What do you think?
Rate this book
Temperance
The second book from 2008 Eisner “Best New Talent” Cathy Malkasian. Do ideas of war and enemies hold a people together? Is a culture of conflict too seductive not to be irresistible? These are the questions Cathy Malkasian explores in her second graphic novel, Temperance .
Malkasian creates, as she did in the critically acclaimed Percy Gloom , a fully realized, multi-layered world, inhabited by vividly realized characters. After a brutal injury in battle, Lester has no memory of his prior life. For the next thirty years his wife does everything to keep him from remembering—and re-constructing—a society, Blessedbowl, that elevates him as a hero. Blessedbowl is a cultural convergence of lies, memories, stories, and beliefs. Its people thrive on ideas of persecution, exceptionality, and enemies, convinced that war lurks just outside their walls. They have come to depend on Lester, their greatest war hero, to lead the charge once the Final Battle begins.
What kind of enemy could topple such a people and its walls? Mere memory, it seems, as Lester gradually emerges from his amnesia. Temperance is an eyewitness’s account of recovery and awakening. The graphic novel works on two levels. It considers the concepts of violence, stories, and belief, and their place in holding a culture together, slyly echoing contemporary political issues in a nation at a stressful time currently at war with a ubiquitous enemy. Secondly, the fissures in Lester and Minerva’s marriage is echoed in the greater political upheaval around them.
Malkasian creates a densely textured social context, masterfully conveying the idiosyncratic physical domain with its spiraling structures and quasi-medieval architecture along with intimate yet plastic portraits of her characters in a rich, tonal pencil line. Temperance is a galvanizing work of empathy and violence by one of today’s the most thoughtful and accomplished cartoonists. 240 color illustrations
Malkasian creates, as she did in the critically acclaimed Percy Gloom , a fully realized, multi-layered world, inhabited by vividly realized characters. After a brutal injury in battle, Lester has no memory of his prior life. For the next thirty years his wife does everything to keep him from remembering—and re-constructing—a society, Blessedbowl, that elevates him as a hero. Blessedbowl is a cultural convergence of lies, memories, stories, and beliefs. Its people thrive on ideas of persecution, exceptionality, and enemies, convinced that war lurks just outside their walls. They have come to depend on Lester, their greatest war hero, to lead the charge once the Final Battle begins.
What kind of enemy could topple such a people and its walls? Mere memory, it seems, as Lester gradually emerges from his amnesia. Temperance is an eyewitness’s account of recovery and awakening. The graphic novel works on two levels. It considers the concepts of violence, stories, and belief, and their place in holding a culture together, slyly echoing contemporary political issues in a nation at a stressful time currently at war with a ubiquitous enemy. Secondly, the fissures in Lester and Minerva’s marriage is echoed in the greater political upheaval around them.
Malkasian creates a densely textured social context, masterfully conveying the idiosyncratic physical domain with its spiraling structures and quasi-medieval architecture along with intimate yet plastic portraits of her characters in a rich, tonal pencil line. Temperance is a galvanizing work of empathy and violence by one of today’s the most thoughtful and accomplished cartoonists. 240 color illustrations
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
276 people want to read
About the author
Cathy Malkasian
18 books31 followersCathy Malkasian's alternative comics career began at age four, with the covert distribution of sketches to an unreceptive neighbor (“Keep your brat’s pamphlets off my porch!”). Hot on the heels of this and various kindergarten triumphs, she became overbearingly enthused, teaching herself to sketch and paint, pursuing music lessons, play auditions and somehow ending up with a degree in musicology. Her blend of goofiness, sarcasm, and rumination has carried her through the years.
In the early 1990s Malkasian began her career in animation, starting in design and storyboarding, then directing series episodes and pilots, and eventually co-directing the Wild Thornberrys Movie in 2002. Soon after she turned her efforts to novel and graphic novel storytelling, and returned to animation to direct many episodes of Curious George TV.
In the early 1990s Malkasian began her career in animation, starting in design and storyboarding, then directing series episodes and pilots, and eventually co-directing the Wild Thornberrys Movie in 2002. Soon after she turned her efforts to novel and graphic novel storytelling, and returned to animation to direct many episodes of Curious George TV.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
March 2, 2018
A dark allegorical fantasy graphic novel, over-sized and long, about the uses of war and violence in sustaining a culture/world. And the legacy of violence, focused primarily on Pa, a violent man, his daughter, Minerva; Lester, who is a victim of Pa's violence and becomes her husband. Peggy, her sister.
This is Cathy Malkasian's second graphic novel. I read her Eartha, and rated it three stars, confounded by it. Temperance, like Earth, features gorgeous drawing of a variety of grotesque people in a surrealistic landscape. There's a weird wooden character, a library in a tree, huge spiraling medieval structures; sometimes it feels like a nightmare, but empathy for Minerva, forced to live with a violent father and protect her husband Lester, who can't recall what has happened to him. The drawing is amazing, the epic story seems increasingly bizarre. Occasionally/often off-putting re: the violence and grotesquery. Completely original artist.
This is Cathy Malkasian's second graphic novel. I read her Eartha, and rated it three stars, confounded by it. Temperance, like Earth, features gorgeous drawing of a variety of grotesque people in a surrealistic landscape. There's a weird wooden character, a library in a tree, huge spiraling medieval structures; sometimes it feels like a nightmare, but empathy for Minerva, forced to live with a violent father and protect her husband Lester, who can't recall what has happened to him. The drawing is amazing, the epic story seems increasingly bizarre. Occasionally/often off-putting re: the violence and grotesquery. Completely original artist.
February 21, 2012
What a weird and oddly beautiful book! This is one of those odd, absorbing books that leaves one a little confused. It feels somewhat allegorical, but perhaps it's more fable-like? There's a certain dream logic that leaves the reader grasping a bit, trying to determine what exactly has happened.
The basic plot is that a powerful tyrant known only as Pa convinces a large number of people that The Enemy is coming for them. In fear for their lives, several thousand people have sealed themselves into a stone ship known as BlessedBowl. But Pa went missing before it was sealed, leaving the survivors to create a society built on a lie.
I can't say I liked this entirely, but I also can't say I didn't. I found it fascinating but I also longed for some kind of author's notes about where the idea came from, or perhaps a scholarly afterword to interpret it for me...
The basic plot is that a powerful tyrant known only as Pa convinces a large number of people that The Enemy is coming for them. In fear for their lives, several thousand people have sealed themselves into a stone ship known as BlessedBowl. But Pa went missing before it was sealed, leaving the survivors to create a society built on a lie.
I can't say I liked this entirely, but I also can't say I didn't. I found it fascinating but I also longed for some kind of author's notes about where the idea came from, or perhaps a scholarly afterword to interpret it for me...
December 9, 2018
Gorgeous pencil style art. I thought this was gonna be some cutesy comic until that brutal opening.
The main narrator is a tree, made into a wooden leg at first before it got reduced to a doll.
The narrative felt like poetry. I love this line in particular:
“As you know all trees are gossips. How can we not be, poking our noses into clouds and dirt.” Beautiful.
Controlling people through fear is kinda the main theme. A great story, almost. But towards the end, I started to develop mixed feelings. It just got confusing and messy. I didn’t get it. Sigh.
The main narrator is a tree, made into a wooden leg at first before it got reduced to a doll.
The narrative felt like poetry. I love this line in particular:
“As you know all trees are gossips. How can we not be, poking our noses into clouds and dirt.” Beautiful.
Controlling people through fear is kinda the main theme. A great story, almost. But towards the end, I started to develop mixed feelings. It just got confusing and messy. I didn’t get it. Sigh.
January 2, 2012
Temperance
by Cathy Malkasian is a quirky graphic novel that explores the relationship between the concepts of war and security, and freedom and trust. The narrator is a tree, which has been fashioned into a wooden leg, and then later into a doll/child. The narrator tells the story of Pa, who is this mythical concept that infects people's minds. The people, spurred by the lies of his foster daughter, live enclosed into a fortress they call BlessedBowl. It's a ship on a sea of fire, but really it's a compound.
Pa is no longer there, but the people follow the words and stories of his daughter, Peggy. The story is surreal, and at times, heavy handed. The metaphor comes through fine, but it definitely seems like this is targeted toward a young audience. Maybe a reader between 8-12 would get more out of this work.
With a lighter hand, the artwork is simply wrought and beautiful. A dreamy quality instills the drawings and the lines are sharp and crisp.
Temperance is a graphic novel that tries something different, and for the most part, it succeeds.
Pa is no longer there, but the people follow the words and stories of his daughter, Peggy. The story is surreal, and at times, heavy handed. The metaphor comes through fine, but it definitely seems like this is targeted toward a young audience. Maybe a reader between 8-12 would get more out of this work.
With a lighter hand, the artwork is simply wrought and beautiful. A dreamy quality instills the drawings and the lines are sharp and crisp.
Temperance is a graphic novel that tries something different, and for the most part, it succeeds.
February 15, 2011
There's a lot about this comix book that grosses me out. The way Malkasian draws human beings disgusts me. The way she overextends and mixes her metaphors makes me say, "Hmm hmm hmm hmm." There's something Canadian and New Age about all this. However, the book does achieve a psychosexual creepiness that's Lynchian in intensity, if you're into that sort of thing. Malkasian has perfect control of her pencil, and her drawings are v. easy on the eyes if you skip the humans and look only at buildings and trees (both of which figure prominently in the story). The story is nearly unpredictable, its unpredictability doubly disorienting because Temperance is a fairy tale. The final panel is one of the best (most touching, most sumptuous) final panels ever made.
May 4, 2011
It started out intriguing, with the two girls hiding in the woods from a scary man who claims to be their father, then a whole group of people being walled into a stone ship. However, as it got further and further from a reality that started the book, it was hard to stay with it. I guess there was some sort of life metaphor with the ghostly girl and the "father" who was everywhere, destroying everything? I didn't really get it. The art was very nice, though. And I did like the idea of a town inside a ship that goes no where and the birds being explained away as "spies."
May 26, 2025
as much as I enjoyed reading this, I don't think I fully understand this book.
It was definitely interesting to see how fascism can unite people together to build solidarity. it echoes Umberto's point about fascists using a common enemy to unite against. Jews for Hitler, Muslims for modi but for blessedbowl it is surprisingly not pa, but simply the idea of an enemy. artificially conjured up. it makes me wonder if we can create such an enemy out of abstract concept. surely, species wide extinction or world hunger is a threat to humans no? could we possibly unite all humans against this common threat? the book doesn't equip me to respond as to why we shouldnt frame it as the enemy. I only saw how blessedbowl benefits from constructing an enemy. while it's built upon lies, I don't find lying to be inherently immoral when backed by utilitarian benefits.
the perpetual endless war was such a fascinating subject, in how it prevails a constant state of exception thereby allowing the "temporary" removal of autonomy or rights for the greater good of the war effort. but more relatable was perhaps the power of narratives. stories that play such a crucial role in shaping collective consciousness. it reminded me of hasina and her utilisation of narratives to create hero worship.
funniest for me were probably the Counters. I read them as a metaphor for economists and finance bros who use information. particularly the collection of data relating to statistics, to control and manipulate people. comparing performances as if all individuals are measurable and commensurable. they are lucky to have so much ample time, but they use it to look down upon the rest. making suggestions all the time to improve efficiency or whatever. burdening Minerva who are the time was struggling with matters more pressing to her.
most confusing for me was pa and peggy. are they meant to be metaphors for destruction and procreation? I don't find the ying and yang personification too appealing. I don't think I understood the ending at all. pa however was fucking scary. every panel with him invokes a sense of fear and discomfort. I don't think he is supposed to refer to anyone, but people like him exist. I wondered if he's ill, but I don't know much about psychos or nothing. his ever changing moods , charm and relentless violence made me think hes mentally ill.
I really liked the art style. especially how motion is sequenced in a single panel. word bubbles that use space to convey cadence, direction as well as volume. the world itself is kinda absurd and lonely. but all the panels even the surreal ones made sense to me.
It was definitely interesting to see how fascism can unite people together to build solidarity. it echoes Umberto's point about fascists using a common enemy to unite against. Jews for Hitler, Muslims for modi but for blessedbowl it is surprisingly not pa, but simply the idea of an enemy. artificially conjured up. it makes me wonder if we can create such an enemy out of abstract concept. surely, species wide extinction or world hunger is a threat to humans no? could we possibly unite all humans against this common threat? the book doesn't equip me to respond as to why we shouldnt frame it as the enemy. I only saw how blessedbowl benefits from constructing an enemy. while it's built upon lies, I don't find lying to be inherently immoral when backed by utilitarian benefits.
the perpetual endless war was such a fascinating subject, in how it prevails a constant state of exception thereby allowing the "temporary" removal of autonomy or rights for the greater good of the war effort. but more relatable was perhaps the power of narratives. stories that play such a crucial role in shaping collective consciousness. it reminded me of hasina and her utilisation of narratives to create hero worship.
funniest for me were probably the Counters. I read them as a metaphor for economists and finance bros who use information. particularly the collection of data relating to statistics, to control and manipulate people. comparing performances as if all individuals are measurable and commensurable. they are lucky to have so much ample time, but they use it to look down upon the rest. making suggestions all the time to improve efficiency or whatever. burdening Minerva who are the time was struggling with matters more pressing to her.
most confusing for me was pa and peggy. are they meant to be metaphors for destruction and procreation? I don't find the ying and yang personification too appealing. I don't think I understood the ending at all. pa however was fucking scary. every panel with him invokes a sense of fear and discomfort. I don't think he is supposed to refer to anyone, but people like him exist. I wondered if he's ill, but I don't know much about psychos or nothing. his ever changing moods , charm and relentless violence made me think hes mentally ill.
I really liked the art style. especially how motion is sequenced in a single panel. word bubbles that use space to convey cadence, direction as well as volume. the world itself is kinda absurd and lonely. but all the panels even the surreal ones made sense to me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2024
I don't really know what I think about this. It evokes really strong feelings and reactions, and the artwork is strange and very original. It feels like a long, dark fable... there's obviously some substance and loads of subtext... but it's kind of inscrutable beyond the obvious.
Generally speaking - it's just bizarre. It's not fun or enjoyable in any particular way, and it doesn't have anything good to say about humans or our societies. I don't really feel like I have the language to appropriately talk about it, so I can't imagine recommending it... as I can't really coherently summarize it or speak to the deeper meanings.
Ehhhhhhhhh. Very difficult to review and to rate.
Generally speaking - it's just bizarre. It's not fun or enjoyable in any particular way, and it doesn't have anything good to say about humans or our societies. I don't really feel like I have the language to appropriately talk about it, so I can't imagine recommending it... as I can't really coherently summarize it or speak to the deeper meanings.
Ehhhhhhhhh. Very difficult to review and to rate.
July 19, 2021
A story about a woman raised by a dangerous drunk, Pa, who exploited her to gain cult followers. Grown, she is trying to maintain the cult and her own space in it, and everything around her is starting to fall apart. The illustrations are gorgeous, with a dreamlike quality that matches the story itself. The most striking image for me was the image of the great hall with a large looming portrait of Pa, from the back. That and other images and ideas in the story were sometimes a bit on the nose, but effectively so.
April 4, 2018
Both Percy Gloom and Temperance are similar in that they are folksy fantasy parables that deal with big human themes. Percy Gloom follows a man coping with questions of live and death, entering a new city where these factors are writ large in the supporting cast around him. It's intelligent and well drawn, and worth a look.
Temperance is better, however.
Temperance is better, however.
September 5, 2017
I did not "like" this book -- as the star tags read. It was powerful, creepy, and thought -provoking instead. Was Pa god? Was Pa Everyman? It was a hard book to finish, but I know it will stay with me a long time.
July 31, 2018
Beautiful...
August 20, 2021
Good story, beautifully drawn. Dragged.
December 9, 2014
Temperance, a great graphic novel written and drawn by Cathy Malkasian delivers a sense of weirdness and surrealism to the readers through her unique style of drawing and the bizarre storyline. I had to go through the story a couple times to understand what was going on in this nameless world filled with lies and rumors.
In the story, a cunning dictator called- Pa established his empire step by step with his “step-daughters”. They went towns after towns to spread the rumor that their “enemy” is coming, which was nothing but a lie made up by Pa. As the rumor spread through out the country, people started to gather at a walled city called “Blessbowl” built by Pa. People thought that they would be safe from the enemy outside by staying inside this “boat”. However, it was really just a walled city, an isolated cage which later on trapped the people inside for years, deceiving them by lies.
Minerva, one of Pa’s step daughters, chose to stay in the bowl to maintain the order inside and to keep the rumors going on. Everyday, she would make up a lie, a fake report from the frontline. People believed them with no doubt, thinking that Pa was a brave warrior with absolute power. On the other hand Lester, Minerva’s husband, who once fought Pa and got seriously injured by him which caused amnesia, was able to slowly recall the memories pieces by pieces, like a puzzle. The story may seem really simple and boring at the first sight, but as you go deeper into it. You would realize that it is not actually a typical graphic novels for children to read. There are violent elements, displaying the conflict Pa once had with Lester.
Cathy Malkasian put a gloomy tone on this book with her personal art style. To me, its seems like water color or color pencils. The color schemes she chose were mostly dark and light. There wasn’t really any strong colors or bold images in this book. However, the storyline of it still grabbed my attention with it’s depressing atmosphere. I wouldn’t recommend this book to children because there are several fighting scenes in the story and the depth of this book is really deep which might be enigmatic for them.
In the story, a cunning dictator called- Pa established his empire step by step with his “step-daughters”. They went towns after towns to spread the rumor that their “enemy” is coming, which was nothing but a lie made up by Pa. As the rumor spread through out the country, people started to gather at a walled city called “Blessbowl” built by Pa. People thought that they would be safe from the enemy outside by staying inside this “boat”. However, it was really just a walled city, an isolated cage which later on trapped the people inside for years, deceiving them by lies.
Minerva, one of Pa’s step daughters, chose to stay in the bowl to maintain the order inside and to keep the rumors going on. Everyday, she would make up a lie, a fake report from the frontline. People believed them with no doubt, thinking that Pa was a brave warrior with absolute power. On the other hand Lester, Minerva’s husband, who once fought Pa and got seriously injured by him which caused amnesia, was able to slowly recall the memories pieces by pieces, like a puzzle. The story may seem really simple and boring at the first sight, but as you go deeper into it. You would realize that it is not actually a typical graphic novels for children to read. There are violent elements, displaying the conflict Pa once had with Lester.
Cathy Malkasian put a gloomy tone on this book with her personal art style. To me, its seems like water color or color pencils. The color schemes she chose were mostly dark and light. There wasn’t really any strong colors or bold images in this book. However, the storyline of it still grabbed my attention with it’s depressing atmosphere. I wouldn’t recommend this book to children because there are several fighting scenes in the story and the depth of this book is really deep which might be enigmatic for them.
August 10, 2014
Temperance has a very nice organic illustration. Simple yet hypnotizing. I'm amazed on how detail the diegesis is structured in Temperance. Malkasian has not just be specified in developing a very well structured organisms in her beautiful comic, concurrently the architecture of the whole story and its creation is made important to each other. The idea of 'illusion' as a tool for unity in Temperance might be cliché across our reading experiences, or films watching (I might say, in certain sense - the idea reflects what The Village (M. Night Shyamalan) is. Anyhow, Malkasian has made it special; by adding a magical elements into her plan - the 'one-eye tree'. This is her theme - 'Do concept like war and enemies hold a people together?' You see no war in Temperance, but the existence of the enemy is felt within symbolism. The whole inhabitant in Blessedbowlers, who was abandoned to die (by Pa), is made to survive by a notion, which is illusion, that war and enemy is hunting them. They survive on the idea that they need to live to reach their final shore, a better life and freedom. They survive on the idea that Blessedbowlers is a great ship that might protect them forever from the battle and bloodshed, as long as the ship afloat (which in fact the ship is not a ship, and never sail). And they are motivated to united (day by day) by collection of lies from the strongest character in the story, Minerva. While Minerva, she has her own story. All the lies are her energy, to fuel her strength - the Husband. In addition, Minerva has twisted what should has supposed to be hates, into loves, flattery and favour towards their actual enemy - Pa. The concept conceived within the Blessedbowlers is powerful and wise. The whole Temperance makes me contemplate. In consequences, I now return to nature, and appreciate them more for all the histories that they have witnessed and endure.
January 20, 2024
What a strange book, I loved it! I just want someone to explain anything I didn't catch now.
September 6, 2010
This is one of my favorite books this year. This is a profound graphic novel with multiple layers of meaning, interesting characters, and beautiful illustrations.
Temperance does examine issues related to war, and what a culture of conflict does to its people, but I feel that those statements reduce a powerful and complex story with strong characters to just a few themes. So, here is a little bit about some of the characters you will meet here: Minerva, an unattractive princess who climbs a tall tower to deliver speeches filled with lies to her disciples; Lester, who replaces one of his legs with a plunger; Pa, their evil leader; and Peggy, who lives in a library -- in a tree. Deserving of its own sentence, there is also a fabulous creature composed of a tree trunk with a knot for an eye; it is responsible for the quote below.
This is really a tremendous book that may almost require multiple readings to fully absorb. The fantastical world in this book really hooked me, and I am amazed by Malkasian's ability to draw a story that functions on so many levels; it is accessible both as a sort of fairytale and a commentary on war. (As a librarian-type sidenote, I think this would be appropriate for teenagers. There is some violence and no sex.)
Temperance does examine issues related to war, and what a culture of conflict does to its people, but I feel that those statements reduce a powerful and complex story with strong characters to just a few themes. So, here is a little bit about some of the characters you will meet here: Minerva, an unattractive princess who climbs a tall tower to deliver speeches filled with lies to her disciples; Lester, who replaces one of his legs with a plunger; Pa, their evil leader; and Peggy, who lives in a library -- in a tree. Deserving of its own sentence, there is also a fabulous creature composed of a tree trunk with a knot for an eye; it is responsible for the quote below.
This is really a tremendous book that may almost require multiple readings to fully absorb. The fantastical world in this book really hooked me, and I am amazed by Malkasian's ability to draw a story that functions on so many levels; it is accessible both as a sort of fairytale and a commentary on war. (As a librarian-type sidenote, I think this would be appropriate for teenagers. There is some violence and no sex.)
"I understood what humans rarely admit: that they were driven less by kindness or gain... than by the pure desire to see what would happen next."
November 17, 2014
This is a powerful book. This book has immensely powerful words an imagery. The meaning behind this book can be interpreted so many ways. The art is raw and beautiful, it's breathtaking really...
To me it's a story about the struggles between believing or not believing in the stories of the past that you're told. Whether you believe in something that is not actually tangible. Believing in a higher power or believing that someone is there to protect you and has control and that makes you feel safe. I love the fact of the tree was the narrator. I love that he was turned into Lester's leg and carried him through the years also loving him...always loving him. His doll/child form was also beautifully written.
I also enjoyed the way Minerva was written, her love and hate for her own lies and how she was conflicted about Pa.
What seem to be her true love/compassion for her "husband".
The most stunning part of this book for me was the image at the very end of the book.
I've already recommend this book to a few people I'm giving it five stars!
Thank you Cathy Malkasian for writing it.
To me it's a story about the struggles between believing or not believing in the stories of the past that you're told. Whether you believe in something that is not actually tangible. Believing in a higher power or believing that someone is there to protect you and has control and that makes you feel safe. I love the fact of the tree was the narrator. I love that he was turned into Lester's leg and carried him through the years also loving him...always loving him. His doll/child form was also beautifully written.
I also enjoyed the way Minerva was written, her love and hate for her own lies and how she was conflicted about Pa.
What seem to be her true love/compassion for her "husband".
The most stunning part of this book for me was the image at the very end of the book.
I've already recommend this book to a few people I'm giving it five stars!
Thank you Cathy Malkasian for writing it.
August 8, 2011
While I understand many of the criticisms others have posted, Temperance takes on a mythic tone from the beginning. Though Malkasian frames the story as a confluence of characters, place, and machinations, it becomes clearly a poetic yarn, a tale not of persons but of people. She describes, both visually and narratively, archetypes to which we yearn and from which we cower. Once I began reading I did not have any interest in putting the story down. He artwork varies from fluid and enchanting to grotesque and horrible, while the story is told through the generally muted voices of confused characters caught up in the tales they have spun around themselves in attempts to create love, meaning, and direction in their lives. I can absolutely understand the draw of this work.
October 31, 2012
This Graphic Novel by Cathy Malkasian is a surreal exploration of war, conflict, and freedom. The novel is beautifully illustrated, the final image of the book is one that is especially powerful (won't say what it is for spoilers.) However the book hits some problems midway through. The flow becomes extremely difficult to follow, and though this may have been done on purpose by the author, it also detracted from my ability to understand anything. I was lost between what was real, and what was not. Malkasian seamlessly swaps between reality and surrealism, by the end of the book I was doubting whether anything in the book was real at all.
Overall I would only recommend this book to people either interested in the art style, or with a superhuman ability to understand veiled meaning.
Overall I would only recommend this book to people either interested in the art style, or with a superhuman ability to understand veiled meaning.
June 15, 2012
I just finished Temperance, about five minutes ago, and I'm not totally sure what to say. It was certainly a beautiful book--drawn in a quirky, charming style--and for parts of the story I was utterly drawn in. Other parts, though, felt rushed, as though the artwork rather than the writing had been the only priority. The ending threw me off, as I didn't see it coming for at least a few dozen more pages. I guess I wish it had gone on a bit longer, and we had learned more about the resolution. However, the fact that I want to know more is a good thing! It means the world was engrossing and lovely enough to keep me there.
June 17, 2013
The description of the book sounds much better than the execution.
This is a so-so story with epic amounts of filler drawing that does almost nothing to move the plot forward. The characters are flat as written, and in their actual drawing (caricatures instead of portraits). In fact, I found myself put off by the drawings in many ways, especially where several of the panels key to the plot are confused and very badly composed.
On the whole this book strikes me as an example of overreach, an idea that failed in execution. A book published and admired for its pretensions rather than its merits.
This is a so-so story with epic amounts of filler drawing that does almost nothing to move the plot forward. The characters are flat as written, and in their actual drawing (caricatures instead of portraits). In fact, I found myself put off by the drawings in many ways, especially where several of the panels key to the plot are confused and very badly composed.
On the whole this book strikes me as an example of overreach, an idea that failed in execution. A book published and admired for its pretensions rather than its merits.
Read
October 18, 2015Conflicted feelings on this one - is it an allegory or a fantasy/horror? It certainly raises important questions about what holds communities together, the existence of good vs evil, how people need to believe in something...but I'm not sure it answered its own questions adequately. Sure, you don't need to answer the Big Questions out there, but the ending tried to tie up some of those ideas, and I didn't buy its conclusions.
On the whole, unsettling in the good way of making you think and feel uncomfortable about those thoughts, but also unsettling in the bad way of a strange, not-quite-on-point wrapping up.
And spoiler question - was Peggy even real?
On the whole, unsettling in the good way of making you think and feel uncomfortable about those thoughts, but also unsettling in the bad way of a strange, not-quite-on-point wrapping up.
And spoiler question - was Peggy even real?
June 19, 2010
Malkasian has an energetic line and a sense of design that pulls your eye along the story. It is easy to read this book, like Percy Gloom, as an animation storyboard. In these technical regards, I think Malkasian does superlative work. Temperance, however, doesn't cohere for me as well as Percy Gloom did. Temperance is a more ambitious narrative than Percy Gloom, but it didn't hold up as well for me as the earlier book. And I feel churlish for being disappointed by a book that tried to outdo its predecessor; unfortunately, I closed the book with a shrug, feeling, "Eh."
March 7, 2017
Mantiene el ambiente poético y extraño de Percy Bloom, pero me ha gustado menos. El dibujo es más suelto pero con el sello personal de la autora.
January 13, 2011
Disquieting and at times beautiful, it's hard to nail this down. It's about destruction and rebirth, and how lies can destroy or instill hope, how one can dominate and control out of love or hate. It's about revenge and redemption.
Pa is a terrifying and incredible character who is going to lure me back for a couple re-readings.
Pa is a terrifying and incredible character who is going to lure me back for a couple re-readings.
March 5, 2013
Very enjoyable. The soft pencil-like art was a refreshing change from the many bold/stark blacks in many comics/graphic novels. The characters were compelling and the story was good. It did get a little crazy at the end and I couldn't figure out exactly what was happening, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
March 25, 2014
Pelik. Sangat-sangat pelik dan confusing sampai kadang-kadang aku rasa jalan ceritanya merepek dan meleret. Barangkali aku susah nak faham maksud tersirat tapi entahlah-- the story itself, memang dari awal dah mula dengan konflik yang tak masuk akal. Aku, mungkin termasuk dalam golongan sesetengah pembaca yang wonder macam mana buku ini boleh published.
November 6, 2016
I don't think I understood this book. Peggy and Pa seemed to be concepts rather than people, and a tree/piece of wood is a character who narrates the story. So, you know, chew on that one for a while!
content notes for violence and abuse towards humans and animals; fat phobia/hatred; and someone taking away a person's prostethic leg without their knowledge or consent.
content notes for violence and abuse towards humans and animals; fat phobia/hatred; and someone taking away a person's prostethic leg without their knowledge or consent.
June 18, 2010
I somewhat understand why this is getting good press, but it was _not_ a work I enjoyed. The artwork was fairly repetitive, and I couldn't bring myself to care about the plot or any of the characters. Frankly, I'm a little surprised Fantagraphics published this.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews