Narcissa: Grapnic Novel (Doubleday Graphic Novels) [Paperback]

Lance Tooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 2002 | Series: Doubleday Graphic Novels

From an artist whose work has appeared in more than 100 television commercials, films, and music videos, NARCISSA is Lance Tooks' beautifully drawn, compelling story of one woman's journey to self-discovery.

Narcissa, a talented and self-centered independent filmmaker, is collapsing under the strain of her critics--the "enlightened" people who are trying to get her to compromise her integrity. The stress is killing her--literally. Warned that if she tries to complete her current project she'll be dead in a week, Narcissa decides to escape the chaos that surrounds her--and fears the fears that threaten to overwhelm her--by traveling to Spain. As she encounters new people, places, and experiences, Narcissa gradually comes to a deeper understanding of who she is and what she is doing with her life.

Depicting Narcissa's journey with compassion and wit, Lance Tooks has created an episodic, thoroughly engrossing, exisential tale that will long resonate with readers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Narcissa, Tooks's protagonist in this inventive graphic novel, is a talented young black filmmaker. She's part of the "hipoisie," the free-floating scene of artists and intellectuals congregating in the new Afro-bohemia of Brooklyn's Ft. Greene neighborhood. Impressed with one of her shorts, an indie film company signs her to write and direct a feature. But it's a Faustian pact, complete with a devilish white producer who specializes in making "black" films that don't use black production people. He also fills his movies with as many ghetto-hipster, pimp, ho and gangster rap black cliches as it takes to get the ethnic point across-not exactly Narcissa's vision of her film. As if that weren't bad enough, she's been diagnosed with a serious illness and may be dying. In a moment of psychic liberation, she buys a ticket to Spain, leaving it all behind. Spain's beauty and history, an interaction with an elderly woman she meets and a powerful romantic interlude show Narcissa life's possibilities with a new, stark clarity. The book has its problems-the rants on black stereotypes seem pass‚; Narcissa's reveries on love can lurch into sappiness; and her Spanish hunk is a bit too perfect. But Tooks has written an affecting book that skewers the movie business while offering a black heroine driven by both work and the possibilities of love. Tooks's page layouts are inventive and his b&w drawings are stylish and expressive of underlying character as well as appearance.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Artistic and personal freedoms are the concerns of cartoonist-animator Tooks' first graphic novel. Narcissa is a young, black independent filmmaker fighting to prevent a cherished project--a behind-the-scenes look at an activist theater company--from being compromised by her vulgar producer. Upon learning that she is dying from an undisclosed malady brought on by the stress, she impulsively takes a trip to Spain that turns into a voyage of self-discovery as well as a hot romance. Tooks' distinctively dynamic visual style features boldly simple drawings that flow across the pages, unconstrained by the panel borders found in most comics. Unconventional, too, is Tooks' high words-to-pictures ratio: many pages contain more text than art, much of it, unfortunately, consisting of long-winded pontifications conveying the self-obsessed Narcissa's agenda. The outspoken yet sympathetic heroine and the exotic settings of Hollywood and Spain, however, should attract those who don't normally read comics but do go for, say, Terry McMillan, and who aren't likely to be turned off by Tooks' text-heavy approach. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (September 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385503423
• ISBN-13: 978-0385503426
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,596,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Narcissa - A Journey of Self-Discovery, December 11, 2002

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This review is from: Narcissa: Grapnic Novel (Doubleday Graphic Novels) (Paperback)

Who is Narcissa, the protagonist of the eponymous graphic novel? As her name implies, Narcissa is a narcissist.

She is so absorbed in her life and work that she pushes herself to the point of collapse. Upon waking up in a hospital, a doctor tells her that she has one week to live. As a result, Narcissa embarks on a journey to assess her life.

Narcissa turns her back on the film she worked so hard to bring to life. She heads to Spain simply because it is the next flight that is leaving when she arrives at the airport. A stranger in a strange land, she finds friendship, love and the strength to go on with her life.

Due to the highly introspective nature of this journey, a great deal of emphasis is place on the words. The words are needed to clarify pictures which, as often as not, show Narce in various states of emotional distress. As the story progresses, she shares her thoughts and memories, showing how she came to be the person she is.

In Narcissa, the graphics are more than illustrations that merely show a photographic representation of a given scene. Drawn in thick black lines, these spare pictures eloquently and powerfully depict how Narcissa sees her world. The occasional photographic background accents the surreal nature of Narcissa's journey into the heart of her own personal darkness.

In the end, Narcissa is an inspirational tale of the strength of one person as she struggles to find meaning in her life. This graphic novel is truly a work of art.