The Marvels is his newest work and combines two stories into one. The first half is told entirely through pictures and is incredibly moving and beautiful. If I didn't convey this before, I find Selznick's art highly compelling and capable of telling a story without words being necessary. That didn't stop me from loving the second half of the book which is told from a different perspective and through text alone. The ending is a delightful mixture of the two which makes total sense with the narrative. It's difficult to explain this one without giving anything away but I'll give it my best shot. There's a boy who runs away, a sad man living in a house which has its own lively spirit, a girl chasing a dog, and the pangs of first love. Selznick touches on topics such as abandonment, homosexuality, AIDS, death, and ultimately coming into one's own. It's all about the choices that we make and the people that we want to become. It's phenomenal and maybe my favorite of the lot. 10/10

 

Source: Booking Mama

Wow, this was a disappointment. :|

The first part about the Marvel family was AMAZING! I loved it and at that time my rating was still 5 stars. But then that part ended and we got to the part of Joseph. Which was all in text. Which is not a problem if only it wasn't so dull, boring, bland, and oh hey, if Joseph wasn't so annoying and bothersome. He just didn't get that his uncle might have some secrets, oh NOES, the kid needed to know, and he needed to know it immediately. Running away seems to be his skill if he does something wrong or if people doesn't give him the answers he needs immediately. Bah.
Oh and I hated that he just had to TOUCH anything and everything even if those things weren't his. Oh hey, this vase/trophy thing, let me touch that, and not care that it might be something very important.... :|

Then we also have the whole thing about it being 1990? Sorry, but 75% of the time I thought it was 1900 or earlier. Then at times we would have talk about books that came out in 1970 - 1990, or talk about cassette players and I knew that time was right. But other than that? Sorry, it felt a bit too much like Oliver Twist, and there were just too many things that didn't make sense for that age. Like who the hell rides a horse carriage to a theatre in 1990. Especially in the middle of a city? Like what?
Or the fact that these parents just ship off their kid to a boarding school which seemed to have been stuck in the 1800-1900s.
I could forgive the fact that Albert's house was not in 1990, for some reason it seemed like that was supposed to be the way it is. However, it was still bloody confusing.

Also I didn't really like that when those cassette tapes were played it was just the same story as we had in the beginning. Talk about useless. Sure, it was new to our MC, but for me? I just skipped right over them as I couldn't be bothered to read the story again.

And then later again stuff gets rehashed. Yes, for the sake that Joseph finally shuts the hell up and gets his answers, but still why rehash stuff? Why not just do a quick one sentence thing about it and be done with it.

The whole who are the Marvels and are they real or not? Well, I can say that I was seriously disappointed when we found out the truth. I won't spoil anything of course, but dear Lord, I had my suspicions, but I just kept hoping for another outcome. :|
I also totally hated how Joseph reacted to it. His uncle is finally opening up to him and he reacts like that? Is he really 13 or is he 5 year old. Also again, he runs away. This will be fun if he becomes an adult. Life sucks > runs away. Wife is not nice > runs away. Haha, I can already see it happen. Sadly though. :|

I did like LGBT theme in this book. It didn't feel out of place, or weird, it felt right and I was eager to read more about it.
There is also talk about depression and AIDS.

Wait, hold on, Albert was just 36 in this book????? What? No. I don't even believe one word of that. The way he acted, the way he was described, everything else. I know what he has, and I have heard what that does to a body, but I just can't believe that age.

The ending was all pictures again, but by then I couldn't even give a damn any more. Sorry if that sounds rude, but I couldn't even care whose story it was any more. If it was Leo's, or Josephs. Or a mix of both. I just couldn't care any more.

I also have to say that I hated the parents for many reasons.

The Joseph part was a huge struggle. It was just 200~ pages but I just struggled because it was dull, boring, bland.

I am severely disappointed in this book. I expected great things because I absolutely adored the other two books like this from this author. Sadly, it was not meant to be.

1 star just for the art and the Marvel story. And I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com

The Marvels was not as good as Brian Selznick's other books. The first three quarters of this book was pictures, with the last quarter being text, and, though it took me a while to figure out what was going on in the picture story, I became quite invested in it. Then I got to the text portion. The characters in the last quarter of the book were annoying. They didn't have much character development, and I became frustrated by them. I found myself counting the pages until I'd be done with the book. Perhaps the book would have been as compelling as The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck if it had had alternating text and pictures like those two had. At any rate, while I still enjoyed parts of this book, it was a disappointment after Selznick's other books.

Brian Selznick is one of my favorite artists/writers of all time. This is his third book I've read by him, the first two being The Invention of Hugo Cabret and WonderStruck, and it will not be my last. I will follow this man's work for as long as he continues to create art. I adore his way of story-telling, how he slowly reveals the truth about his plot, helping the reader to be fully immerse in what he is trying to convey. Not to mention the man is a brilliant artist! His artwork never ceases to amaze me every time I open one of his books! Ugh! I am just in love with what this brilliant person creates!

 

The Marvels is a story about a family and a boy trying to solve the mystery of said family and that's all I wish to say about the plot. It's really a book you should just dive right into without knowing much about it! You will enjoy it so much more that way.

 

Needless to say, I highly recommend you pick up this book. Actually, pick up any book Selznick has written. I'm sure you're going to love it if you love adventure, loving characters, and beautiful artwork that tells the story along with the prose.

I have still not caught up on reviews from my hot-weather-induced computer hiatus. I am only up to early October...it is taking much longer than I expected!

 

Books Read: 7

 

Middle Grade Books: 2

 

1001 Books List Books: 1

 

Short Story Collections: 1

 

Published in 2015: 6 (wow!)

 

Nonfiction: 0

 

I guess my favorite was the Atwood (no surprise there, I love Atwood!), but both The Marvels and Delicious Foods were very good. Get in Trouble is my first introduction to Link's writing, and these stories were good—but short stories don't stay in my mind the way a novel does.

 

Stay tuned for reviews of the books I finished in the first half of November (and for most of October).