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Hollókisasszony
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Graphic Novels & Comics (2013)Szellemes, fanyar humorú, gótikus stílusú, gyönyörűen illusztrált könyv egy lányról, aki a holló és a postás szerelméből fogant, és akinek idővel szűkös lesz az emberi test, ezért szárnyakat szeretne. Felnőtteknek írt történet a kirekesztettségről, a szabadság utáni örök vágyról, a határtalan szerelemről és a szeretet erejéről, mindez a világszerte népszerű Az időutazó felesége írónőjétől. Igazi irodalmi és képzőművészeti csemege, féltve őrzött, életünket végigkísérő meséink polcán a helye.
80 pages, Hardcover
First published May 2, 2013
27 people are currently reading
15185 people want to read
About the author
Audrey Niffenegger
45 books12.3k followersAudrey Niffenegger (born June 13, 1963 in South Haven, Michigan) is a writer and artist. She is also a professor in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Columbia College Chicago.
Niffenegger's debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife (2003), was a national bestseller. The Time Traveler's Wife is an unconventional love story that centers on a man with a strange genetic disorder that causes him to unpredictably time-travel and his wife, an artist, who has to cope with his constant absence.
Her Fearful Symmetry (2009), Niffenegger's second novel, is set in London's Highgate Cemetery where, during research for the book, Niffenegger acted as a tour guide.
Niffenegger has also published graphic and illustrated novels including: The Adventuress (2006), The Three Incestuous Sisters (2005), The Night Bookmobile (2009), and Raven Girl (2013). Raven Girl was adapted into a ballet by Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and the Royal Opera House Ballet (London) in 2013.
A mid-career retrospective entitled "Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger," was presented by the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C.) in 2013. An accompanying exhibition catalogue examines several themes in Niffenegger's visual art including her explorations of life, mortality, and magic.
Niffenegger's debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife (2003), was a national bestseller. The Time Traveler's Wife is an unconventional love story that centers on a man with a strange genetic disorder that causes him to unpredictably time-travel and his wife, an artist, who has to cope with his constant absence.
Her Fearful Symmetry (2009), Niffenegger's second novel, is set in London's Highgate Cemetery where, during research for the book, Niffenegger acted as a tour guide.
Niffenegger has also published graphic and illustrated novels including: The Adventuress (2006), The Three Incestuous Sisters (2005), The Night Bookmobile (2009), and Raven Girl (2013). Raven Girl was adapted into a ballet by Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and the Royal Opera House Ballet (London) in 2013.
A mid-career retrospective entitled "Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger," was presented by the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C.) in 2013. An accompanying exhibition catalogue examines several themes in Niffenegger's visual art including her explorations of life, mortality, and magic.
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August 2, 2014
Rating: 4* of five
The Publisher Says: Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven.
So begins the tale of a postman who encounters a fledgling raven while on the edge of his route and decides to bring her home. The unlikely couple falls in love and conceives a child — an extraordinary raven girl trapped in a human body. The raven girl feels imprisoned by her arms and legs and covets wings and the ability to fly. Betwixt and between, she reluctantly grows into a young woman, until one day she meets an unorthodox doctor who is willing to change her.
One of the world’s most beloved storytellers has crafted a dark fairy tale full of wonderment and longing. Complete with Audrey Niffenegger’s bewitching etchings and paintings, Raven Girl explores the bounds of transformation and possibility.
My Review: The UK Book-A-Day meme, a book a day for August 2014, is the goad I'm using to get through my snit-based unwritten SF-book reviews. Today's prompt, the second, is to discuss a book that perfectly pairs word and image.
Thank you to the LibraryThing friend whose glowing review made me want to read this short book with illustrations in it. (NO, it's not a comic book, there is nary a speech bubble to be found and no one is running around in a silly costume!)
Like every good fairy tale, Raven Girl starts out with an impossible premise...man and bird fall in love and have a child...that leads to the complicated, painful life of a character we can all see little shards of our own shells in. The Raven Girl speaks Raven like her mother, has a human body like her father, and cannot be human or raven. In her struggles to manage her mixed identity, she is isolated; can't everyone understand that feeling of "no one gets it" from the inside? "I can't talk to you," aka the Wail of the Adolescent Angstbeast, "you have no idea what it feels like to be me!" Only this time she's right. No one else is like her, not her parents who love her, not anyone in the whole world.
In the end, she chooses a radical, risky, permanent solution to her identity crisis, and faces down the anger and the fear of others; but this story's major point is one I am so pleased to see in fiction aimed at the under-20 set: Yes, you're weird, unique, maybe even scary to some people, but BE YOURSELF and never stop remaking and remodeling yourself until you get it right!
It's a message that I'd like to drum into the heads of my contemporaries, preventing them from doing more damage than is strictly necessary to their grandchildren and the world by holding on to the disproved certainties and the discredited verities that stifle, warp, and kill so very many people even yet.
The book, as an object, is lovely! The paper, a heavy creamy-white matte coated stock, has three edges printed (I suppose) with a metallic, gunmetal-colored ink; it makes the book block shimmer like a raven's wing when the book is closed. The jacket, a grimmish affair of gray stippled fogginess with a silver stamp of Gothic lettering on the front (a choice I don't think works that well), is matte laminated; the case-cover is printed red and black, with a flight of ravens on the front, and the jacket's same poorly chosen Gothic lettering on the spine. Contrasted to the extraordinary edge-printing, it's arrestingly lovely. The printed endsheets are a benday of the jacket's bleccchhhy gloomy gray, a pattern of ravens in motion all over them. It works as endsheets far better than as a jacket.
But the matte-coated paper with Niffenegger's Schiele-influenced people, the designer's wonderfully chosen type, and the generous but not overwhelming amounts of negative space make the reading experience so comfortable, so easy and still so visually stimulating, that the book rises above its simplicity into elegance. I'll be keeping this one because it's such a satisfying marriage of message and medium.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Publisher Says: Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven.
So begins the tale of a postman who encounters a fledgling raven while on the edge of his route and decides to bring her home. The unlikely couple falls in love and conceives a child — an extraordinary raven girl trapped in a human body. The raven girl feels imprisoned by her arms and legs and covets wings and the ability to fly. Betwixt and between, she reluctantly grows into a young woman, until one day she meets an unorthodox doctor who is willing to change her.
One of the world’s most beloved storytellers has crafted a dark fairy tale full of wonderment and longing. Complete with Audrey Niffenegger’s bewitching etchings and paintings, Raven Girl explores the bounds of transformation and possibility.
My Review: The UK Book-A-Day meme, a book a day for August 2014, is the goad I'm using to get through my snit-based unwritten SF-book reviews. Today's prompt, the second, is to discuss a book that perfectly pairs word and image.
Thank you to the LibraryThing friend whose glowing review made me want to read this short book with illustrations in it. (NO, it's not a comic book, there is nary a speech bubble to be found and no one is running around in a silly costume!)
Like every good fairy tale, Raven Girl starts out with an impossible premise...man and bird fall in love and have a child...that leads to the complicated, painful life of a character we can all see little shards of our own shells in. The Raven Girl speaks Raven like her mother, has a human body like her father, and cannot be human or raven. In her struggles to manage her mixed identity, she is isolated; can't everyone understand that feeling of "no one gets it" from the inside? "I can't talk to you," aka the Wail of the Adolescent Angstbeast, "you have no idea what it feels like to be me!" Only this time she's right. No one else is like her, not her parents who love her, not anyone in the whole world.
In the end, she chooses a radical, risky, permanent solution to her identity crisis, and faces down the anger and the fear of others; but this story's major point is one I am so pleased to see in fiction aimed at the under-20 set: Yes, you're weird, unique, maybe even scary to some people, but BE YOURSELF and never stop remaking and remodeling yourself until you get it right!
It's a message that I'd like to drum into the heads of my contemporaries, preventing them from doing more damage than is strictly necessary to their grandchildren and the world by holding on to the disproved certainties and the discredited verities that stifle, warp, and kill so very many people even yet.
The book, as an object, is lovely! The paper, a heavy creamy-white matte coated stock, has three edges printed (I suppose) with a metallic, gunmetal-colored ink; it makes the book block shimmer like a raven's wing when the book is closed. The jacket, a grimmish affair of gray stippled fogginess with a silver stamp of Gothic lettering on the front (a choice I don't think works that well), is matte laminated; the case-cover is printed red and black, with a flight of ravens on the front, and the jacket's same poorly chosen Gothic lettering on the spine. Contrasted to the extraordinary edge-printing, it's arrestingly lovely. The printed endsheets are a benday of the jacket's bleccchhhy gloomy gray, a pattern of ravens in motion all over them. It works as endsheets far better than as a jacket.
But the matte-coated paper with Niffenegger's Schiele-influenced people, the designer's wonderfully chosen type, and the generous but not overwhelming amounts of negative space make the reading experience so comfortable, so easy and still so visually stimulating, that the book rises above its simplicity into elegance. I'll be keeping this one because it's such a satisfying marriage of message and medium.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
April 10, 2013
Raven Girl is the product of a collaboration between Audrey Niffenegger and Wayne McGregor, the Royal Opera House Ballet's Resident Choreographer. The brief was for Audrey to write and illustrate a dark, modern fairytale combining aspects of traditional fairy stories with contemporary ideas surrounding identity, the body and its modification via technology. Wayne would then take the story and imagery and adapt it into a ballet, to be performed at the Royal Opera House in London.
During the summer of 2012, Audrey wrote the story, drew the images, etched and aquatinted the zinc plates and printed (with the assistance of yours truly) all 21 images in the book. Sara Corbett, designer and illustrator at Abrams ComicArts, ( http://www.greenfog.com/ ) took the images and words and designed a beautiful book that is modern and fresh, yet pays tribute to the fairytale books of old. The result of this collaboration is Raven Girl, an 80 page illustrated novella and companion ballet.
Ok. I'm biased. I work as Audrey's studio assistant and I love Raven Girl. Maybe this is because I spent the summer in a hot print studio, helping to etch and print the plates that would make up the 21 images in this book. Maybe it's also because the story is unique, heartfelt and sincere. Audrey spent months studying Ravens: their bodies, beaks, wings and flight. She visited the live ravens at the Tower of London and a few stuffed crows at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. I was lucky to have a front seat for most of this.
From the Abrams ComicArts website:
Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven…
So begins the tale of a postman who encounters a fledgling raven while on the edge of his route and decides to take her home. The unlikely couple falls in love and conceives a child – an extraordinary raven girl trapped in a human body. The raven girl feels imprisoned by her arms and legs and covets wings and the ability to fly. Betwixt and between, she reluctantly grows into a young woman, until one day she meets an unorthodox doctor who is willing to change her.
One of the world’s most beloved storytellers has created a dark fairytale full of wonderment and longing. Illustrated with Audrey Niffenegger’s bewitching etchings, Raven Girl explores the bounds of transformation and possibility.
( http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions... )
( http://www.abramsbooks.com/Books/Rave... )
( http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/rav... )
Original prints from the book will be on display at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. from 21 June to 10 November 2013 as part of the retrospective exhibition: Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger
From the NMWA website:
A fantastic, strange, and mysterious world—real and imagined—is featured in this mid-career retrospective of artist and bestselling author Audrey Niffenegger. Book art, works on paper, and paintings reflect her captivating narrative talent and her explorations of life, mortality, and magic.
( http://nmwa.org/explore/exhibitions/u... )
Information about Raven Girl and Awake in the Dreamworld will be posted in the coming weeks at Audrey's official website: www.audreyniffenegger.com
During the summer of 2012, Audrey wrote the story, drew the images, etched and aquatinted the zinc plates and printed (with the assistance of yours truly) all 21 images in the book. Sara Corbett, designer and illustrator at Abrams ComicArts, ( http://www.greenfog.com/ ) took the images and words and designed a beautiful book that is modern and fresh, yet pays tribute to the fairytale books of old. The result of this collaboration is Raven Girl, an 80 page illustrated novella and companion ballet.
Ok. I'm biased. I work as Audrey's studio assistant and I love Raven Girl. Maybe this is because I spent the summer in a hot print studio, helping to etch and print the plates that would make up the 21 images in this book. Maybe it's also because the story is unique, heartfelt and sincere. Audrey spent months studying Ravens: their bodies, beaks, wings and flight. She visited the live ravens at the Tower of London and a few stuffed crows at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. I was lucky to have a front seat for most of this.
From the Abrams ComicArts website:
Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven…
So begins the tale of a postman who encounters a fledgling raven while on the edge of his route and decides to take her home. The unlikely couple falls in love and conceives a child – an extraordinary raven girl trapped in a human body. The raven girl feels imprisoned by her arms and legs and covets wings and the ability to fly. Betwixt and between, she reluctantly grows into a young woman, until one day she meets an unorthodox doctor who is willing to change her.
One of the world’s most beloved storytellers has created a dark fairytale full of wonderment and longing. Illustrated with Audrey Niffenegger’s bewitching etchings, Raven Girl explores the bounds of transformation and possibility.
( http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions... )
( http://www.abramsbooks.com/Books/Rave... )
( http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/rav... )
Original prints from the book will be on display at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. from 21 June to 10 November 2013 as part of the retrospective exhibition: Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger
From the NMWA website:
A fantastic, strange, and mysterious world—real and imagined—is featured in this mid-career retrospective of artist and bestselling author Audrey Niffenegger. Book art, works on paper, and paintings reflect her captivating narrative talent and her explorations of life, mortality, and magic.
( http://nmwa.org/explore/exhibitions/u... )
Information about Raven Girl and Awake in the Dreamworld will be posted in the coming weeks at Audrey's official website: www.audreyniffenegger.com
November 21, 2016
***NO SPOILERS***
"Inside I am a raven, she wrote. I only look human." With Raven Girl, Audrey Niffenegger crafted a sort of reverse Swan Princess, but she did so in a direct, down-to-earth fashion. Where Swan Princess involves a mystical sorcerer’s curse, Raven Girl involves a kindly doctor and a begged-for medical procedure. Unfortunately, though Niffenegger was careful to ensure that Raven Girl contained all the right elements for a proper fairy tale--romance, a villain, a death, yearning, a transformation, talking animals, a happily ever after--she failed to include the most important element, which Swan Princess has in spades: magic. This modern fairy tale is too modern, heavy-handed, and just not inspired or fantastical enough to make it one for the ages.
Though fairy tales aren’t necessarily known for their subtlety, a touch of that would have upped Raven Girl’s sophistication factor. It’s much too obvious what Niffenegger was driving at, and that she chose to make her moral of the story so obvious is a bit stunning. Raven Girl isn’t even particularly special or unique. It certainly isn’t layered or in any way complex (the only villain is dispatched with in short order and without ado), and its solid grounding in the real world detracts from what little magic it does have. It’s magical only in the sense that a raven and a human produce a child; the overall atmosphere isn’t transportive. In this sense, Raven Girl isn’t at all in the tradition of a Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen tale.
Niffenegger’s decision to combine the modern and magical worlds is a strange one. There’s talk of college, movie offers, and laptops. On another page is the union of a man and raven, talking cats, and a “Court of the Ravens,” headed by a Raven Prince. The shifts from modern to fantasy are jarring, decidedly unmagical, and seem to indicate that Niffenegger didn’t have a good grasp of exactly what “modern fairy tale” means. More strangely, parts involving the doctor--who clearly is a stand-in for a fairy godmother or benevolent sorcerer--have a weird-science vibe. Description is overly anatomical and baldly medical to the point of being freakish. There’s most definitely no magic here; the tone is slightly dark and unsettling.
Niffenegger more than proved herself as a writer in The Time Traveler's Wife, so it’s a curious thing that Raven Girl’s writing is so mediocre. Sentences are choppy, with simplistic word choice:
Final verdict: Readers looking for a fairy tale with a shot of magic dust should turn to Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, or perhaps some Russian folk tales. Skip without hesitation.
"Inside I am a raven, she wrote. I only look human." With Raven Girl, Audrey Niffenegger crafted a sort of reverse Swan Princess, but she did so in a direct, down-to-earth fashion. Where Swan Princess involves a mystical sorcerer’s curse, Raven Girl involves a kindly doctor and a begged-for medical procedure. Unfortunately, though Niffenegger was careful to ensure that Raven Girl contained all the right elements for a proper fairy tale--romance, a villain, a death, yearning, a transformation, talking animals, a happily ever after--she failed to include the most important element, which Swan Princess has in spades: magic. This modern fairy tale is too modern, heavy-handed, and just not inspired or fantastical enough to make it one for the ages.
Though fairy tales aren’t necessarily known for their subtlety, a touch of that would have upped Raven Girl’s sophistication factor. It’s much too obvious what Niffenegger was driving at, and that she chose to make her moral of the story so obvious is a bit stunning. Raven Girl isn’t even particularly special or unique. It certainly isn’t layered or in any way complex (the only villain is dispatched with in short order and without ado), and its solid grounding in the real world detracts from what little magic it does have. It’s magical only in the sense that a raven and a human produce a child; the overall atmosphere isn’t transportive. In this sense, Raven Girl isn’t at all in the tradition of a Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen tale.
Niffenegger’s decision to combine the modern and magical worlds is a strange one. There’s talk of college, movie offers, and laptops. On another page is the union of a man and raven, talking cats, and a “Court of the Ravens,” headed by a Raven Prince. The shifts from modern to fantasy are jarring, decidedly unmagical, and seem to indicate that Niffenegger didn’t have a good grasp of exactly what “modern fairy tale” means. More strangely, parts involving the doctor--who clearly is a stand-in for a fairy godmother or benevolent sorcerer--have a weird-science vibe. Description is overly anatomical and baldly medical to the point of being freakish. There’s most definitely no magic here; the tone is slightly dark and unsettling.
Niffenegger more than proved herself as a writer in The Time Traveler's Wife, so it’s a curious thing that Raven Girl’s writing is so mediocre. Sentences are choppy, with simplistic word choice:
The hospital was enormous, ugly, and not very new. The Raven Girl had a room to herself on the top floor. She could see her dorm room from a few blocks away. The city bustled beneath her as she leaned out the big window.The story is heavy on illustrations. These accompany text every few pages and are by Niffenegger’s own hand. They are strikingly inconsistent in quality. Some of these mostly single-toned pictures are impressive, while others look rushed, drab, and amateurish. The human characters look very stiff and usually don’t capture the spirit of the story; when the protagonist should be joyous, she appears stoic, with unseeing eyes and frozen face. For some reason, Niffenegger made no use of shading, so most figures appear flat. The exceptions are her drawings of the ravens, which are beautiful and full of depth and greater detail. Overall, however, it’s really hard to decide whether Niffenegger is genuinely talented as an artist.
Final verdict: Readers looking for a fairy tale with a shot of magic dust should turn to Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, or perhaps some Russian folk tales. Skip without hesitation.
February 18, 2016
I think I understand this book as "magical realism explaining gender identity," but most likely I am getting ahead of myself.
This book follows the daughter of a raven and a postman, yes you read that right, it is magical realism, so just roll with it. She has never felt like she belongs in her fathers world, for she looks human, but can speak in the same caws as her mother. SO in order to become her true self, she goes through a surgery that will give her what she ultimately has always wanted, wings.
It shows the troubles a person will go to find and achieve their true identity, while everyone around them tells them to just settle for their current form.
It is possible I am mostly just reading off more from it than it was originally intended, so maybe ignore me until having read the book.
This book follows the daughter of a raven and a postman, yes you read that right, it is magical realism, so just roll with it. She has never felt like she belongs in her fathers world, for she looks human, but can speak in the same caws as her mother. SO in order to become her true self, she goes through a surgery that will give her what she ultimately has always wanted, wings.
It shows the troubles a person will go to find and achieve their true identity, while everyone around them tells them to just settle for their current form.
It is possible I am mostly just reading off more from it than it was originally intended, so maybe ignore me until having read the book.
September 10, 2013
I ran across this one in the folklore section of my library. It wasn't until I was part way finished that I realized it was by Audrey Niffengger.
Frankly, I have not been impressed with her work so far, and this is no exception.
It's supposed to be a modern fairy tale. In fact, Niffengger says in the acknowledgements, "Fairy tales have their own remorseless logic and their own rules." And that's very true... except, if you go as far as to explain how wings were grown in a vat with stem cells, then you can't ask us NOT to question how an ordinary sized raven might manage to get impregnated by a man.
You can't have it both ways. Either use fairy tale logic all the way through, or don't use it at all. But expecting all readers to accept fairy tale logic in one part and pseudo-scientific logic in another part just doesn't work. It's very jarring.
Like her Night Bookmobile, I love the premise but am completely disappointed in the execution. I guess Niffengger is just not for me. I've tried three books of hers so far, gave two of them two stars, and abandoned the third about a chapter in.
Frankly, I have not been impressed with her work so far, and this is no exception.
It's supposed to be a modern fairy tale. In fact, Niffengger says in the acknowledgements, "Fairy tales have their own remorseless logic and their own rules." And that's very true... except, if you go as far as to explain how wings were grown in a vat with stem cells, then you can't ask us NOT to question how an ordinary sized raven might manage to get impregnated by a man.
You can't have it both ways. Either use fairy tale logic all the way through, or don't use it at all. But expecting all readers to accept fairy tale logic in one part and pseudo-scientific logic in another part just doesn't work. It's very jarring.
Like her Night Bookmobile, I love the premise but am completely disappointed in the execution. I guess Niffengger is just not for me. I've tried three books of hers so far, gave two of them two stars, and abandoned the third about a chapter in.
September 3, 2019
2.5 stars!
So, this was a very strange book. Meant to be a fairytale-inspired tale about the daughter of a human postman and a once injured raven who he ends up rescuing. Their daughter grows up as a human but shares the mental qualities of a raven and would rather be one. I liked the illustrations, however, the story-line in question just didn't work well for me. The use of lots of modern settings threw me off a little and I struggled to connect with the characters. If you are looking for something fast-paced, give this one a try.
So, this was a very strange book. Meant to be a fairytale-inspired tale about the daughter of a human postman and a once injured raven who he ends up rescuing. Their daughter grows up as a human but shares the mental qualities of a raven and would rather be one. I liked the illustrations, however, the story-line in question just didn't work well for me. The use of lots of modern settings threw me off a little and I struggled to connect with the characters. If you are looking for something fast-paced, give this one a try.
August 12, 2015
A lovely and simple fairy tale, with classical plot elements like transformation and true love transcending all boundaries. In a quaint English setting, a country postman is tasked with delivering a letter to an address he’s never seen before:
Here the postman meets a young raven fallen out of her nest, takes her home to mend her and they fall in love. Even when her wing heals and she can fly, she chooses to stay with him. Their daughter is a mixed creature; she can only croak, but she has no wings and so is raised as a human child. At university she meets a plastic surgeon who can create human-animal chimeras; she begs him to make her wings – a mixture of science and magic. It involves bloody surgery and painful recovery, but in the end she has the wings she’s always felt were hers. Her identity is described in terms very much like Jan Morris’s in Conundrum, when describing her sex change and her knowledge that she was really a girl: “My mother is a raven and my father is a postman, but I feel that truly I should have been a raven.”
Like Niffenegger’s other work, there’s an ever so slightly uncomfortable blend of sinister/grotesque elements with charming, innocuous magic.
(Included in my blog post “Graphic Novels for Newbies.”)
Dripping Rock
Raven’s Nest
2 Flat Drab Manor
East Underwhelm, Otherworld
EE1 LH9 [postcode = East of East, Lower Heights]
Here the postman meets a young raven fallen out of her nest, takes her home to mend her and they fall in love. Even when her wing heals and she can fly, she chooses to stay with him. Their daughter is a mixed creature; she can only croak, but she has no wings and so is raised as a human child. At university she meets a plastic surgeon who can create human-animal chimeras; she begs him to make her wings – a mixture of science and magic. It involves bloody surgery and painful recovery, but in the end she has the wings she’s always felt were hers. Her identity is described in terms very much like Jan Morris’s in Conundrum, when describing her sex change and her knowledge that she was really a girl: “My mother is a raven and my father is a postman, but I feel that truly I should have been a raven.”
Like Niffenegger’s other work, there’s an ever so slightly uncomfortable blend of sinister/grotesque elements with charming, innocuous magic.
(Included in my blog post “Graphic Novels for Newbies.”)
May 23, 2013
In Raven Girl, Niffenegger combines the modern magic of medicine and technology with the more traditional elements of princes, transformation, and unlikely lovers to create an wonderfully unique Gothic fairytale. It's quick read is supplemented by Niffenegger's own illustrations which enhance the story and bewitch the reader.
There were only a few things that I disliked about this story: the ending was quite abrupt, some details were glossed over, and the book was quite short (80 pages total, and not even all of the pages contained words). However these can be chalked up to the fact that the story is a fairytale, where such practices are commonplace.
I rather enjoyed the dark journey that this story took me on. It's not for everyone, but if you're willing to embrace your inner child and suspend your disbelief for about half an hour, I recommend that you give Raven Girl a try.
This review can also be found at The In-Between Place.
There were only a few things that I disliked about this story: the ending was quite abrupt, some details were glossed over, and the book was quite short (80 pages total, and not even all of the pages contained words). However these can be chalked up to the fact that the story is a fairytale, where such practices are commonplace.
I rather enjoyed the dark journey that this story took me on. It's not for everyone, but if you're willing to embrace your inner child and suspend your disbelief for about half an hour, I recommend that you give Raven Girl a try.
This review can also be found at The In-Between Place.
July 2, 2020
A whimsical love story full of grace and compassion and fancy that reinforces the message that the journey to self discovery is both rewarding and sometimes painful. Beautiful illustrations by the author.
November 15, 2015
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Source: Library Checkout
"Today we are going to talk about where the human race may be headed. We have the power to improve ourselves, if we wish to do so. We can become anything we wish to be."
After the postman fell in love with a raven they had a child, a child that looked like a normal human being except for the fact that she could not speak (only caw) and she had an extreme longing to fly. She traverses life as easily as any normal girl but she's constantly living a life that is lacking. When a doctor, a Dr. Moreau type, tells her that he has the ability to give her the wings she's always dreamed of she feels the stirrings of hope.
This story actually came to be after Audrey was asked to collaborate with the Royal ballet in order to a dark fairytale type story to life on the stage. With it's haunting subject, dream-like qualities and gothic undertones I can definitely see this being a beautiful stage production.
The artwork was gorgeous and the creation process of the illustrations was far more complex than I would have normally guessed. Using a procedure called aquatint, it's a process that was intended to imitate watercolors but it's an extremely time-consuming process. To learn more about aquatinting, Audrey discusses it in detail in this video on youtube: http://youtu.be/oO4v9miJLxY
The Raven Girl is an obscure tale of a metamorphosis of sorts. She underwent an artistic transformation because after living with knowing she was different for so long she finally became who she was always meant to be.
Source: Library Checkout
"Today we are going to talk about where the human race may be headed. We have the power to improve ourselves, if we wish to do so. We can become anything we wish to be."
After the postman fell in love with a raven they had a child, a child that looked like a normal human being except for the fact that she could not speak (only caw) and she had an extreme longing to fly. She traverses life as easily as any normal girl but she's constantly living a life that is lacking. When a doctor, a Dr. Moreau type, tells her that he has the ability to give her the wings she's always dreamed of she feels the stirrings of hope.
This story actually came to be after Audrey was asked to collaborate with the Royal ballet in order to a dark fairytale type story to life on the stage. With it's haunting subject, dream-like qualities and gothic undertones I can definitely see this being a beautiful stage production.
The artwork was gorgeous and the creation process of the illustrations was far more complex than I would have normally guessed. Using a procedure called aquatint, it's a process that was intended to imitate watercolors but it's an extremely time-consuming process. To learn more about aquatinting, Audrey discusses it in detail in this video on youtube: http://youtu.be/oO4v9miJLxY
The Raven Girl is an obscure tale of a metamorphosis of sorts. She underwent an artistic transformation because after living with knowing she was different for so long she finally became who she was always meant to be.
July 9, 2013
This was my first experience of Niffenegger (though I am peripherally aware of Time Traveller's Wife), and it's a safe bet it'll be my last. I only picked this up at the library because it looked like a modern, adult fairy story, and I'm always interested to see attempts at that. Unfortunately, this is only that: an attempt.
While it's a fun and strange story that had potential, Niffenegger utterly botched it with thin characterization, stilted and jerky prose, and plot turns (and characters) appearing completely out of nowhere. I'm not sure what fairy tales she's read, but even the least of the classics make narrative sense. Her amateurish, awkward illustrations don't really help, either. Over all, this feels like the product of a lonely, teenaged Aspiring Writer, who's never had the benefit of a critical audience. If I'd spent money on this book, I'd give it away; as it is, it'll be back on the shelf at the library as soon as possible.
Raven Girl is probably best enjoyed as it originated: a modern dance performance. As a book, it probably never would have seen publication without the clout of the authour's past success.
While it's a fun and strange story that had potential, Niffenegger utterly botched it with thin characterization, stilted and jerky prose, and plot turns (and characters) appearing completely out of nowhere. I'm not sure what fairy tales she's read, but even the least of the classics make narrative sense. Her amateurish, awkward illustrations don't really help, either. Over all, this feels like the product of a lonely, teenaged Aspiring Writer, who's never had the benefit of a critical audience. If I'd spent money on this book, I'd give it away; as it is, it'll be back on the shelf at the library as soon as possible.
Raven Girl is probably best enjoyed as it originated: a modern dance performance. As a book, it probably never would have seen publication without the clout of the authour's past success.
September 18, 2014
Raven Girl is the 4th graphic novel by American artist and author, Audrey Niffenegger. It was written/drawn as the beginning point for a new dance for the Royal Ballet in London. The story starts with a Postman who falls in love with a Raven. They have a child, the Raven Girl who wants to fly but cannot, until she encounters a man who can make it happen. This is a fairy tale with plenty of traditional elements (unusual unions, talking cats, a Prince, a happily-ever-after ending) but also some modern elements (nightmares about email, a plastic surgeon, a university education, literal empty-nesters and a laboratory). There is more text and less illustration than in Niffenegger’s earlier work, The Night Bookmobile, and the illustrations are perhaps of a lesser quality, but this is, nonetheless, an enchanting tale.
September 22, 2014
Another interesting concept by Audrey Niffenegger: A raven and a postman (named as such as if that's a subspecies of human) fall in love and produce a hybrid, the titular character. The child feels different from others (as you can imagine) and finally realizes it's because she yearns to fly but can't. As with The Night Bookmobile, I'm not sure what to make of the ending, though here at least the irony is more satisfying.
June 13, 2014
part fable & part fairy tale.
beautiful artwork.
and the longing.
oh, the longing.
beautiful artwork.
and the longing.
oh, the longing.
September 3, 2024
This is so bizarre and this is coming from someone who loves fantasy...
I didn't read the blurb and the story starts with a lonely postman on a walk where he finds an injured raven and nurses it to health. I thought it was pretty cute and moral... After 10 pages or so, they get married. Yes, the raven and the postman.
I think that people with an interest in metamorphosis, art, and just generally who want to go through something unique may like it, but most of us mundane folk won't.
I didn't read the blurb and the story starts with a lonely postman on a walk where he finds an injured raven and nurses it to health. I thought it was pretty cute and moral... After 10 pages or so, they get married. Yes, the raven and the postman.
I think that people with an interest in metamorphosis, art, and just generally who want to go through something unique may like it, but most of us mundane folk won't.
October 20, 2013
Best known for her novel The Time Traveler’s Wife, a book I’ve never, nor ever will, read, I’m familiar with Audrey Niffenegger’s “illustrated novels”, all of which I’ve read. The latest, Raven Girl, is a modern fairy tale conceived for a dance production, and is also the least interesting of the four illustrated novels.
A postman and a giant raven produce a human girl who wishes she was a raven. When she grows up and enters university, she meets a visiting biology professor who reluctantly agrees to graft wings onto her and does. Raven Girl flies - the end. It’s Hans Christian Anderson meets Dr Moreau!
This is a fairy tale so I’m not going to critique the setup, but I will say that it’s not a very imaginative fairy tale. It basically follows the archetypical metamorphosis trope found in nearly every fairy tale - frogs turning into princes, princesses turning into swans, and so on and so forth. In this book, a girl turns into a raven. Yeah - and?
Art-wise, Niffenegger paints and draws in the same style as she did in her last couple of books but with much less visual flair - The Three Incestuous Sisters and The Adventuress both had much more eye-catching and memorable art than the few drab illustrations in Raven Girl. The book is really well produced though - glossy, high quality pages are used and the book feels and looks well-made.
I can’t pan the book entirely because it’s designed for a dance production and there’s only so much you can put into a story that would work within a dance show, so it needs to be necessarily simplistic. That said, reading it isn’t much fun and it’s story is all too forgettable. Maybe as a dance it’s great - I’ll probably never see it - but as an “illustrated novel”? Nope.
A postman and a giant raven produce a human girl who wishes she was a raven. When she grows up and enters university, she meets a visiting biology professor who reluctantly agrees to graft wings onto her and does. Raven Girl flies - the end. It’s Hans Christian Anderson meets Dr Moreau!
This is a fairy tale so I’m not going to critique the setup, but I will say that it’s not a very imaginative fairy tale. It basically follows the archetypical metamorphosis trope found in nearly every fairy tale - frogs turning into princes, princesses turning into swans, and so on and so forth. In this book, a girl turns into a raven. Yeah - and?
Art-wise, Niffenegger paints and draws in the same style as she did in her last couple of books but with much less visual flair - The Three Incestuous Sisters and The Adventuress both had much more eye-catching and memorable art than the few drab illustrations in Raven Girl. The book is really well produced though - glossy, high quality pages are used and the book feels and looks well-made.
I can’t pan the book entirely because it’s designed for a dance production and there’s only so much you can put into a story that would work within a dance show, so it needs to be necessarily simplistic. That said, reading it isn’t much fun and it’s story is all too forgettable. Maybe as a dance it’s great - I’ll probably never see it - but as an “illustrated novel”? Nope.
June 9, 2023
So, yesterday I was shopping on the library's website looking through available books and found this. I was surprised and excited because I loved Time Traveler's Wife. After I opened it this morning, I discovered that it is a short-story/fable (not really a book). It is billed as 80 pages (novella length), but there are lots of drawings throughout and the pages are quite short. I read it in less than 45 minutes.
In the afterward, Niffenegger explains that the story was developed to be a new fairy tale and serve as the inspiration/jumping off point for a dance. Given that context, I'm not sure if I should add some stars (after all, how does one gauge a story written to inspire momement?). But ultimately, I found the story rather simple.
It reads as a metaphor for anyone whose identity does not match their exterior appearance, but it was also rather simple: once the Raven Girl was true to herself, she found her prince. Prior to that, others wanted to prevent her from reaching her dreams and even went so far as killing the doctor who performed surgery (out of some misguided attempt to save her).
And yes, fairy tales are simple. Maybe I just didn't like it because I thought I was going to get a whole book.
In the afterward, Niffenegger explains that the story was developed to be a new fairy tale and serve as the inspiration/jumping off point for a dance. Given that context, I'm not sure if I should add some stars (after all, how does one gauge a story written to inspire momement?). But ultimately, I found the story rather simple.
It reads as a metaphor for anyone whose identity does not match their exterior appearance, but it was also rather simple: once the Raven Girl was true to herself, she found her prince. Prior to that, others wanted to prevent her from reaching her dreams and even went so far as killing the doctor who performed surgery (out of some misguided attempt to save her).
And yes, fairy tales are simple. Maybe I just didn't like it because I thought I was going to get a whole book.
January 18, 2025
A modern illustrated fairy tale about what happens when a postman falls in love with a raven.
I enjoyed it, much too short though.
I enjoyed it, much too short though.
March 31, 2023
⭐️2,5-3/5⭐️ i overall enjoyed the story but the modern elements kinda threw me off. i also found the illustrations a bit inconsistent. the ravens were very well drawn but i found that the quality lacked with the human characters, they weren’t as well made. but the ravens were 🤌🤌🤌
March 1, 2025
a beautiful and creepy story about the transformation of a young girl.
October 2, 2024
Raven Girl is the eagerly anticipated new release from the bestselling author of The Time Traveler’s Wife. Here, in her longest illustrated book to date, Niffenegger has married together her love of art and literature. The illustrations throughout have been produced with an ‘aquatint’ technique, which uses ‘metal, acid, wax and rosin’ and dates from the seventeenth century. Aesthetically, the book is a work of art. It has been beautifully produced, and has silvered edges, glossy pages and beautiful pieces of art which sit alongside the carefully crafted story.
Niffenegger has strived to create a modern day fairytale ‘full of wonderment and longing’, and a ‘mesmerising story that explores the bounds of transformation and possibility’. Raven Girl is a quick read, but a striking and unforgettable one nonetheless. It opens with the intriguing line: ‘Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven’. The story unfolds from here. The characters are all unnamed throughout and go by their easily identifiable titles of ‘Postman’, ‘Raven’, ‘Raven Girl’, ‘the doctor’ and ‘The Boy’. Similiarly, the English city in which the ‘flat, desolate suburb’ of the story takes place is vague in its location.
The real crux of the story comes when the Postman is tasked with delivering a letter to an address which is unknown to him – ‘Dripping Rock, Ravens’ Nest’. On meeting the Raven, who has fallen out of the nest at this address, her brothers ‘made unflattering comments about the Postman, whom they mistook for a cat; none of them had seen a person before, and cats featured in all the scary stories their parents told them at bedtime’. The Postman, believing the Raven to be ill, ‘wrapped her up in his scarf and began the long walk home, the Raven trembling in his arms’. Once at his home, he cares for her rather touchingly: ‘He made her a nest out of his old uniforms and shredded junk mail, and she lived on his kitchen table. He fed her sardines, earthworms, eggs, cheese, Weetabix, and raw lamb chops’.
As the story continues, the Postman and the Raven’s relationship begins to build. ‘As the days and weeks went by’, Niffenegger writes, ‘the Raven was charmed by the Postman. She understood that he meant no harm and that he was not a cat… Slowly the Raven and the Postman began to fall in love’. An egg is laid, ‘greenish-bluish with brown speckles’, and a ‘human girl’ hatches from it. This is the Raven Girl of the book’s title. Her life is a sad one in many respects – she cannot communicate with her father and she is lonely in her childhood – but her parents are determined that she should live as normally as is possible. They send her off to University, where she studies Biology. A visiting lecturer, teaching Raven Girl and her fellow students about chimeras – creatures made from two or more different species – tells her that he can turn her into a bird.
The characters are described to us as soon as they are introduced. The Postman is described as ‘no longer being a young and ardent postman… He yearned to have an adventure, but suspected that he probably wouldn’t… He sometimes had nightmares that featured e-mail’. Such touching and unique details make the characters seem realistic almost immediately, and they feel more endearing in consequence, merely because we know the secrets which bubble below their fixed exteriors. The Raven Girl, too, feels realistic – she is a misfit of the most original kind.
Raven Girl feels like a modern fable in many ways. Its structure is dreamlike in places, and the mixture of the human’s relationship with a creature and the lack of named characters certainly adds to this. The story is inventive, and Niffenegger astounds in the way in which she is always able to create something so utterly unique. Not one of her books is alike, but all are incredibly intriguing and have a way of drawing the reader in almost immediately. The writing style, both simplistic and quite poetic at times, is pitch perfect for such a story. Niffenegger has woven together many elements, from ethics and genetics to the future of humanity in just a few pages, and for this she should certainly be commended.
Niffenegger has strived to create a modern day fairytale ‘full of wonderment and longing’, and a ‘mesmerising story that explores the bounds of transformation and possibility’. Raven Girl is a quick read, but a striking and unforgettable one nonetheless. It opens with the intriguing line: ‘Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven’. The story unfolds from here. The characters are all unnamed throughout and go by their easily identifiable titles of ‘Postman’, ‘Raven’, ‘Raven Girl’, ‘the doctor’ and ‘The Boy’. Similiarly, the English city in which the ‘flat, desolate suburb’ of the story takes place is vague in its location.
The real crux of the story comes when the Postman is tasked with delivering a letter to an address which is unknown to him – ‘Dripping Rock, Ravens’ Nest’. On meeting the Raven, who has fallen out of the nest at this address, her brothers ‘made unflattering comments about the Postman, whom they mistook for a cat; none of them had seen a person before, and cats featured in all the scary stories their parents told them at bedtime’. The Postman, believing the Raven to be ill, ‘wrapped her up in his scarf and began the long walk home, the Raven trembling in his arms’. Once at his home, he cares for her rather touchingly: ‘He made her a nest out of his old uniforms and shredded junk mail, and she lived on his kitchen table. He fed her sardines, earthworms, eggs, cheese, Weetabix, and raw lamb chops’.
As the story continues, the Postman and the Raven’s relationship begins to build. ‘As the days and weeks went by’, Niffenegger writes, ‘the Raven was charmed by the Postman. She understood that he meant no harm and that he was not a cat… Slowly the Raven and the Postman began to fall in love’. An egg is laid, ‘greenish-bluish with brown speckles’, and a ‘human girl’ hatches from it. This is the Raven Girl of the book’s title. Her life is a sad one in many respects – she cannot communicate with her father and she is lonely in her childhood – but her parents are determined that she should live as normally as is possible. They send her off to University, where she studies Biology. A visiting lecturer, teaching Raven Girl and her fellow students about chimeras – creatures made from two or more different species – tells her that he can turn her into a bird.
The characters are described to us as soon as they are introduced. The Postman is described as ‘no longer being a young and ardent postman… He yearned to have an adventure, but suspected that he probably wouldn’t… He sometimes had nightmares that featured e-mail’. Such touching and unique details make the characters seem realistic almost immediately, and they feel more endearing in consequence, merely because we know the secrets which bubble below their fixed exteriors. The Raven Girl, too, feels realistic – she is a misfit of the most original kind.
Raven Girl feels like a modern fable in many ways. Its structure is dreamlike in places, and the mixture of the human’s relationship with a creature and the lack of named characters certainly adds to this. The story is inventive, and Niffenegger astounds in the way in which she is always able to create something so utterly unique. Not one of her books is alike, but all are incredibly intriguing and have a way of drawing the reader in almost immediately. The writing style, both simplistic and quite poetic at times, is pitch perfect for such a story. Niffenegger has woven together many elements, from ethics and genetics to the future of humanity in just a few pages, and for this she should certainly be commended.
September 17, 2013
I didn't have any expectations one way or another for this book. I have never read the "The Time Traveler's Wife" and had never heard of this book until I picked it up one day browsing the "Graphic Novels" section of the bookstore, bought it, and began to read it on my way home (and then while walking to my house).
I start off by saying my inner-child isn't like most inner-children. I prefer Grimms to Disney any day. I'm also part Danish which means that a chunk of my family is from a country which prides itself on an author who dictates a lonely protagonist should be turned into sea foam. In other words, I like a good haunting fairytale and the lovely layout and illustrations only make it better. The writing was pretty; simple and fairly direct as if meant for children but elegant and intentional enough for adults.
I suppose the story also resonated with me more than most since I'm trans and it doesn't take a very close inspection to see how this book might be easy to relate to- actually, the comparison seemed pretty intentional. I really liked that the main character was very comfortable with who she was, even if she wasn't always comfortable in her own skin.
I saw some reviews on here about how some folks didn't think this was a good book because they don't think it's fit for children. I'm not even sure it was meant for children in the first place, honestly, it seems like it was intended to be read by teens and adults but I suppose it could be read by a child and I think the right child would actually really appreciate such a book.
This is a lovely little book but some audiences will get more out of it than others. I'd probably recommend it to the following sorts of folks: a mature child who thinks Disney is a bit too roses-and-sunshine, transgender children/young adults, Art students, and adults who enjoy a good fairytale and who never fully outgrew wanting books with pictures.
I start off by saying my inner-child isn't like most inner-children. I prefer Grimms to Disney any day. I'm also part Danish which means that a chunk of my family is from a country which prides itself on an author who dictates a lonely protagonist should be turned into sea foam. In other words, I like a good haunting fairytale and the lovely layout and illustrations only make it better. The writing was pretty; simple and fairly direct as if meant for children but elegant and intentional enough for adults.
I suppose the story also resonated with me more than most since I'm trans and it doesn't take a very close inspection to see how this book might be easy to relate to- actually, the comparison seemed pretty intentional. I really liked that the main character was very comfortable with who she was, even if she wasn't always comfortable in her own skin.
I saw some reviews on here about how some folks didn't think this was a good book because they don't think it's fit for children. I'm not even sure it was meant for children in the first place, honestly, it seems like it was intended to be read by teens and adults but I suppose it could be read by a child and I think the right child would actually really appreciate such a book.
This is a lovely little book but some audiences will get more out of it than others. I'd probably recommend it to the following sorts of folks: a mature child who thinks Disney is a bit too roses-and-sunshine, transgender children/young adults, Art students, and adults who enjoy a good fairytale and who never fully outgrew wanting books with pictures.
June 7, 2013
Raven Girl is a dark modern fairy tale, written and illustrated by Audrey Niffenegger. Far from a kids' album, it touches upon subjects such as surgery and body transformation; I read in an article that Audrey Niffenegger thought a lot about transgender issues when writing this story.
It was difficult for me to get into this story, probably too surrealist (even unbelievable). Seriously, a man and a raven? The rest is a bit morbid while not really developed. More work could have been put on the characters and the story. For example, I didn't really get the added-value of the young man in love or I found the prince's arrival a bit too abrupt. As a whole, I felt the book had been written a bit in a rush around a very good collaboration idea and interesting themes and atmosphere. The illustrations were not really my cup of tea, but others might be more sensitive to Niffenegger's style of fine lines and black, brown and red colours.
A deception? Not totally, because I had the chance to attend the ballet choreographed by Wayne McGreggor on the basis of Raven Girl's text. A collaboration which justifies in parts the simplicity of the book (but maybe not its lack of credibility...). I really enjoyed the interactions between the book and the ballet, with some pages and illustrations shown on a see-through screen. The ballet was not perfect, but I really like the idea of mixing literature, illustrations and dancing, allowing the reader/spectator to discover another side of the raven girl under each format.
Taken as a whole, I've enjoyed my Raven Girl experience, but I'm not totally convinced by the story of the book in itself.
It was difficult for me to get into this story, probably too surrealist (even unbelievable). Seriously, a man and a raven? The rest is a bit morbid while not really developed. More work could have been put on the characters and the story. For example, I didn't really get the added-value of the young man in love or I found the prince's arrival a bit too abrupt. As a whole, I felt the book had been written a bit in a rush around a very good collaboration idea and interesting themes and atmosphere. The illustrations were not really my cup of tea, but others might be more sensitive to Niffenegger's style of fine lines and black, brown and red colours.
A deception? Not totally, because I had the chance to attend the ballet choreographed by Wayne McGreggor on the basis of Raven Girl's text. A collaboration which justifies in parts the simplicity of the book (but maybe not its lack of credibility...). I really enjoyed the interactions between the book and the ballet, with some pages and illustrations shown on a see-through screen. The ballet was not perfect, but I really like the idea of mixing literature, illustrations and dancing, allowing the reader/spectator to discover another side of the raven girl under each format.
Taken as a whole, I've enjoyed my Raven Girl experience, but I'm not totally convinced by the story of the book in itself.
November 20, 2013
This is a dark modern fairy tale that combines the elements of classic fairy tales such as metamorphoses, sentient animals and unlikely unions with modern elements such as medicine and stem cell research.
Audrey Niffenegger was asked to write a 'dark fairy tale' to be used as the narrative for a new ballet for the Royal Ballet, which premiered at the Royal Opera House in May. The illustrations by Niffenegger are stunning and it was easy to see how this would would make a very powerful ballet - a modern Swan Lake yet with ravens. The graphic novel flows beautifully and takes hardly any time to read. I was enchanted.
Raven Girl takes wing and flies onstage - Audrey Niffenegger writes in The Guardian about creating the story for the Royal Ballet. It includes a number of illustrations from the book.
Audrey Niffenegger was asked to write a 'dark fairy tale' to be used as the narrative for a new ballet for the Royal Ballet, which premiered at the Royal Opera House in May. The illustrations by Niffenegger are stunning and it was easy to see how this would would make a very powerful ballet - a modern Swan Lake yet with ravens. The graphic novel flows beautifully and takes hardly any time to read. I was enchanted.
Raven Girl takes wing and flies onstage - Audrey Niffenegger writes in The Guardian about creating the story for the Royal Ballet. It includes a number of illustrations from the book.
April 22, 2013
*Copy of book received in advance from the publisher.*
Raven Girl was conceived as "a new fairy tale," and that is exactly what it is. As in a fairy tale, some details and impossibilities are glossed over; as in a fairy tale, the animal and human worlds overlap; as in a fairy tale, some characters have happy endings, and some come to unfortunate ends.
Those who have read The Three Incestuous Sisters, The Adventuress, and/or The Night Bookmobile will recognize Niffenegger's unique art in the pages of Raven Girl. Remarkable detail contrasts with simple, flowing lines, and muted browns, blues, and greens. Those who have read The Time Traveler's Wife will recognize Clare's obsession with birds.
Like most of Niffenegger's writing and art, Raven Girl is magical, dark, and unusual.
LibraryThing
Raven Girl was conceived as "a new fairy tale," and that is exactly what it is. As in a fairy tale, some details and impossibilities are glossed over; as in a fairy tale, the animal and human worlds overlap; as in a fairy tale, some characters have happy endings, and some come to unfortunate ends.
Those who have read The Three Incestuous Sisters, The Adventuress, and/or The Night Bookmobile will recognize Niffenegger's unique art in the pages of Raven Girl. Remarkable detail contrasts with simple, flowing lines, and muted browns, blues, and greens. Those who have read The Time Traveler's Wife will recognize Clare's obsession with birds.
Like most of Niffenegger's writing and art, Raven Girl is magical, dark, and unusual.
LibraryThing
January 16, 2016
Az illusztrációk szépek, bár maga az emberábrázolás nem tetszik benne. Hogy milyen a történet? Egy morbid és groteszk "tündérmese", ahogy Niffenegger magyarázza, annak kötelező elemeivel: baljós tragédiával, különös szerelemmel, az orvostudomány "varázslataival", átalakulással...
Nyitott szellemmel kell olvasni ezt a gótikus mesét. Nem tökéletes, de műfajában szerintem nagyon is eltalált.
Szabó T. Anna, Senki madarát olvasva sajnos nem tudtam mást tenni, mint lepontozni. A kanyarban sincs ahhoz képest.
Bővebben: http://pupillaolvas.blogspot.com/2016...
Nyitott szellemmel kell olvasni ezt a gótikus mesét. Nem tökéletes, de műfajában szerintem nagyon is eltalált.
Szabó T. Anna, Senki madarát olvasva sajnos nem tudtam mást tenni, mint lepontozni. A kanyarban sincs ahhoz képest.
Bővebben: http://pupillaolvas.blogspot.com/2016...
December 6, 2014
Raven Girl is a fairy tale for adults. The premise of romantic love between a postman and a raven intrigued me and the subsequent weird events kept me reading. This book has a touch of horror in it as well which is part of every captivating fairy tale. I loved this book's weird beauty.
June 4, 2015
A really good read, even if it was short.
To read my full review, click here.
To read my full review, click here.
April 17, 2020
2.5 stars.
This was a weird, but short little book. I had been slightly forewarned by some reviews prior to picking this up, but I have really enjoyed Niffenegger's other works, so I had to pick it up all the same. It's magical realism in the form of a new fairy tale, but it was just plain strange. I don't know if maybe constructing it as a novel and drawing it out would have made a difference or if it's just the plain facts of the story. As it was, the shortness likely saved it from a lower rating since I really didn't have to invest much time.
Was it still worth reading? I'd have to say maybe. Approaching it with the plan to take the time to really contemplate the story in an analytical way might have made it more...enjoyable? After finishing the book, I read a review with spoilers that made me think about the story a little deeper. Having read that, I can see some additional value in the story...it just had a bit too much of a blunt delivery to be something I could get myself truly invested in.
This was a weird, but short little book. I had been slightly forewarned by some reviews prior to picking this up, but I have really enjoyed Niffenegger's other works, so I had to pick it up all the same. It's magical realism in the form of a new fairy tale, but it was just plain strange. I don't know if maybe constructing it as a novel and drawing it out would have made a difference or if it's just the plain facts of the story. As it was, the shortness likely saved it from a lower rating since I really didn't have to invest much time.
Was it still worth reading? I'd have to say maybe. Approaching it with the plan to take the time to really contemplate the story in an analytical way might have made it more...enjoyable? After finishing the book, I read a review with spoilers that made me think about the story a little deeper. Having read that, I can see some additional value in the story...it just had a bit too much of a blunt delivery to be something I could get myself truly invested in.
January 11, 2023
short and magical and superbly illustrated
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