Customer Reviews

Tamara Drewe

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

Tamara Drewe is an intelligently-written book that employs some very creative strategies to tell its tale of infidelity and intrigue. Honestly, I felt the literary retreat setting has been way overdone in modern lit, and as a result some of the literary characters in Drewe come across as too familiar and a bit rote. The illustrations are charming, and help add a strong feeling of place and atmosphere.

But the real triumph is Simmonds' great way with dialogue and voice. Each of the characters comes across as a vivid person, with their own distinct emotions, point of view, and verbal quirks. Simmonds does an excellent job of combining prose with visuals, in the process creating what was, for me, a new approach to storytelling.

If you're looking for a graphic novel that has real depth, I recommend starting here.

No superheroes here. Nothing but real, flawed, fascinating characters. British cartoonist Posy Simmonds treats readers to this engaging, unique graphic novel. Half prose, half comic, it is a story that at first glance seems like it would drag. A bunch of writers in the countryside of England escaping the excitement of the city to focus on writing. Instead, their story is riveting, especially upon the arrival of Tamara Drewe, the central character.

Well-drawn and executed, but primarily excellent character development, "Tamara Drewe" is a joy.

Very interesting story. Nice drawings. Nice characters.Different point of views of the same story. Good humor too! They go through little and big drama but they keep on with life(for most of them). It is just what life is about.

This well-received graphic novel began life in serialized form, published in a British newspaper (and still online here). The soapy story is laden with rich characterization and relatable situations. A decidedly PG-13 (at the very least) tale, which may make some parents uncomfortable with its depictions of teen angst and antics, frank sexuality, and drug use (and clear consequences), Tamara Drewe is certainly no worse than sundry stories depicted within popular daytime television dramas--or Judy Blume novels.

Though "inspired" by Thomas Hardy's novel Far from the Madding Crowd, Posy Simmonds' sublimely written and drawn story is a horse of a different color. The tragicomedy of manners and misunderstandings is set at a rural English writers' retreat, an ideal backdrop for mischief and melodrama. Owned by a couple whose marriage is problematic (to say the least), the country getaway, a farm, hosts a cast of colorful guests who interact with the pair, each other, and the local townspeople.

The title character is a once-ugly young woman whose nose job has transformed her into a seductive and flirtatious figure. The pacing is perfect for this type of tale. Affairs ensue, writerly conflicts flare, relationships are tested, and the usual melodramatic flourishes ebb and flow throughout the story. Though there are few sympathetic characters and no protagonists to speak of, the cast is generally harmless. Their self-absorption and shallowness--despite ample pretense to the contrary--mostly comes off as comic rather than venal. But Simmonds doesn't sell them (or us) short when true tragedy occurs and admirably allows it to happen rather than pull punches or portray it as more--or less--than what it really is. Overall, though, Tamara Drewe is a comedy and those elements are predominant.

Simmonds is a wonderful artist. Her fluid storytelling skills are strong and her clean, illustrative style is a delight. Great faces, landscapes, still lives, and emotions are portrayed with precision and panache. The coloring is subtle yet effective, and her language is simple yet rich and evocative.

With all the talk of web comics, Posey Simmonds took full advantage of the format and created a substantial though thoroughly entertaining and satisfying work that's fine online yet works equally well in the old-fashioned dead-trees medium too. One would hope that other newspapers and creators would similarly seize the opportunity.

-- Richard Pachter

Posy Simmonds, Tamara Drewe (Mariner, 2008)

If Henry James had lived long enough to get himself into the graphic novel movement, and embrace the more explicit nature of today's plotlines, I can easily see him having written something along the lines of Tamara Drewe, Posy Simmonds' easy, slightly seedy comedy of manners set in the British countryside.

Loosely based on Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd, Tamara Drewe is the story of a rural town in Britain divided into upstairs (a posh writers' commune run by Nicholas and Beth Hardiman) and downstairs (the locals). Enter Tamara Drewe, a former local who moved to London, landed a big job writing for the society pages, got herself a nose job and a former-rock-star boyfriend, and is now back for the ostensible reason of getting away from it all. Two local girls, one of whom is obsessed with Ben (the former rock star), start stalking Tamara, while every male connected to the writers' retreat, including Nicholas, instantly falls for Tamara. Hilarity ensues, though as usual in things like this, that hilarity has a sour taste in the mouth, and inevitably leads to tragedy.

Warning: how you're going to feel about one big event in this book is going to have a lot to do with your feeling on the deus ex machina thing. (You'll know it when you get to it.) I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it, and I finished the book a couple of weeks ago; I'm more ambivalent about it than I was about the end of, say, Ann Patchett's Bel Canto (which I loathed), even though I understand both big twists exist because of the literature on which they're modeled; deus ex machina was a lot more fashionable in Victorian England than it is today, and for some reason part of me wants to forgive Simmonds based on that (even though I have refused to forgive Patchett for, what, nine years?, for the same thing). Still, it does annoy, and it's one of the only weak spots in an otherwise sharp, funny book. (The other is Glen, one of the book's narrators, who's very ineffectual for a character with such a large part; I figure this is another analogy to Victorian structure, but this one seems less forgivable to me.)

One way or the other, though, this is another of those books that's well-suited for giving to your friend who doesn't understand why you read "comic books", though it's not quite on the level of something like Burns' Black Hole or Smith's Bone. Bottom line, it's a lot of fun, it's intelligent, and it'll make you think a bit. *** ½

The book arrived quickly and was in great shape. It was even better than described. Yes, I would purchase from this dealer again.

Well-done artistically, but the end of the book one wonders, 'What is the point?' Much ado about nothing? Charming in places but contained character I really didn't care about in the end.