not simple

by Natsume Ono, Natsume Ono (Illustrator)

Overview

Complex, powerful, and emotionally wrenching, not simple is a novel told in visual form by one of the most acclaimed creators at work today.

Ian, a young man with a fractured family history, travels from Australia to England to America in the hope of realizing his dreams and reuniting with his beloved sister. His story unfolds backwards through the framing narrative of Jim, a reporter driven to capture Ian’s experiences in a novel: not simple. A story within a story, a book within a book, a tale about the search for family, for an emotional home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421532202
Publisher:	VIZ Media LLC
Publication date:	01/19/2010
Series:	not simple , #1
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	426,773
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

About the Author

Natsume Ono made her professional debut in 2003 with the webcomic La Quinta Camera. Her next works, not simple and Ristorante Paradiso, met with both critical and popular acclaim. Her current series House of Five Leaves (Saraiya Goyou) is running in IKKI magazine, and Gente (a continuation of Ristorante Paradiso) appears in Erotics F magazine. She also creates doujinshi (independent comics) under the circle name basso. Her website, settantanove orsi, is at http://79orsi.web.fc2.com.

Editorial Reviews

Ten years after shonen and shojo manga took American teens by storm, we are seeing more diverse titles beyond ninjas and panty flashes. Drawing on traditions from the 1960s gekiga (Japanese for "dramatic pictures") movement, this slice-of-life story itself comes in slices for readers to assemble into a coherent picture. And an ugly picture it is. Waifish Ian and his Boswell, the American writer Jim, sit at the center. Jim claims to be writing a piece about Ian, perhaps an article, perhaps a novel. Through multilayered flashbacks, we learn first about Ian's tragic death (presumably) and then about his earlier trips from his native Australia to England and thence to America, searching for his sister and more broadly for emotional home and connections. As the slices tumble out, clues accumulate unexpectedly about Ian's wildly dysfunctional family. Oddly, Ian seems consistently sweet and able to inspire affection and trust in strangers, if not among his own relatives. VERDICT With deceptively simple art that decries the title, this comes out a small classic of sidewise storytelling coupled with oddly likable, if mostly unsympathetic, characters. For older teens and up.—M.C.

Library Journal