Who takes the time these days to climb a tree in bare feet? To stop and observe birds? Play in puddles after a storm? Go down to the sea to return a shell? The Walking Man does as he strolls at random through urban Japan - often silent, usually alone - with his vivid dreams that let time stand still.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Jiro Taniguchi was born August 14, 1947 in Tottori, Japan. He debuted in manga in 1970 with A Dessicated Summer. In the 70's and 80's he worked extensively with Natsuo Sekikawa (including Times of Botchan) before creating many solo albums. A multi-award winner, including twice at the Angouleme Festival and two Eisner nominations to date.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Slow down, we all move too fast,
This review is from: The Walking Man (Paperback)
A collection of short, mostly wordless graphic stories about walking in the rain, lying down beneath a blossoming cherry tree, returning a sea shell to the beach? You might dismiss them as boring & a waste of time ... but you'd be wrong. In fact, the point they make is about the time we DO waste, living & working & hurrying about so quickly that we miss out on the ordinary but utterly magical moments of life.
Our nameless salaryman goes out of his way to walk, often nowhere in particular, observing & enjoying the world around him. A decision to deviate from a usual path leads him through a narrow alley, breaking routine & becoming an adventure. Every story is about those ephemeral but deeply moving grace notes all around us, if we'd only stop to see them & drink them in. And the connections he makes aren't only with Nature. Several stories are about brief encounters with people on the street -- an old man who allows our hero to follow along, sensing a kindred spirit ... a woman returning to the cherry tree of her childhood, so that she can sprawl in its fallen blossoms once more ... children who've lost a toy airplane in the branches of a tree. Our "hero," did I say? Yes, the most mundane acts of everyday life can indeed be heroic, opening wondrous new vistas, if approached with the proper attitude. There's a sense of openness here, a willingness to accept whatever comes next, a relaxed yet focused awareness of the world -- in a way, reading these stories feels like meditation. And the art is beautiful, with clean, simple lines that often become rich (but never cluttered) detail. Taniguchi knows how to use empty spaces & silence to convey a wealth of feeling. The reader can return to these stories over & over again, drawing a renewed & quiet strength from them each time. Most highly recommended!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nouvelle Manga,
By A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Walking Man (Paperback)
I'd never heard of Taniguchi until seeing a panel from this book in the beautiful One Thousand Years of Manga. Originally published in 1992 in Japan, this book has only recently become available in European languages thanks to a Franco-Spanish publishing collaboration to foster something they are calling "nouvelle manga." The idea is to rescue some of the more thoughtful "slice of everyday life" Japanese comics from the manga ghetto, presumably so they can reach a more sophisticated adult audience. The eighteen stories collected here embrace a quiet sensibility along with a realistic European art style.
Like Herge's famous Tintin series, the people are somewhat cartoony but all the other elements, from clothing, nature, and cityscape are richly detailed and precise. However, unlike most comics, there's no real story being told -- it's all about time. The salaryman who navigates the mostly wordless pieces is intent on savoring his surroundings, taking the time to notice the miracles of nature that unfold all around us all the time, and the brief encounters with strangers that can connect us to the larger spirit of humanity -- if we take the time to engage. However, it would be an oversimplification to say the book is a celebration of "stopping to smell the roses," because the salaryman is both observative and curious. He goes for long walks, often alone, sometimes with his dog Snowy (perhaps a direct reference to Tintin?), and ever so often, with his wife. On these walks, he exhibits an almost spiritual communion with nature -- he's always running his hands through leaves, admiring gardens, letting the rain fall on him, floating in water. Although never made explicit, the connections with Shintoism appear to be quite direct. One thing is for sure, after you read this -- or rather absorb the art within the crisply controlled panels -- you won't walk anywhere the same way for a while.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The wonder of ordinary life,
By
This review is from: The Walking Man (Paperback)
It's hard to do justice to this book in a paragraph. Nothing much happens; the main character walks around ordinary neighborhoods in Japan looking at things and doing things anyone might do, things that many of us have probably done, in fact. He adopts a dog; he walks down to the ocean with his wife and puts a shell back in the water; he helps kids get a toy airplane out of a tree. Yet the stories are as moving as almost anything in literature; one can feel one's heart and mind expanding while reading them.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
