Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Lagoon by Lilli Carre

I had trouble getting this graphic novel from the library. They apparently "lost" it when I first requested it but I finally managed to snag it. This is the first Lilli Carre novel I've read and, since it's so short, I read it twice in a row.

A beautifully drawn and written graphic novel, it opens with Zoey trying to read while her grandpa sings a tune that she deems "a cat in a bathtub". The tune is from a creature in the lagoon that lures folks into the water with it. The creature is known to make some people disappear as they listen to his song. Zoey's parents are drawn to the creatures song and meet an untimely end.

There are several pages of black in this book, entirely different from anything I've read before. The dialogue is not the main drive of the book, it's the sounds. The sound of the creature's song, the sound of the metronome on the piano, the sound of the grandfather tapping out scales on the piano in his sleep. Sounds, not speech, drive the story.

Excellent book, glad I finally got it from the library!

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