Tamara Drewe [Import] [Hardcover]

Posy Simmonds (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 2007

As with her brilliantly successful graphic novel Gemma Bovary, Tamara Drew is likewise inspired by a 19th century novel — in this case, Far From the Madding Crowd. Set in a writers’ retreat, it is a thrilling tale of jealousy and desire.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This irresistible graphic novel by longtime Guardian cartoonist Simmonds is roughly based on Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd and uses it to depict the English upper-middle class having tawdry midlife crises. Beth, the wife of renowned author Nicholas Hardiman, runs an idyllic writer's retreat where she's parlayed her skill at caring for her husband into caring for other writers. She and her literary charges barely notice the locals who, jammed on council estates, look on with envy. Enter young Tamara Drewe, a newspaper columnist famed for her post–plastic surgery beauty. With Ben, her rock-star boyfriend, and her citified ways, she knocks Beth's little group on its head and gets stalked by two local girls. After Ben leaves Tamara, she decides the already adulterous Nicholas would be a nice lay on the rebound, only he falls in love with her. The art captures British frumpiness so well it's scary; middle-age spread hulks through this book like sad weight, but it's less skilled with beauty; Tamara's looks don't sway the reader the way they sway the characters in the book. But the view on how feminism has failed in moneyed Britain is priceless. A wonderful and slightly evil book. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From The New Yorker

Flaubert homage �Gemma Bovary� with a similar contemporary remake�this time, of Thomas Hardy�s �Far from the Madding Crowd.� Affectionately satirizing contemporary literary life, she updates Hardy�s vain, ambitious beauty, Bathsheba, as Tamara, a London journalist (she�s had a nose job, carries Mulberry bags, and writes a column called �Away from It All�) who returns to a quiet village after her mother�s death. Like Bathsheba, Tamara leaves a series of the local men in her wake, including two associated with a writer�s retreat next door. Simmonds�s lushly realistic drawings and complex female characters recall those of Alison Bechdel, but her learned references and her ear for a variegated British vernacular make her unique.
Copyright ©2008 Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape; First Edition/First Printing edition (November 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 022407816X
• ISBN-13: 978-0224078160
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 0.9 x 10.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,577,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting story, December 27, 2007

By 

Amie T. Araaya "Starreacher" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tamara Drewe (Hardcover)

The graphic novel, Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds, is rich in multiple characters, several story lines (involving the multiple characters), suspense, totally surprising climaxes - all put together expertly by the hand and imagination of Posy Simmonds.
The drawings, alone, pull the viewer along in fascination at the facial expressions (so true to the accompanying words!), the body language of the characters (down to the most minute detail), the scenic beauty of the place depicted, and the choice of the limited color scheme - which becomes limitless in Miss Simmonds' expert hands.
A feature that is particularly endearing is the character description, at the time the character is introduced. Yes! And as this character is followed, he or she exhibits all the traits one would expect with the description. Yet, just as in real life, (and the complexity of the human psyche)there are tantalizing surprises (just when the reader thought she had the character down pat!)Maddeningly wonderful! And the fascinating ending holds the clue to, perhaps, more to come! This reader is waiting.
Hats off to Posy Simmonds.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Far From the Snooty Upper-Class Literary Crowd, July 6, 2009

By 

Loyd A. Boldman "Forensic Mediaholic" (Oviedo, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tamara Drewe (Paperback)

Tamara Drewe is a loose, contemporary re-staging of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd, and Simmonds does a smooth job translating it to a modern-day setting. I love the look and feel of Posy Simmonds' work, a hybrid of a graphic novel and typeset prose. Her pictures integrate with the story and characters in a remarkably seamless way. Highly Recommended.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully drawn, great story Far from the Madding Crowd, January 7, 2009

By 

Loren Tripp "mamazebra" (Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tamara Drewe (Paperback)

I enjoyed everything about this book- the illustrations, story, even the size and format. This is a contemporary mystery/soap-opera with a fairly big cast of characters set in rural England at a writer's retreat. The book is told in first-person perspective, following a handful of characters through their intertwined story, which is apparently based on Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd (Signet Classics), though I haven't read that one (yet!) The characters are well defined, consistent and interesting. I'm from a "literary family," and boy did I recognize some of those writer types! The story is told in blocks of text and balloon captions and the combination keep the narrative ripping along. The illustrations are excellent- well drawn, pleasing page layouts that mix it up between comic format and a scrapbook layout. The English countryside is beautifully rendered. I'm an Anglophile and a comic fan, especially graphic novels by and about women, and I just loved this book. I'm compelled to read Hardy's version next!