The Arrival

I first saw this book as part of an exhibit at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY. I'm not really sure why it was there - it was sitting on a bench in one of the galleries. I leafed through it briefly - the illustrations are so beautiful that I bought two - one for me, one as a gift. It's possible to just thumb through the book and appreciate the illustrations - but it's definitely worthwhile to start at the beginning and follow the story. I may buy more to give as gifts in the future.

"The Arrival" is a genre-connecting hardback picture book that took Shaun Tan four years to create based on narratives of immigrants coming to the U.S., combined with visual references he studied from antique post cards, historical photographs and even paintings and etchings by earlier artists. This is a very, very carefully designed work that may remind readers of the stunning experience the first time you read "Maus: A Survivor's Tale," the famous graphic novel about the Holocaust by Art Spiegelman. (In fact, Spiegelman's praise for "The Arrival" appears on the back cover of the book, calling this "something new and exceptionally worthy.") "The Arrival" tells the story of a young father who leaves his wife and daughter behind in their impoverished and dangerous homeland to journey to a distant city based on the New York City of an earlier era. Like millions of immigrants over the past two centuries, he is the patriarch of a family bravely going on ahead to establish a home for his family in a new world. Many of the beautifully rendered images in the book are straight out of Ellis Island historical materials. HOWEVER, the stunning innovation Tan adds to the story is the way he moves from those historical snapshots of the immigrant experience -- to a wildly off-kilter New York City in which the Statue of Liberty looks oddly like a pair of welcoming giants in exotic costumes. New York's pigeons become strangely beautiful flying fish. The English language of advertisements, newspaper headlines and grocery store packaging becomes a bizarrely cryptic new alphabet that we can't quite understand. Common American foods take on exotic, fanciful shapes and textures. Even ordinary American pets become exotic animals that seem to have fallen to earth from a science fiction novel. Are you glimpsing the point of this visual slight of hand? As we follow the story of this immigrant -- we SEE America through the eyes of an immigrant. The strangeness of our skylines, our symbols, our language, our foods, our pets, our architecture -- actually looks strange to us, as readers. This is what makes this book ideal for reading over and over with young readers -- spotting the dozens of subtle ways Tan twists and turns elements of the tale to help us not only empathize with the immigrant and his family -- but to actually feel his disorientation as we read the book! Some chapters of the book are very dark. As immigrants meet in this new land, across the cultural and religious chasms that may separate them, they share stories of danger and oppression in their homelands. One immigrant tells a horrifying story of a war that left him crippled and homeless. Another immigrant tells a tale of what seems to be ethnic cleansing in his homeland. Once again, Tan's imagery is rooted in stories we know -- but he enlarges and re-imagines the visual grammar of these stories until the ethnic cleansing becomes a terrifying tale of gigantic, faceless technicians with flame throwers who tromp through the streets of a village. Although the story becomes dark at several points, there is nothing in the book that is more troubling than scenes in "The Chronicles of Narnia." And each moment of darkness throws into dramatic relief a moment of great joy as the immigrants realize how much they are thankful for in their new community. There's even a strange kind of Thanksgiving dinner at one point in the book. Wherever you live in the world, as you read this, "The Arrival" is the story of someone you know -- a friend, a neighbor, a relative -- or perhaps this is your story captured vividly in a new form for a new century.

My husband checked this book out of our public library. He wanted the rest of the family to look at the book. Our 2 teens were busy with the start of school so I picked it up. I fell in love with the story, told entirely using pictures. No words in the entire book. I admire the art style which is a blend of richly detailed, realistic portraits of people and a sci-fi-esque highly imaginative environment. I immediately ordered a copy of the book for us and one for a friend who is an ESL teacher (English as a Second Language). Some of her kids come to America knowing zero English. What a great way to immediately show them a book with substance that seeks to show we understand a smidgen of what they are going through. Our copy will be useful for discussions with our exchange students and as an interesting, beautifully illustrated coffee table book. There are multiple things I love about this book but here are my top two: 1. As the immigrant meets people the story shifts to the new person’s immigration story. There are at least 4-5 different stories included, each touched my heart. 2. There is an underlying theme of the seasoned immigrants helping the new immigrants, passing along skills, information, directions, food—the cycle is woven throughout the pages of this book. We highly recommend this book and are looking forward to exploring more of the artist’s work.

This is a special, beautiful book, which is suitable for all ages. The story is told through a series of illustrations.

This is a wordless book, the author telling the story with his beautiful artwork. But this is not specifically a children’s book, though they may also enjoy it. The illustrations convey the confusion that often assaults the senses of a new immigrant. The lack of any written explanation reinforces the isolation felt by many who lack the conversational and written language skills needed in the host country. As the main character tries to adjust to his new environment, he meets others who help him along the way, sharing their immigrant stories. Ultimately he is able to send for his family and help them make their adjustments, and the story comes full circle. Because there are no written explanations, the author allows the reader to enter into the story at his level of comfort. The book can be read quickly at a fairly superficial level, or more slowly, pondering the situations and symbolism presented. I bought this book for my son who is an artist and animator. He responded that he is enjoyed and appreciated this unique method of communication.

This is a brilliant masterwork of ....what exactly? Well, it's a graphic novel with the overwhelming force of franz Masereel's pioneering work 'The City' But it's also evocative of great literature, like Kafka's introductory chapters of 'Amerika' and 'The Castle', or his short story, The Animal in the Synagogue, and the dazzling architectural fantasy of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. But it's also a dark fairy tale of uncertainty and catastrophe, survival and wonder, one that brings the ghastly sweep of the twentieth century into mythical focus. Yes, it's that good. But it's also an amazing book for children on the verge of arriving into the strange world of adulthood. But it's also a revelatory book for adults to come to terms with what they have wrought, look through the eyes of a visitor, like an innocent child, and arrive to a new conclusion about where they "fit". But it's also a philosophic parable on the Lacanian sinthome, broken letters or words struggling to come into existence for the child/visitor/adult. But it's also a silent film on paper, with a Buster Keaton hatted protagonist arriving into a new world. But it's also a beautiful album of artwork, each page can stand independently as an image, or ensemble of images. So the narrative runs through each page, but the page does not depend on the next page to have meaning, beauty, and integrity. But, because of these important aesthetic accomplishments, it's also more than the sum of its parts. We have here a standard of art few have realized, a deeply empathetic and compassionate allegory of human being anyone on the planet can read and close their eyes when they close the book and know something beautiful has arrived.

The illustrations did not disappoint. The story is not really one created for children, although the extensions beyond reality using children's 'props may make it appear so. There is subtlety and complexity in the development of the theme that go beyond the level of the average child's ability to perceive. There is nothing simple about either of the books I have by Shaun Tan. This is a four star rating because, while I think it a great piece of art, I do not LOVE it…my particular personal preference.

Have you ever wakened from a dream so real that you were actually shocked when you woke up? Upon further thought as you think about your recent dream episode, things were not as they should be. Such aberrations as flying boats and buildings that seems to be in New York City but possess a strange combination of oriental and occidental architecture. This appears to be familiar territory but in the same breath also very strange and different. Welcome to Shaun Tans' epic dreamlike journey in "The Arrival" a story of a man leaving his home and family to migrate to a new world. The artist goes into an explicit graphic narrative to describe the strangeness of immigrating to a new land. One gets the sense that this planned migration has been instigated by a government of totalitarian ilk as evidenced by the Artist's drawing of a shadow of a "tale of a dragon" which gives evidence of sinister governance. The Author takes us into a world of epic art deco like scenery which is neither totally western nor eastern; in fact I see traces of Native American Indian influence. Our hero has to deal with a culture which is strange and different and we learn how he copes with dealing with people in a new land. His final hope is to finally reunite with his family in a land which he finds to be a refuge to many people from far and away. This graphic depiction shows how an artist can convey an idea using simple pencil drawings and not using one word. Shaun Tan's art is not impressionistic, however the theme and structure of his story in the world of graphic literature is indeed impressionistic. This novel should never be thought of as a child's picture book. It uses advanced imagery and a high level nuanced story line using no prose. In reality it is the art of mime in the world of graphic imagery which in and of itself creates its own unique genre. Fanastic! 5 Stars!!

A story for any age, any language, and any reading level. Amazing!!

Fantastic graphics. Wonderful story.

It was more a experience than a book. There are no words but somehow you can read the thoughts and feelings. A great book about immigrating.

Ich setze dieses Buch in Fremdsprachenunterricht ein und es funktioniert sehr gut und öffnet den Raum für Austausch unter der Lerngruppe.

The black and white sheer poetry of this comic book, without dialogs, make it a good gift for anyone exept blind people, and of course people of other langages. It's about the arrival in a new place, cultutral diversity and integration, and full of nice pets ! La poésie en noir et blanc de cette bande dessinée sans dialogues en fait un un bon cadeau pour tout le monde (sauf les aveugle) y compris pour des gens parlant un autre langage. Le sujet en l'arrivée en terre étrangère, la diversité des culture et l'intégration, et c'est plein d'animaux domestiques mignons !