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The Motherless Oven #2
The Can Opener’s Daughter
In the British Comic Award-winning The Motherless Oven , Scarper Lee “Who the hell is Vera Pike?” In the second part of Rob Davis’ trilogy, we get a chance to find out. This is Vera’s story.
Grave Acre is a cruel world of opportunity and control. Vera’s mother is the Weather Clock, the omnipotent and megalomaniacal Prime Minister of Chance. Her father is a can opener. Charting Vera’s unsettling childhood, the book takes us from her home in Parliament to suicide school, and from the Bear Park to the black woods that lie beyond. In the present day, Vera and Castro Smith are determined to see their friend Scarper again – but is he still alive? And if so, can they save him? Can anyone outlive their deathday?
Both a sequel and a darkly inventive standalone graphic novel, The Can Opener’s Daughter answers many of the questions posed in The Motherless Oven , while asking plenty more of its own.
Grave Acre is a cruel world of opportunity and control. Vera’s mother is the Weather Clock, the omnipotent and megalomaniacal Prime Minister of Chance. Her father is a can opener. Charting Vera’s unsettling childhood, the book takes us from her home in Parliament to suicide school, and from the Bear Park to the black woods that lie beyond. In the present day, Vera and Castro Smith are determined to see their friend Scarper again – but is he still alive? And if so, can they save him? Can anyone outlive their deathday?
Both a sequel and a darkly inventive standalone graphic novel, The Can Opener’s Daughter answers many of the questions posed in The Motherless Oven , while asking plenty more of its own.
160 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 2017
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349 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
June 8, 2017
The sequel to Davis’s The Motherless Oven, and similarly titled, just so you can continue to understand that reading this means you must Embrace the Weird. The story of a girl whose father is a can opener and mother is The Weather Clock,, not just ANY weather clock, mind you, who sends her to St. Sylvia’s School of Bleak Prospects and Suicide. It’s basically a coming-of-age story on some vintage British acid.
The world is one where teens make parents in ovens, the sky rains knives, there's a clock that tells you it is knife o'clock, appliances have souls, there are death days, not birthdays, but even though it is this kooky world, the kids all seem familiar. The family—such as it is—lives in the west wing of Parliament, where Vera’s mom seems to run things.
The focus is on Vera and her friend Cas who face all the evil adults in family and school and try to save their friend Scarper.
Okay, but wait: what does this remind you of?
a) Edmund Gorey
b) Terry Pratchett
c) Douglas Adams
d) Neil Gaiman
e) All of the above, but not quite any of them, either. Something punker, angrier. More surreal.
“I still have a purpose. It keeps the self-immolation at bay. So to speak.”—Davis
*All the students in Vera Pike’s school have hyphenated names except her: “Just Pike, indeed. Utterly ridiculous. What kind of child has half a name?” ☺
*The school also makes each student fill out a suicide graph, so they can know their death day. “Immortality as a yearning disability.” Vera plans to live forever, though. No suicide for her. Kids do actually kill themselves in this book, but it appears to me suicide is more a metaphor for gladly joining the adult world and doing what you are told to do.
* Hmm, and some kids kept by the school in jars. This is where the social satire yruns to horror. Requiring resistance and revenge.
*Bear Park, Book of Forks, Deceptorists, talking appliances, too much weirdness to keep track of. Fascinating on the level of invention, I guess, but not so easy to follow as story.
*Something Oedipal happens between Vera and her Mother at the very end that is worth discussing but not spoiling.
Touch of horror, touch of contemporary politics and resistance, touch of growing up story, touch of punk… a mishmash which can be fun and scary but sounds a bit more fun than it actually is. It’s a kind of a dramatic analogical rendition of how many kids feel about the world, world of adults and school and the need to Be Free. We await the third book of the trilogy, but not with bated breath. I will read it, though.
The world is one where teens make parents in ovens, the sky rains knives, there's a clock that tells you it is knife o'clock, appliances have souls, there are death days, not birthdays, but even though it is this kooky world, the kids all seem familiar. The family—such as it is—lives in the west wing of Parliament, where Vera’s mom seems to run things.
The focus is on Vera and her friend Cas who face all the evil adults in family and school and try to save their friend Scarper.
Okay, but wait: what does this remind you of?
a) Edmund Gorey
b) Terry Pratchett
c) Douglas Adams
d) Neil Gaiman
e) All of the above, but not quite any of them, either. Something punker, angrier. More surreal.
“I still have a purpose. It keeps the self-immolation at bay. So to speak.”—Davis
*All the students in Vera Pike’s school have hyphenated names except her: “Just Pike, indeed. Utterly ridiculous. What kind of child has half a name?” ☺
*The school also makes each student fill out a suicide graph, so they can know their death day. “Immortality as a yearning disability.” Vera plans to live forever, though. No suicide for her. Kids do actually kill themselves in this book, but it appears to me suicide is more a metaphor for gladly joining the adult world and doing what you are told to do.
* Hmm, and some kids kept by the school in jars. This is where the social satire yruns to horror. Requiring resistance and revenge.
*Bear Park, Book of Forks, Deceptorists, talking appliances, too much weirdness to keep track of. Fascinating on the level of invention, I guess, but not so easy to follow as story.
*Something Oedipal happens between Vera and her Mother at the very end that is worth discussing but not spoiling.
Touch of horror, touch of contemporary politics and resistance, touch of growing up story, touch of punk… a mishmash which can be fun and scary but sounds a bit more fun than it actually is. It’s a kind of a dramatic analogical rendition of how many kids feel about the world, world of adults and school and the need to Be Free. We await the third book of the trilogy, but not with bated breath. I will read it, though.
May 26, 2017
Seemed a bit disjointed, but I assume that's due to me not having read the first book, which I surmise takes place in the gap between the first half of this book (Vera's family and school years) and the second (picking up with her in a forest with a boy with a machine in his head, planning to save their someone from his scheduled death).
May 5, 2017
As you'd expect from the title, this was quite strange and surreal. Vera lives in Grave Acre. Her father is literally a can opener. Her mother is the Weather Clock, and also the Prime Minister. That's her mother on the front cover, the one sitting in the chair. Vera and her mother have a somewhat contentious relationship. Vera is inclined to question things and rebel against authority, whereas her mother is authority personified. Grave Acre is definitely not the normal world that we know. There are gods everywhere, children construct their own parents, and suicides are plotted on charts years in advance.
This book is actually the second of a trilogy, the first being The Motherless Oven, which I've not read. The third book is, presumably, still pending as I write this. Despite coming in on the middle of the story, I didn't get the sense that I was missing anything crucial. At the end, there's an implication of more to come, but it didn't feel like a cliffhanger or anything. The world Davis has created is a fascinating one. It has its own rules, but stays true to them. There's a bit of a break in the middle of the book, where the action suddenly jumps forward and we get a summary of how we got there. It's a bit jarring, but possibly it's related to and/or explained by events from The Motherless Oven? I'll have to get my hands on a copy and see.
The Can Opener's Daughter is an impressive bit of world building. I'm reminded of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, among other things. Highly recommended!
This book is actually the second of a trilogy, the first being The Motherless Oven, which I've not read. The third book is, presumably, still pending as I write this. Despite coming in on the middle of the story, I didn't get the sense that I was missing anything crucial. At the end, there's an implication of more to come, but it didn't feel like a cliffhanger or anything. The world Davis has created is a fascinating one. It has its own rules, but stays true to them. There's a bit of a break in the middle of the book, where the action suddenly jumps forward and we get a summary of how we got there. It's a bit jarring, but possibly it's related to and/or explained by events from The Motherless Oven? I'll have to get my hands on a copy and see.
The Can Opener's Daughter is an impressive bit of world building. I'm reminded of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, among other things. Highly recommended!
April 28, 2020
I am puzzled why so few reviewers give this less than five stars because the Motherless Oven Trilogy is, without doubt, one of the most creative and deeply personal inventions I have encountered in any medium. It is a self contained and self referential universe. In this regard, and in the young characters Rob Davis could be compared with Rowling or C S Lewis , but they both created brilliant collages of material from previous sources whereas this is much darker and it is hard to think of any specific inspirations for this deeply odd world. I cannot recommend them strongly enough (get all three) and hope that Davis gets the recognition deserving of his talent.
September 13, 2022
As much as I loved the first one, this one I just really did not connect with. I’ll probably still look for the third one, but won’t be in a rush to do so.
January 13, 2021
Liked this more than The Motherless Oven. Still have no idea what is happening most of the time, but I like the ride. The teenage angst reminds me of Deadly Class a lot.
August 12, 2019
This book is every bit as freakishly wonderful as its predecessor, The Motherless Oven. Name plates, suicide charts, and ink gods… there were so many new weird and incredible details. Details that are just so mundane and accepted by characters in the book, but that just make me smile and ponder possible deeper meanings. Whether there are deeper meanings or not–whether you look for them or not–doesn’t matter. I just as easily love this book for its random nonsense.
And the art. It has so much depth and detail. Varies from quite simplistic to immensely intricate. If the concepts are bizarre and out of the ordinary, well, it’s only right that the art work is, too. The contraptions children have cobbled together to call parents–some as simplistic as a basic can opener, others as complex as torturous racing cars. The paintings and wheels. The garden full of growing gazettes. I really love the panel choices and framing of scenes. So many, simply as stand alones, are so striking and beautiful. The Weather Clock’s boobs, though, are absolutely terrifying.
A longer review can be found at by book blog: Marvel at Words.
And the art. It has so much depth and detail. Varies from quite simplistic to immensely intricate. If the concepts are bizarre and out of the ordinary, well, it’s only right that the art work is, too. The contraptions children have cobbled together to call parents–some as simplistic as a basic can opener, others as complex as torturous racing cars. The paintings and wheels. The garden full of growing gazettes. I really love the panel choices and framing of scenes. So many, simply as stand alones, are so striking and beautiful. The Weather Clock’s boobs, though, are absolutely terrifying.
A longer review can be found at by book blog: Marvel at Words.
February 12, 2025
“I’m like the village witch who gets burned when the child gets sick or the crops fail…if you can’t blame the weather, blame the mother. Welcome to womanhood!”
September 8, 2021
I am loving these books. One more to go, and it's interesting that this second book has a slightly different tone to it, and feels less crazy because there was so much world building in the first book, and with this one it is more plot driven.
So creative and crazy, but totally coherent at the same time.
Absolutely love it.
So creative and crazy, but totally coherent at the same time.
Absolutely love it.
July 31, 2020
This is so good. Definitely read the first book first.
We get to know Vera Pike. She's the daughter of the Weather Clock, who basically runs everything and is also neurotic. But if kids make their parents, how could Vera have made the Weather Clock when there's always been a Weather Clock. We get to see more of the internal logic of this strange world. We also see another region called Grave Acre, which has different rules than Bear Park.
Vera's story feels so epic that I actually found it a bit of a let down when we caught up to the present of the first book. Vera wasn't just the disaffected youth from the first book, she's on an arc to bring down the whole system. The rebel-without-a-cause trope is kind of beneath her.
We get to know Vera Pike. She's the daughter of the Weather Clock, who basically runs everything and is also neurotic. But if kids make their parents, how could Vera have made the Weather Clock when there's always been a Weather Clock. We get to see more of the internal logic of this strange world. We also see another region called Grave Acre, which has different rules than Bear Park.
Vera's story feels so epic that I actually found it a bit of a let down when we caught up to the present of the first book. Vera wasn't just the disaffected youth from the first book, she's on an arc to bring down the whole system. The rebel-without-a-cause trope is kind of beneath her.
March 3, 2025
So deeply odd. And dark. And amazingly inventive. The drunk garden gods, the hippies caring for the recorded last thoughts of dead children, and the utterly terrifying Weather Clock - this graphic novel is as weird as it is compelling.
Read
March 30, 2017Review to come.
July 28, 2017
This was delightfully inventive! Turns out it's the middle of a trilogy, though, so now I need to read the first one and wait for the third one to come out…
November 4, 2018
I thought that, because I had read the previous book so long ago, I would have a hard time getting back into this. Luckily that was not the case. Is there going to be a continuation?
August 15, 2022
Really inspired by the worldbuilding, the parental relationships. Gonna find the first book of the trilogy somewhere...
Read
June 13, 2023just read this and the motherless oven consecutively this morning and i have melted my brain!!! very interesting so far i’ll have to see if the library has the third book 🤔
March 24, 2025
I am so intrigued and confused
February 25, 2017
This is the second book after The Motherless Oven and is just as gripping as the first one.
This is a serious contender for my Best Graphic Novel of 2017.
This is a serious contender for my Best Graphic Novel of 2017.
March 23, 2019
Κριτική στο Smassing Culture
Τι θα συνέβαινε αν επαναστατούσαν τα σύμβολα;
Πολύ συχνά σε συζητήσεις για διάφορα πολιτισμικά θέματα, από την οικογένεια μέχρι την δικαιοσύνη και από τις σχέσεις μέχρι την εξουσία, συναντά κανείς ένα στείρο και ενοχλητικά κενό επιχείρημα: πως αυτά δεν υπάρχουν στην πραγματικότητα, είναι εφευρέσεις του ανθρώπου, κενά σύμβολα για να ντύσει τις βιολογικές του ανάγκες. Πολλές απαντήσεις υπάρχουν για έναν τέτοιο κυνικό βιολογισμό στις ανθρωπιστικές επιστήμες, όμως την πιο διασκεδαστική μας την δίνει το καυστικό χιούμορ του Rod Davis με την αποκαλυπτικά λυρική και σουρεαλιστικά δομημένη τριλογία του. Τα πρώτα δύο μέρη, τα Η Ώρα των Μαχαιριών και το sequel/prequel του, το Η Κόρη του Ανοιχτηριού, αμφότερα σε μετάφραση της Μαρία Χρίστου για τις εκδόσεις Χαραμάδα.
Στον αυτοαναφορικό κόσμου που έπλασαν οι εφιάλτες του Rod Davis, τα σύμβολα δεν είναι κάτι αφηρημένο, που μονάχα όσοι πιστεύουν σε αυτά μπορούν να μας βλάψουν. Αντίθετα, είναι ζωντανά, είναι οι ( πάντα κατασκευασμένοι) γονείς που δεν φτιάχνουν, αλλά φτιάχνονται από παιδιά. Είναι αυτά που επιβάλλουν τα διαγράμματα αυτοκτονίας για την μεγιστοποίηση της χαράς και της παραγωγικότητας, που διαχωρίζουν τις τάξεις όχι απλά με γυάλινα τείχη, αλλά με ιπτάμενα κάστρα που ρίχνουν βροχές από μαχαίρια.
Σε αυτόν τον ασπρόμαυρο και τακτοποιημένο κόσμο όλα κανονίζονται βάσει την προκαθορισμένη ημερομηνία θανάτου, τα νεκρόθλια κάποιου, ένα γλωσσικό εύρημα που έκανε δυνατή μια πολύ δύσκολη μετάφραση, γεμάτη πνευματώδη ευφυολογήματα και λογοπαίγνια . Κανείς δεν ζει, ούτε πεθαίνει ελεύθερος. Μια τριάδα παιδιών, αρχίζουν να αμφισβητούν αυτό τον σιδερένιο κανόνα, που ακόμα και ο θάνατος δεν σπάει, και ξεκινούν έναν αγώνα δρόμου με τον Χρόνο προκειμένου να σπάσουν τις παραδόσεις που κρατούν αυτό το σύστημα ενωμένο.
Ακόμα και αν ήταν μόνο αυτό το premise, το έργο του Davis είναι το είδος του σκεπτόμενου, δύστροπου βρετανικού κόμικ που μας αρέσει πολύ. Μια πολύ ιδιαίτερη ιστορία εφηβικής επανάστασης και, τελικά, ενηλικίωσης, γραμμένο με βιτριολικό, απαισιόδοξο χιούμορ.
Όμως ο Rob Davis πάει παρά πέρα το αλλοπρόσαλλο δημιούργημα του (σεναριακά και σχεδιαστικά) και μας παρασύρει σε μια συζήτηση για την ίδια την ουσία των όρων επανάσταση, εξουσία, συμβολικά πραγματική και πραγματικά συμβολική. Γιατί και τα ίδια τα σύμβολα ασκούν εξουσία, και τελικά, τα ίδια τα σύμβολα μπορούν να επαναστήσουν εναντίον της. Διότι, ακόμα και στον δικό μας κόσμο, όταν δημιουργείται ένας θεσμός, μια ενέργεια από κεκτημένη ταχύτητα ρέει μέσα του και τον ζωντανεύει. Οι έννοιες δεν είναι απλά χαρτιά, αλλά διαθέτουν ολόκληρα συστήματα πίσω και μέσα τους τα οποία δεν είναι ουδέτερες μηχανές. Συμμετέχουν στην κοινωνική πάλη γύρω τους, ως εργαλεία, τρόπαια αλλά και πρωταγωνιστές.
Είναι τα παραδείγματα του Χρόνου, που εδώ είναι μια αδίστακτη λακανική μητέρα που τρώει τα παιδιά της. Είναι ένας ευνουχισμένος πατέρας που εισβάλει/ανοίγει άλλες επιφάνειες, σε μια προσπάθεια να αποκτήσει έστω και έμμεσα λίγη εξουσία. Είναι ακόμα ο ίδιος ο γερασμένος νόμος που διασαλεύει την ισορροπία μεταξύ ζωής και θανάτου για να επιβάλλει την δική του φαινομενική κυριαρχία.
Αυτό ο ανταγωνισμός διαπνέει όλα τα πεδία της ζωής: την οικογένεια, το σχολείο, την πολιτική εξουσία. Είναι παντού και οι ήρωες (μαζί και οι αναγνώστες), στην προσπάθεια τους να καταλάβουν πως λειτουργεί αυτός ο ανεστραμμένος κόσμος, γίνονται ταυτόχρονα μάρτυρες και φορείς του. Όπως ακριβώς και η εξουσία που πολεμούν. Ο Davis μας προκαλεί, με έναν αρκετά απαισιόδοξο τόνο, να αναρωτηθούμε: πόσο τελικά επαναστατική είναι η επανάσταση; Και, τι επανάσταση θέλουμε; Και η εξουσία; Τι θα γίνει με την εξουσία;
«Αιώνια επαναστάτρια, ε; Φυσικά όλοι επαναστάτες είναι στα νιάτα τους. Το ξεπερνούν μεγαλώνοντας γιατί η αληθινή αλλαγή σημαίνει ανάληψη εξουσίας. Και η εξουσία μας κάνει όλους τέρατα. Απαιτεί να κάνουμε σημεία και τέρατα. Λένε πως ο γονιός υπάρχει για να έχει το παιδί κάτι ενάντια στο οποίο να επαναστατήσει, κάτι που θα το αποτρέψει από το να επαναστατήσει ενάντια στα πιο ουσιαστικά… Τι συμβαίνει όμως όταν επαναστατεί ένας γονιός;… Επανάσταση!», λέει η μητέρα- Πρωθυπουργός Πιθανοτήτων/ Ρολόι Δημαρχείου. Εμείς όμως τι απαντάμε;
Όσον αφορά το σχέδιο, ο Davis χρησιμοποιεί με σχεδόν χειρουργική ακρίβεια την επηροή διάφορων υπερρεαλιστών ζωγράφων, με κυρίαρχο ανάμεσα τους τον de Chirico. Πράγματι στο ασπρόμαυρο σύμπαν, μια (α)χρωματική επιλογή που ταιριάζει περισσότερο με τον τόνο και την ατμόσφαιρα του έργου, η αυστηρή, μεταφυσική γεωμετρία του μεγάλου Ιταλού φαίνεται κυρίαρχη. Βέβαια οι ανθρώπινοι πρωταγωνιστές είναι πιστοί στην αμερικανική σχολή, όσο και αν πολλές εκφράσεις τους ξαφνιάζουν.
Αναμένουμε το τρίτο μέρος της τριλογίας προκειμένου να κλείσει η ιστορία, όχι όμως και τα ερωτήματα που θέτει. Γιατί, τελικά, αυτό δε κάνει η Τέχνη; Επανάσταση!
Τι θα συνέβαινε αν επαναστατούσαν τα σύμβολα;
Πολύ συχνά σε συζητήσεις για διάφορα πολιτισμικά θέματα, από την οικογένεια μέχρι την δικαιοσύνη και από τις σχέσεις μέχρι την εξουσία, συναντά κανείς ένα στείρο και ενοχλητικά κενό επιχείρημα: πως αυτά δεν υπάρχουν στην πραγματικότητα, είναι εφευρέσεις του ανθρώπου, κενά σύμβολα για να ντύσει τις βιολογικές του ανάγκες. Πολλές απαντήσεις υπάρχουν για έναν τέτοιο κυνικό βιολογισμό στις ανθρωπιστικές επιστήμες, όμως την πιο διασκεδαστική μας την δίνει το καυστικό χιούμορ του Rod Davis με την αποκαλυπτικά λυρική και σουρεαλιστικά δομημένη τριλογία του. Τα πρώτα δύο μέρη, τα Η Ώρα των Μαχαιριών και το sequel/prequel του, το Η Κόρη του Ανοιχτηριού, αμφότερα σε μετάφραση της Μαρία Χρίστου για τις εκδόσεις Χαραμάδα.
Στον αυτοαναφορικό κόσμου που έπλασαν οι εφιάλτες του Rod Davis, τα σύμβολα δεν είναι κάτι αφηρημένο, που μονάχα όσοι πιστεύουν σε αυτά μπορούν να μας βλάψουν. Αντίθετα, είναι ζωντανά, είναι οι ( πάντα κατασκευασμένοι) γονείς που δεν φτιάχνουν, αλλά φτιάχνονται από παιδιά. Είναι αυτά που επιβάλλουν τα διαγράμματα αυτοκτονίας για την μεγιστοποίηση της χαράς και της παραγωγικότητας, που διαχωρίζουν τις τάξεις όχι απλά με γυάλινα τείχη, αλλά με ιπτάμενα κάστρα που ρίχνουν βροχές από μαχαίρια.
Σε αυτόν τον ασπρόμαυρο και τακτοποιημένο κόσμο όλα κανονίζονται βάσει την προκαθορισμένη ημερομηνία θανάτου, τα νεκρόθλια κάποιου, ένα γλωσσικό εύρημα που έκανε δυνατή μια πολύ δύσκολη μετάφραση, γεμάτη πνευματώδη ευφυολογήματα και λογοπαίγνια . Κανείς δεν ζει, ούτε πεθαίνει ελεύθερος. Μια τριάδα παιδιών, αρχίζουν να αμφισβητούν αυτό τον σιδερένιο κανόνα, που ακόμα και ο θάνατος δεν σπάει, και ξεκινούν έναν αγώνα δρόμου με τον Χρόνο προκειμένου να σπάσουν τις παραδόσεις που κρατούν αυτό το σύστημα ενωμένο.
Ακόμα και αν ήταν μόνο αυτό το premise, το έργο του Davis είναι το είδος του σκεπτόμενου, δύστροπου βρετανικού κόμικ που μας αρέσει πολύ. Μια πολύ ιδιαίτερη ιστορία εφηβικής επανάστασης και, τελικά, ενηλικίωσης, γραμμένο με βιτριολικό, απαισιόδοξο χιούμορ.
Όμως ο Rob Davis πάει παρά πέρα το αλλοπρόσαλλο δημιούργημα του (σεναριακά και σχεδιαστικά) και μας παρασύρει σε μια συζήτηση για την ίδια την ουσία των όρων επανάσταση, εξουσία, συμβολικά πραγματική και πραγματικά συμβολική. Γιατί και τα ίδια τα σύμβολα ασκούν εξουσία, και τελικά, τα ίδια τα σύμβολα μπορούν να επαναστήσουν εναντίον της. Διότι, ακόμα και στον δικό μας κόσμο, όταν δημιουργείται ένας θεσμός, μια ενέργεια από κεκτημένη ταχύτητα ρέει μέσα του και τον ζωντανεύει. Οι έννοιες δεν είναι απλά χαρτιά, αλλά διαθέτουν ολόκληρα συστήματα πίσω και μέσα τους τα οποία δεν είναι ουδέτερες μηχανές. Συμμετέχουν στην κοινωνική πάλη γύρω τους, ως εργαλεία, τρόπαια αλλά και πρωταγωνιστές.
Είναι τα παραδείγματα του Χρόνου, που εδώ είναι μια αδίστακτη λακανική μητέρα που τρώει τα παιδιά της. Είναι ένας ευνουχισμένος πατέρας που εισβάλει/ανοίγει άλλες επιφάνειες, σε μια προσπάθεια να αποκτήσει έστω και έμμεσα λίγη εξουσία. Είναι ακόμα ο ίδιος ο γερασμένος νόμος που διασαλεύει την ισορροπία μεταξύ ζωής και θανάτου για να επιβάλλει την δική του φαινομενική κυριαρχία.
Αυτό ο ανταγωνισμός διαπνέει όλα τα πεδία της ζωής: την οικογένεια, το σχολείο, την πολιτική εξουσία. Είναι παντού και οι ήρωες (μαζί και οι αναγνώστες), στην προσπάθεια τους να καταλάβουν πως λειτουργεί αυτός ο ανεστραμμένος κόσμος, γίνονται ταυτόχρονα μάρτυρες και φορείς του. Όπως ακριβώς και η εξουσία που πολεμούν. Ο Davis μας προκαλεί, με έναν αρκετά απαισιόδοξο τόνο, να αναρωτηθούμε: πόσο τελικά επαναστατική είναι η επανάσταση; Και, τι επανάσταση θέλουμε; Και η εξουσία; Τι θα γίνει με την εξουσία;
«Αιώνια επαναστάτρια, ε; Φυσικά όλοι επαναστάτες είναι στα νιάτα τους. Το ξεπερνούν μεγαλώνοντας γιατί η αληθινή αλλαγή σημαίνει ανάληψη εξουσίας. Και η εξουσία μας κάνει όλους τέρατα. Απαιτεί να κάνουμε σημεία και τέρατα. Λένε πως ο γονιός υπάρχει για να έχει το παιδί κάτι ενάντια στο οποίο να επαναστατήσει, κάτι που θα το αποτρέψει από το να επαναστατήσει ενάντια στα πιο ουσιαστικά… Τι συμβαίνει όμως όταν επαναστατεί ένας γονιός;… Επανάσταση!», λέει η μητέρα- Πρωθυπουργός Πιθανοτήτων/ Ρολόι Δημαρχείου. Εμείς όμως τι απαντάμε;
Όσον αφορά το σχέδιο, ο Davis χρησιμοποιεί με σχεδόν χειρουργική ακρίβεια την επηροή διάφορων υπερρεαλιστών ζωγράφων, με κυρίαρχο ανάμεσα τους τον de Chirico. Πράγματι στο ασπρόμαυρο σύμπαν, μια (α)χρωματική επιλογή που ταιριάζει περισσότερο με τον τόνο και την ατμόσφαιρα του έργου, η αυστηρή, μεταφυσική γεωμετρία του μεγάλου Ιταλού φαίνεται κυρίαρχη. Βέβαια οι ανθρώπινοι πρωταγωνιστές είναι πιστοί στην αμερικανική σχολή, όσο και αν πολλές εκφράσεις τους ξαφνιάζουν.
Αναμένουμε το τρίτο μέρος της τριλογίας προκειμένου να κλείσει η ιστορία, όχι όμως και τα ερωτήματα που θέτει. Γιατί, τελικά, αυτό δε κάνει η Τέχνη; Επανάσταση!
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October 9, 2023Being British is craaaaaazy
February 24, 2017
Rob Davis returns to the world he created in The Motherless Oven for another off-kilter tale, this time focusing on the story of Vera Pike. It clearly says as much on the blurb on the back, but I just dived straight in, thinking this was a separate story, so it came as quite a nice surprise when it tied in to the previous book. But that’s by-the-bye.
Vera lives in Grave Acre where her imperious and somewhat frightening mother is the Weather Clock and her poor old Dad is a small can opener. Vera’s mother is also the Prime Minister, so they reside in Parliament where Vera is expected to stay out of the way, especially when her mother has been drinking. This sows the seeds of her rebelliousness and leaves her stranded as a boarder in a private school, a suicide school, no less. As Vera’s mother continues to dominate and overshadow her life, it hardens her resolve and sets her on a course of complete defiance that connects up with, and continues, the tale from The Motherless Oven.
But there’s much more than that. Davis has created something self-contained and extremely odd, with its own internal logic. It defy’s the natural world, and is downright creepy at times, but at its heart it’s a British coming-of-age adventure story, even if the Britain it portrays is not Britain at all but an odd distortion. Undoubtedly strange, it takes its twisted ideas and forms a logical narrative in an illogical setting, so when Vera is taking part in her ridiculous lessons at school it draws on the parallels many a child has experienced of being left behind in a baffling class and you can’t help but will her on. Her own struggle with her parents reflects many a young teens’ dawning realisation of who they are and where they’re going, and what, if anything, they can do about it. It’s just that Vera’s existence is rather different to the average kid.
The Motherless Oven deservedly received outstanding praise, and Davis hasn’t rested on his laurels for this second book. I doubt you’ll read anything quite like it, but all the same, do read it.
Vera lives in Grave Acre where her imperious and somewhat frightening mother is the Weather Clock and her poor old Dad is a small can opener. Vera’s mother is also the Prime Minister, so they reside in Parliament where Vera is expected to stay out of the way, especially when her mother has been drinking. This sows the seeds of her rebelliousness and leaves her stranded as a boarder in a private school, a suicide school, no less. As Vera’s mother continues to dominate and overshadow her life, it hardens her resolve and sets her on a course of complete defiance that connects up with, and continues, the tale from The Motherless Oven.
But there’s much more than that. Davis has created something self-contained and extremely odd, with its own internal logic. It defy’s the natural world, and is downright creepy at times, but at its heart it’s a British coming-of-age adventure story, even if the Britain it portrays is not Britain at all but an odd distortion. Undoubtedly strange, it takes its twisted ideas and forms a logical narrative in an illogical setting, so when Vera is taking part in her ridiculous lessons at school it draws on the parallels many a child has experienced of being left behind in a baffling class and you can’t help but will her on. Her own struggle with her parents reflects many a young teens’ dawning realisation of who they are and where they’re going, and what, if anything, they can do about it. It’s just that Vera’s existence is rather different to the average kid.
The Motherless Oven deservedly received outstanding praise, and Davis hasn’t rested on his laurels for this second book. I doubt you’ll read anything quite like it, but all the same, do read it.
July 31, 2017
This series leaves wanting more. Rob Davis' imaginative concepts are fresh and new, and The Can Opener's Daughter opens a sympathetic emotion for Vera Pike, while also enjoying the aura of unknown around her.
Haha But my words don't give this book justice.
Haha But my words don't give this book justice.
June 22, 2020
I enjoyed ‘The Can Opener’s Daughter’ by Rob Davis but it is one weird graphic novel. Mind you, men wearing their underpants on the outside to fight criminals in New York are weird, too, but we are used to super-heroes. Just as Radio can be used for the ‘Today Programme’ or ‘The Goons’, so comics, too, are a flexible medium with many possibilities. ‘The Can Opener’s Daughter’ is certainly different from mainstream comics.
In the opening scene, Vera Pike wakes up in bed to find her drunken mom leaning over her and demanding to know who she loves best: mother or father. This is unsettling for any child but even more so when mother is a big naked female covered in sharp spikes with a weather clock for a head and dad is a can opener. Not a modern electric one or anything, the old-fashioned kind that’s just a handle with a curved blade. Mother keeps him locked in a drawer in the kitchen most of the time.
He’s not very assertive. She, on the other hand, is the Prime-Minister and Vera lives with her in the vast Parliament building. Mum is usually busy, so Vera is homeschooled by three talking inkpots on pedestals known as the Ink Gods. She tends to bunk off school and spend time with the other Gods, the statues in the large garden. They give her advice, ‘Listen to the warm-hearted and dear departed. Listen to the loam strangling the bones.’
One day, Vera is taken to a psychiatrist, Dr. Goose-Kennington and regressed to her childhood. She recalls creating her mother in a sort of factory called the Motherless Oven and then moving to Bear Park where they lived in a small terraced house with a tiny back garden.
After the visit to the psychiatrist, Vera is sent to boarding school where she is despised for having only one surname. Everyone else has two, hyphenated. The girls work on suicide graphs which chart their future lives from career advancement to middle-aged disillusionment and suicide. They have textbooks on Cullcullus.
That’s a plot summary of the first fifty pages in a one hundred and fifty-page book. I wouldn’t normally give away so much but it seemed the best way to convey the content which is all very strange. I was tempted to put it down but, one facet of being a dutiful reviewer is that it forces you to persist with the difficult stuff. Often this is a good thing. Nowadays, with so much entertainment available, we are inclined to put away anything that doesn’t hook us in the first few pages, a bad habit. Keep reading and you get a chip pan with damaged Neo-Paganist filaments, a ‘Book Of Forks’ which is an encyclopaedia of all possible histories and a post-mortem of all possible futures. Hippies run a Gazette Nursery where they care for the souls of lost children. There are Errorists, hunted down by old people whose duty it is to uphold the Lore.
That’s the story. The art is more cartoonish than illustrative but perfectly acceptable and the storytelling is excellent. The layouts and camera angles work well to show Vera’s isolation at key points and to highlight dramatic moments, often with ‘silent’ panels containing no captions or word balloons. I had better make clear that it’s black and white lest some dimwit who only likes colour books should buy it in error. I would also like to mention that you get a lot of content for your money here. It’s a dense script, carefully drawn and a lot of work has gone into it. Too often, comic book fans are foisted off with a thin plot and some splashy poster panels. Not here.
The whole thing is perhaps best summed up by a quote from a printer on page 110: ‘Making sense is overrated. It’s just confirming what people already think. Making new sense is more important.’ Probably the best thing to do with ‘The Can Opener’s Daughter’ is to enjoy the inventive, original, inscrutable ride and don’t worry too much about sense. Somehow, it works. Vera has a couple of loyal friends and the story gallops down its own peculiar path to a dramatic and moving conclusion. Apparently, this is part two of a trilogy. I would like to read part one, ‘The Motherless Oven’,– and look forward to part three.
I recommend it to open-minded readers who fancy something different but don’t take whatever drugs Rob Davis is using. They obviously mess with your brain.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
In the opening scene, Vera Pike wakes up in bed to find her drunken mom leaning over her and demanding to know who she loves best: mother or father. This is unsettling for any child but even more so when mother is a big naked female covered in sharp spikes with a weather clock for a head and dad is a can opener. Not a modern electric one or anything, the old-fashioned kind that’s just a handle with a curved blade. Mother keeps him locked in a drawer in the kitchen most of the time.
He’s not very assertive. She, on the other hand, is the Prime-Minister and Vera lives with her in the vast Parliament building. Mum is usually busy, so Vera is homeschooled by three talking inkpots on pedestals known as the Ink Gods. She tends to bunk off school and spend time with the other Gods, the statues in the large garden. They give her advice, ‘Listen to the warm-hearted and dear departed. Listen to the loam strangling the bones.’
One day, Vera is taken to a psychiatrist, Dr. Goose-Kennington and regressed to her childhood. She recalls creating her mother in a sort of factory called the Motherless Oven and then moving to Bear Park where they lived in a small terraced house with a tiny back garden.
After the visit to the psychiatrist, Vera is sent to boarding school where she is despised for having only one surname. Everyone else has two, hyphenated. The girls work on suicide graphs which chart their future lives from career advancement to middle-aged disillusionment and suicide. They have textbooks on Cullcullus.
That’s a plot summary of the first fifty pages in a one hundred and fifty-page book. I wouldn’t normally give away so much but it seemed the best way to convey the content which is all very strange. I was tempted to put it down but, one facet of being a dutiful reviewer is that it forces you to persist with the difficult stuff. Often this is a good thing. Nowadays, with so much entertainment available, we are inclined to put away anything that doesn’t hook us in the first few pages, a bad habit. Keep reading and you get a chip pan with damaged Neo-Paganist filaments, a ‘Book Of Forks’ which is an encyclopaedia of all possible histories and a post-mortem of all possible futures. Hippies run a Gazette Nursery where they care for the souls of lost children. There are Errorists, hunted down by old people whose duty it is to uphold the Lore.
That’s the story. The art is more cartoonish than illustrative but perfectly acceptable and the storytelling is excellent. The layouts and camera angles work well to show Vera’s isolation at key points and to highlight dramatic moments, often with ‘silent’ panels containing no captions or word balloons. I had better make clear that it’s black and white lest some dimwit who only likes colour books should buy it in error. I would also like to mention that you get a lot of content for your money here. It’s a dense script, carefully drawn and a lot of work has gone into it. Too often, comic book fans are foisted off with a thin plot and some splashy poster panels. Not here.
The whole thing is perhaps best summed up by a quote from a printer on page 110: ‘Making sense is overrated. It’s just confirming what people already think. Making new sense is more important.’ Probably the best thing to do with ‘The Can Opener’s Daughter’ is to enjoy the inventive, original, inscrutable ride and don’t worry too much about sense. Somehow, it works. Vera has a couple of loyal friends and the story gallops down its own peculiar path to a dramatic and moving conclusion. Apparently, this is part two of a trilogy. I would like to read part one, ‘The Motherless Oven’,– and look forward to part three.
I recommend it to open-minded readers who fancy something different but don’t take whatever drugs Rob Davis is using. They obviously mess with your brain.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
August 24, 2018
This is a good weird book.
Very much like its predecessor it’ll be unlike anything you’ve ever read. It’s so inventive it’ll both disorient and entice you to keep on reading.
This coming of age dystopian thriller has so much schizophrenic teenage angst it’s a miracle you reach the end of the book with your mind intact. I admit I had to put down the book several times to get a breather and wrap my head around what was happening.
Here’s the premise, so you know where I’m coming from:
Vera Pike, our main character, is the daughter of a neo-fascist ruthless dictator Prime Minister, who’s an alcoholic and a weather clock (literally; just check the cover) who doesn’t do maternal.
We follow her in her attempt to save her friend Scarper Lee from his government issued death, while getting more about the events which led to her turning up on the doorstep of young Scarper.
She is aided by Cas, her other friend, who suffers from Medicated Inference Syndrome and his writing a Book of Forks, and her reluctant father, who’s a talking can opener, again literally.
They live in a world where it rains knives and ink pots are Gods, where Probable History is a subject at school and where suicides are mandated by law. Yes, all of this, literally.
I loved how rather than make Vera an innocent, shy, insecure teenage girl, who battles the big bad wolf of a world she lives in, Rob Davis makes her a snarky wisecrack and a very human, even if disturbing at times, character, who’s driven by her own selfishness and ego but who is also strong willed and loyal to a fault.
Relentlessly creative and stimulating from start to finish, The Can Opener’s Daughter is packed with a seemingly absurd alternative reality that gradually starts making more and more sense the further and farther you travel into its bizarre and yet familiar world.
If weirdness and perspectives made anew are your cup of tea, this book will be right down your alley.
Also, do check https://youtu.be/JiW-Ekt5ntk
Very much like its predecessor it’ll be unlike anything you’ve ever read. It’s so inventive it’ll both disorient and entice you to keep on reading.
This coming of age dystopian thriller has so much schizophrenic teenage angst it’s a miracle you reach the end of the book with your mind intact. I admit I had to put down the book several times to get a breather and wrap my head around what was happening.
Here’s the premise, so you know where I’m coming from:
Vera Pike, our main character, is the daughter of a neo-fascist ruthless dictator Prime Minister, who’s an alcoholic and a weather clock (literally; just check the cover) who doesn’t do maternal.
We follow her in her attempt to save her friend Scarper Lee from his government issued death, while getting more about the events which led to her turning up on the doorstep of young Scarper.
She is aided by Cas, her other friend, who suffers from Medicated Inference Syndrome and his writing a Book of Forks, and her reluctant father, who’s a talking can opener, again literally.
They live in a world where it rains knives and ink pots are Gods, where Probable History is a subject at school and where suicides are mandated by law. Yes, all of this, literally.
I loved how rather than make Vera an innocent, shy, insecure teenage girl, who battles the big bad wolf of a world she lives in, Rob Davis makes her a snarky wisecrack and a very human, even if disturbing at times, character, who’s driven by her own selfishness and ego but who is also strong willed and loyal to a fault.
Relentlessly creative and stimulating from start to finish, The Can Opener’s Daughter is packed with a seemingly absurd alternative reality that gradually starts making more and more sense the further and farther you travel into its bizarre and yet familiar world.
If weirdness and perspectives made anew are your cup of tea, this book will be right down your alley.
Also, do check https://youtu.be/JiW-Ekt5ntk
September 12, 2018
Making sense is overrated, paster. It's just confirming what people already think. Making new sense is more important.I quickly re-read The Motherless Oven in preparation for reading this, and am glad I did; I like that first book in this trilogy more than ever and didn't feel quite so lost in this book's surface nonsensical nature. In fact, The Can Opener's Daughter provides context for that first book that makes it less nonsensical as well. There may not be rhyme, but there are reasons behind the strangeness of this world and the actions of the characters. Much remains a riddle, but enough is revealed to give hints at what more might be going on.
Like deathdays, for instance. In Scarper's world of the first book, everyone is assigned a predetermined time and manner of death that cannot be avoided. There are other, connected worlds, though. In a more privileged one, everyone gets to chart their own suicide and decide their own fate (assuming they stay on the right side of the law/powers and don't get "forcibly suicided"). Suicide is empirical, there is only one answer! If you get it wrong, you could die too soon and miss stuff or die too late and suffer. And all this is because people used to be immortal but decided that was insufferable and death was needed as a solution. All of this works because the authorities "enforce the lore."
Even more satisfying than the reveals of the world-building is the character development. Each book focuses on one of the three protagonists. Scarper's book was about confusion and alienation. Vera's book, this one, is about loneliness and rebellion. It takes things in a different direction, one that includes getting to know her--and Castro and a variety of secondary characters--much better. I loved the first book for its enigmatic nature; I love this one for the humanity.
I can't wait for the final installment.
July 22, 2024
There's a very different fell to this story as compared to the first book, which I believe is mostly because of the different focus on characters. In The Motherless Oven the focus was on Scarper who was a fatalistic misanthrope expecting to die soon, so the story had a rather detached feel, things were weird and Scarper mostly just went along with what his companions/friends suggested. Here we get the backstory to one of these companions who was also the main instigator of action, and so the whole story is much more focused, informative and intentional. Generally a good thing as it provides more info, or at least hints, about the background and weird nature of the reality of the comic.
Speaking of which, it is interesting how quickly one adapts to things. A core bit of weirdness in the first book was that parents were weird constructs/golems crafted by their children; so Vera having a weather clock and a can opener for parents feels "normal" and it is a bit jarring to realize that where she is (Grave Acres) the whole concept of parents is foreign.
Speaking of which, it is interesting how quickly one adapts to things. A core bit of weirdness in the first book was that parents were weird constructs/golems crafted by their children; so Vera having a weather clock and a can opener for parents feels "normal" and it is a bit jarring to realize that where she is (Grave Acres) the whole concept of parents is foreign.
February 1, 2023
Something felt off about the first book. I thought it mostly nonsense, that beyond the blurred edge of what is shown and described about bear park is nothing but nebula, and I was completely complacent in reading a series of books that didn't really have hard edges or ends.
This is one of the greatest books I've ever read.
Plot wise it's not crazy but when it comes to the periphery of art, this has got to be one of the best examples of soft worldbuilding i've ever seen in any piece of media. The Motherless Oven felt like an exercise in futility, The Can Opener's Daughter felt like the opposite. The status quo of futility is broken in this, fate is shattered with a jar, or was this called bluff just another aspect of eventuality? that's just the chicken/egg question, no one really knows.
But, as I said as I read the last one, this is a book that gives you unmedicated inference syndrome. We were given wicker stalks with the Motherless Oven, and now we start to weave. I absolutely love stuff like this. Not a mystery so much as it is learning a new language, experiencing something really non linear that reinvents what it was before with every turn it takes.
This is one of the greatest books I've ever read.
Plot wise it's not crazy but when it comes to the periphery of art, this has got to be one of the best examples of soft worldbuilding i've ever seen in any piece of media. The Motherless Oven felt like an exercise in futility, The Can Opener's Daughter felt like the opposite. The status quo of futility is broken in this, fate is shattered with a jar, or was this called bluff just another aspect of eventuality? that's just the chicken/egg question, no one really knows.
But, as I said as I read the last one, this is a book that gives you unmedicated inference syndrome. We were given wicker stalks with the Motherless Oven, and now we start to weave. I absolutely love stuff like this. Not a mystery so much as it is learning a new language, experiencing something really non linear that reinvents what it was before with every turn it takes.
November 1, 2018
Yes! There's a sequel! Thank goodness! My thoughts when we got to see what happens to Vera and Cas after the end of the Motherless Oven. The cliffhanger in the last one was so frustrating, and guess what. It happens again. It's incredible, a great cliffhanger, but a cliffhanger none the less. I'm just hoping that there's a third book in the series.
Anyways, this is an amazing sequel. It gives some much needed backstory to who Vera is and how she got to Bear Park. The Weather Clock is introduced and the entire world that Vera, Scarper and Cas live in becomes much more understandable (still completely confusing though, but in a great way). All the questions that the comic asks are so existential, and just gives you an uneasy feeling. Deathdays and suicide charts, generally having fate and destiny controlling everything.
It's great, and has amazing flow, and art, and everything. Please let there be a third comic...
Anyways, this is an amazing sequel. It gives some much needed backstory to who Vera is and how she got to Bear Park. The Weather Clock is introduced and the entire world that Vera, Scarper and Cas live in becomes much more understandable (still completely confusing though, but in a great way). All the questions that the comic asks are so existential, and just gives you an uneasy feeling. Deathdays and suicide charts, generally having fate and destiny controlling everything.
It's great, and has amazing flow, and art, and everything. Please let there be a third comic...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2017
Great follow up to The Motherless Oven.
This really appeals to me. I love the setting, the art, the characters, the situations, pretty much everything that is thrown at the reader (and a lot is thrown, knives, can-openers, death days, tuning, suicide graphs) just makes me more excited to turn the next page. Although I identified mainly with Scarper Lee, I found Vera to be an enigmatic and definitely exciting figure and reading about her history lived up to my expectations. I loved Vera's ferocity and self-confidence. It's kind of a punk mentality, don't listen to authority, don't bow to convention, don't let adults control you.
I'm excited to read the next installment of this series and more from Rob Davis, especially if it's in a similar line as this series.
This really appeals to me. I love the setting, the art, the characters, the situations, pretty much everything that is thrown at the reader (and a lot is thrown, knives, can-openers, death days, tuning, suicide graphs) just makes me more excited to turn the next page. Although I identified mainly with Scarper Lee, I found Vera to be an enigmatic and definitely exciting figure and reading about her history lived up to my expectations. I loved Vera's ferocity and self-confidence. It's kind of a punk mentality, don't listen to authority, don't bow to convention, don't let adults control you.
I'm excited to read the next installment of this series and more from Rob Davis, especially if it's in a similar line as this series.
March 31, 2021
the trilogy as a whole gets five stars. The Can Opener's Daughter individually gets four. I hope that doesn't confuse you too much. my mostly spoiler-free review follows. (I talk about the book's structure and hint at the plot without giving away anything specific.)
LIGHT SPOILERS FOLLOW
most creators, I think, would have alternated between the flashback which constitutes about half the book, and the scenes taking place in the present. Davis, though, jumps forward from the flashback to the present (bam!), midway through. this has an (I think) unintentionally jarring effect.
he also doesn't quite reconcile the Vera of the past (and with the previous book) with the Vera of the present-day scenes.
LIGHT SPOILERS FOLLOW
most creators, I think, would have alternated between the flashback which constitutes about half the book, and the scenes taking place in the present. Davis, though, jumps forward from the flashback to the present (bam!), midway through. this has an (I think) unintentionally jarring effect.
he also doesn't quite reconcile the Vera of the past (and with the previous book) with the Vera of the present-day scenes.
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