy's usual productions: it's a fully-fledged novel, the text is instructional and contains a moral of sorts a la Aesop. Fans will still delight in pirate exploits, mad gorgeous ladies and gents doing mad gorgeous things, her usual flair with a pen that seems to originate in netherworlds--with the bonus of many drawings appearing in colour. Get set for a line-up of all-new characters, each unique and spellbinding (I'm an especial admirer of Olivia the eight-legged cat!). The voodoo sacrifice left me queasy, but I think it was meant to put the reader off; once one reaches the end of the story its futile brutality becomes fairly clear.

True workmanship went into the book itself as well, hard cover with gilt graphics over a vintage fabric-look ground--and tree-free!

Admirers of the Fae/Fey Queen Darcy and all she represents, rejoice.

First of all it is not a graphic novel (comic book) like it is said to be and it is hardly a novel, but it does have pretty pictures, but that is not enough to make it worthwhile reading. Read "Meatcake" instead and "Frightful Fairytales" is also good, but it is out of print.

Dame Darcy has an agenda and her novel, Gasoline, is obviously meant to promote her preferences. The thing is, I don't disagree with her ideas and I wanted to love this book because I liked the concept, the quirky drawings, etc. But the writing is lacking in quality. She uses passive voice, tells when she could show, and the plot is thinly defined, poorly defined, and ultimately unsatisfying. The artist/author is doing some creative things and, had she done them all very well, this might have been a wonderful book. Perhaps next time Dame Darcy will choose to hand her good idea over to a brilliant writer and let him/her transform her idea into a fully fleshed vision to which she can add those charming and odd images of her own. Not all artists can set aside their artistic ego; hopefully Dame Darcy can and will if she should choose to create a novel again.