وحشی

by David Almond, نسرین وکیلی (Translator)

بلو، پسر نوجوانی است که پدرش را از دست داده است و با مادر و خواهرش، جس زندگی می کند. او بنا به تشخیص خانم مشاور مدرسه قادر است افکار و احساسات خود را به زیبایی به قلم بکشد و بدین گونه دردهایش را بیان کند. او هم چنین می کند، اما پس از مدتی به نظرش کار احمقانه ای می آید. آن ها را پاره می کند و سعی می کند همه ی احساسات خود را در قالب داستانی به نام «وحشی» بنویسد. این داستان پر است از غلط های املایی، اما بلو معتقد است به علت آن است که کوچک است و سنی ندارد.

بلو، یکی از شخصیت های داستانش می شود. انگار که «وحشی» که شخصیت اصلی داستان اش است، خود اوست که جان گرفته است.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Comics, Childrens, Middle Grade

78 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2008

About the author

David Almond is a British children's writer who has penned several novels, each one to critical acclaim. He was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia. When he was young, he found his love of writing when some short stories of his were published in a local magazine. He started out as an author of adult fiction before finding his niche writing literature for young adults.

His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) and Clay (2005). His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002.

His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike. Recurring themes throughout include the complex relationships between apparent opposites (such as life and death, reality and fiction, past and future); forms of education; growing up and adapting to change; the nature of 'the self'. He has been greatly influenced by the works of the English Romantic poet William Blake.

He is an author often suggested on National Curriculum reading lists in the United Kingdom and has attracted the attention of academics who specialise in the study of children's literature.

Almond currently lives with his family in Northumberland, England.

Awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (2010).

Reviews

[Kristijan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nit vodilja "Divljaka" je neki vid coming-of-age situacije u kojoj glavni lik, dečak Blu, treba da se izbori sa činjenicom da njegovog oca više nema i da on mora da nastavi sa životom i da se nekako izbori za sebe (jer ga pri svemu tome maltretira dečak iz susedstva). U toj i takvoj situaciji on prvobitno treba da pretoči svoje emocije u reči i da piše o sebi, svom bolu i tugovanju. Međutim, iz njega će proisteći jedna druga priča... Priča o Divljaku.

Oni koji su čitali "Sedam minuta posle ponoći" neće moći da izbiju tu knjigu iz glave dok čitaju "Divljaka" jer postoje izvesne sličnosti. Ova priča jeste za nijansu slabija od Nesove, ali sam koncept ove grafičke novele, i način na koje su ilustracije uronjene u ovo delo i način na koji ga upotpunjuju je apsolutno genijalan. Dejv Mekin je odradio majstorski posao!!!

Ova grafička novela nije savršena, ali mi se nekako uvukla pod kožu. Pročitao sam je za manje od sat vremena, ali nisam odmah mogao da stavim ocenu... Sive ćelije su mahale tablom sa koje su treptale četiri zvezdice, a srce je konstantno docrtavalo još jednu... I otuda, na kraju, svih pet zvezdica...

[Malbadeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was 22 my dad was killed in a car accident. He spent 2 or 3 weeks in ICU and everyday we were told something different about his condition; variations on, "he might live, he might die".

At the time my youngest sibling was 10. On the day he did die, I drove my mom to pick up my sister from where she was staying. When she got in the car, she asked when our dad would be coming home and my mom got in the back of the car and told her that he wouldn't be coming home. Seeing my sister collapse onto my moms body in sobs, was hands down the worst moment of my life.

At some point (the day he died? the next?) I laid in bed with my mom and my sister (maybe my brothers were there too? maybe they were sharing another room?) and I saw what seemed like the biggest moon ever. It felt horrible and cruel and the sight of it pushed me to pour out every bit of sobbing I'd been holding back. I remember the bed shaking and I remember thinking I might never be able to stop.

For reasons that I can't explain, or even really understand this book brought back the memory and intensity of the moments. There is no end of young adult books about parents dying, and a lot of them are outstanding (Missing May and Walk Two Moons come to mind) but none of them have had the effect this little 80 page book did.


I don't want to try and describe the book because I'm afraid that I'll get it wrong. And like I said, I can't even really grasp for myself what is so great about it. It's eerie and honest but so incredibly NOT SAPPY. There are so few books I can remember bringing me to tears and yet I cried as this one came to an end and then I closed it and I cried some more and then some more.

[Gorgona Grim · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Divljak" je grafička novela izdata u saradnji između Komika i Orfelina. Ukoliko tražite priču koja će vas pomeriti ali ne i opteretiti, našli ste je. Okosnicu priče čini susret koji je glavnom protagonisti pomogao da prihvati događaje koji su ga zadesili i da se sa njima izbori.

Koncept oblikovanja ove knjige je odličan - jasno vidimo nešto starijeg dečaka Blua u odnosu na nešto mlađeg koji je u dodiru sa Divljakom. Kolorit crteža i font koji predstavlja rukopis nas na asocijativnom nivou lako vezuju za neprilagođenog, usamljenog i otuđenog dečaka koji odrasta skrivajući se od pogleda ljudi. Sa druge strane, elokventni ali stidljivi dečak koji voli svoju sestru i majku je divno dočaran kroz pasuse u kojima on sa distance piše o sebi i o Divljaku.

Mnogi će uporediti „Divljaka" i „Sedam minuta posle ponoći". Istina, postoje sličnosti u nameri autora poput suočavanja sa realnošću i borbom sa sopstvenim čudovištem , no ne bih ih stavljala u istu ravan. Moguće je da sam još uvek pod utiskom priče o Konoru kojem tokom suočavanja sa čudovištem majka na ivici smrti, dok smo Blua upoznali nakon smrti oca, u već izmenjenom svetu.

[PopiTonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nedovoljno uverljivo za mene.

[امیرمحمد حیدری · Rating 5 out of 5]

بی‌اندازه جذاب و خواندنی. این کتاب به مخاطب کودک و نوجوان می‌آموزد که چطور نوشتن می‌تواند به آنها قدرت خلق دنیایی را دهد که وجود ندارد، آرامش و خداگونگی‌ای که تنها داستان‌نویسی به انسان می‌دهد. داستان عالی، سرگرم‌کننده، تصاویر نیز مناسب روایت بودند. پیشنهادی.

[George K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Καλούτσικο υβρίδιο νουβέλας και κόμικ, που θίγει τον πόνο της απώλειας με τρόπο διαφορετικό και σίγουρα ιδιαίτερο, όμως στο τέλος δεν μου έκανε ούτε κρύο ούτε ζέστη, απλώς το διάβασα και αυτό ήταν. Πάντως αισθητικά είναι πολύ ωραίο, αν και δεν είμαι απόλυτα σίγουρος ως προς τις ηλικίες στις οποίες απευθύνεται.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

By all logic, the melding of Dave McKean to David Almond should be a bad idea. David Almond tends to write YA novels with adult sensibilities gnawing away at their cores (and I include My Dad's A Birdman in that gross generalization). Dave McKean for his own part is a fan of creating adult centered graphic novels (The Sandman series most notably) and picture books with mature looks and feels (The Wolves in the Walls, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, etc.). So it stands to reason that if you combined the two together you would end up with something that a child wouldn't have a chance at enjoying or understanding. It would have to be something nightmare inducing, to say the least. Yet my encounter with The Savage came as a bit of a surprise to me. As feared it definitely has a slightly older readership, but the darkness of the images and the text work together in ways that actually reduce the scary factor rather than increase it. I wouldn't go about handing the book to a five-year-old but for the canny child of eleven or twelve, "The Savage" is a wild untamed release of instinct and pain. The kind of thing a lot of adults wouldn't trust a child to understand. The kind of thing a kid could appreciate (and understand) for sure.

Blue's father is dead so his school counselor tells him to write down his feelings to deal with the pain. "I did try for a while, but it just seemed stupid, and it even made me feel worse," so another idea presents itself to him. Without fully comprehending why, Blue starts writing about a savage kid who lives on his own in the nearby Burgess Woods. When Blue is bullied by a boy named Hopper he writes about the savage seeing and loathing the kid. When Blue is with his little sister he writes passages where they interact with The Savage, if only from a distance. Yet as Blue writes more and more, he comes to feel that the Savage is more than just words on a page. And when an incident with Hopper comes to light, Blue comes to respect his creation, though it is up to the reader to decide how much they themselves believe in his existence.

The idea that what you write becomes real has been made most famous by books like Cornelia Funke's Inkheart series. But there has always been a fear on the part of humankind that words could carry this power. Almond touches on this fear. If you could create a living breathing danger by simply writing about it, would you? Blue's anger and resentment at his own father's death and at the threat of the bully Hopper come to life in his Savage. Psychologically this could be seen as pretty healthy, but then that old "is this a reliable narrator?" question comes up. Did the Savage really beat up Hopper in his bed? Or was that actually Blue, possessed by the creature of his own making? Some kids will be inclined to take Almond at his word. A small few, however, will not be so sure.

For my own part, I have an inexplicable urge to bite people when they start lamenting the potential psychological damage that comes with letting kids hear tales like Little Red Riding Hood or the end of The Three Little Pigs. Such violence! Such horror! In spite of the fact that generations upon generations of adults have grown up quite nicely, thank you very much, on the goriest of the gruesome Grimms, the parental instinct to coddle remains. I have few doubts then that The Savage will strike more than one grown-up as inappropriate child fare. Look at the boy conjured up in this story! He kills and eats people! How is that okay for someone under the age of 18? The fact that this character is only described as eating people and never goes so far as to do anything any worse than punching someone out in their beds, that is a fact they forget. McKean is probably the reason why they it forget too. Like a reigned in Ronald Searle, McKean's images give the impression that you've seen worse things than you actually have. It has something to do with his use of ink, I think. The splattered, wiry, gamy Savage suggests a whole world of decay and blood that never make it to the page but lie somewhere simmering just below the surface. It's Where the Wild Things Are, shot through with teeth and flesh.

There has been some debate on what exactly to call this book. Is it a graphic novel? Not in the classic sense. There are no thought bubble or speech balloons, save one small passage. No clear cut panels or common comic tropes. But the words and the pictures do mix and match in new and peculiar ways. The term "illustrated novel" has been pulled out a lot lately to describe all these books that don't slot neatly into one category or another. I mean there's no other way to describe what a book like this is doing. The pictures and the words are interacting constantly, each one reliant upon the other. You could read The Savage without its illustrations, but it would be a weaker product. I feel as if you actually need McKean's gaunt, half-crazed figure out there to give the book the sense of menace missing from the text. McKean's Savage could do anything. He could hurt the narrator or destroy someone in the story we love. You begin to feel like the only way he's kept in check is through Almond's gentle words. At least I did.

So much of this book comes down to this melding of words and color. When Blue writes the Savage's story his misspellings add to the danger and threat. A sentence like "He crowched down and licked the blud from his hands . . . and gript his nife and watched," carries more weight than its well-spelled cousin. The font of these passages is meant to be childlike and potentially wild. So too are the colored washes that accompany the Savage's passages (since the only illustrated sections in this book are the ones that come out of Blue's brain) which suggest that McKean had some kind of plan in mind when he colored his inks. At first glance there seem to be only two colors at play; Green scenes take place during the day and blue scenes at night. But a closer examination reveals other shades and hues as well. Blue penned pictures appear in the midst of green sunny days. One small passage appears in a sea of green/yellow. And of course there is the single instance when blood is shed. For that scene the red stands out, turning purple in a long wash against the blue of night, traveling up the Savage's punching arm.

Wildness. Savagery. McKean and Almond do not fear touching upon these things. These psychological necessities in every healthy human psyche. Adults often do fear own their internal animals, however, and will often attempt to "protect" their children in some misguided attempt to shelter them from some of the darkness in the world. A little darkness is healthy, necessary even, in keeping us sane and sound. And The Savage alights on that little piece of darkness in us. I've little doubt that it will have a hard time finding its audience. Neither fish nor fowl, graphic novel nor prose, it sits on the fence between one art form and another. As a result, it will be punished for its fluidity. Punished for not being just one thing or another, but both at once. Fortunately, I have faith that those who find it and those that need it will come across it somewhere. Always assuming the adults in the vicinity have a healthy respect for the id. Wild unchecked stuff.

Ages 9-12.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue has been told that he should write things down to help him deal with his father's death. It all seems forced and useless until he starts to write a story about The Savage, a boy who lives alone in the woods near their small town, eats animals and murders anyone who glimpses him. Blue has to deal not only with his own grief and his mother's and sister's but also with a bully named Hopper. Hopper is featured in the stories about The Savage as are others in Blue's small community. As Blue begins to share his story with his family, something changes and The Savage becomes real.

The depth in this book is incredible. It is like submerging in icy lake water and viewing things through that swirling lens of blue and green, distorting everything but also clarifying too. Almond has once again created a book that is strange, unexpected but also shouts with truth and beauty. Pairing his work with McKean's art was a masterful choice that deepens the book, bringing both a level of reality and a subversive quality to the book.

Highly recommended, this is another book that will resonate with male readers. Appropriate for a strangely broad age range: 12-16.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب زیبایی بود. داستان در مورد پسربچه‌ای‌ه که پدرش رو از دست داده و هنوز نتونسته خیلی خوب با قضیه کنار بیاد. از طرفی قربانی مسخره شدن توسط یک پسر دیگه داخل مدرسست. به همین‌خاطر برای ابراز احساسات و خشمش شروع به نوشتن و خلق کاراکتری می‌کنه به اسم «وحشی». کتاب کاملا سرراست و کودکانه‌ست و تصویرسازی‌های فوق‌العاده‌ای داره. پیشنهاد می‌کنم که اگر بچه‌ای حدود سن ۱۰ تا ۱۴ سالی رو می‌شناسین، حتما کتاب رو بهش معرفی کنید.

[Zorana Mitrović · Rating 5 out of 5]

Veoma slično "Sedam minuta posle ponoći" u kojoj dečak Konor komunicira sa čudovištem u vidu drveta kako bi se lakše izborio sa problemima i činjenicom da mu je majka smrtno bolesna, a u "Divljaku" je glavni lik dečak Blu Bejker koji nakon smrti svog oca počinje da piše o "divljaku", dečaku koji je nalik njemu, ali je neustrašiv i živi u pećini i koji se ne plaši da se suprostavi dečaku koji ga svakodnevno maltretira.

Ilustracije su fenomalne, obožavam grafičke novele ovog tipa, dajem joj 4 jer je naspram "Sedam minuta posle ponoći" priča napisana dosta mlako tako da ne mogu obema da dam petice, ali su i jedna i druga grafički odrađene za 10.

edit: ..a ipak joj moram dati 5 kad je tako divno urađena

[Nancy Kotkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A boy deals with the grief over the death of his father and a bully at school by conjuring up a savage version of himself. When his story and real life merge, it feels cathartic to the boy.

This book is very short and heavily illustrated, like a children's chapter book, but is much too violent for that age group. But I think the presentation is too young for teens. So I suppose this would be middle grade.

I dislike the violence in the story and the frequent misspellings. I also don't care for the illustrations, which are crude, raw, and violent. But the ending is interesting.

[SARAH · Rating 5 out of 5]

داستان وحشی،ماجرای معجزه قصه هاست،آنجا که قصه ها و داستان ها به یاری می‌آیند، مرز میان خیال و قصه و زندگی واقعی دریده می شود و تو میبینی تمام رنج هایی که همیشه با خودت حمل میکردی در یک لحظه در همان مرز باریک واقعیت و خیال حل می شود.قصه وحشی ،قصه ای جاندار و تپنده است.از درد هایی که فقط در قالب داستان ها بازگو می‌شوند و بازگویی هایی که شفا بخش اند.من این قصه شیرین را به همه توصیه می کنم بخوانیم و لذت ببریم.

[Mary Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The power of story. Healing a deep grief. Another bully goes down.

[(A) Ghazal (of Hafiz) · Rating 4 out of 5]

خب، وحشی در واقعیت خودِ بلو بود، خودِ بلو اون شب از خونه رفته بود و هاپر رو زخمی کرده بود، خود بلو ابروی جس رو نوازش کرده بود، ولی «نتونسته بود حرف بزنه»
بلو نمی‌تونست احساساتش رو بروز بده، پشت این تصویر که «اون مرد خانواده‌س و بعد از مرگ پدرش باید قوی باشه» قایم شده بود و این باعث شده بود که به خودش اجازه ی بروز احساسات و گریه کردن بده.
و همه ی این درون ریزی های احساساتش منجر شده بود به بروز یکباره‌ی همه ی احساساتش تو داستانی که نوشته بود و به واسطه ی شخصیتِ داستانش یعنی «وحشی»
وحشی یه جورایی خود آرمانیِ بلو هم بود، قوی بود و می‌تونست جلوی هاپر وایسه... احساسات نداشت (شاید چون احساسات بلو رو اذیت می‌کردن...) و ...
در کل به عنوان یه داستانِ رده ی سنی ۱۳ تا ۱۷ سال واقعا قشنگ بود و اصلا نباید محصور شد تو متن داستان، داستان واقعا یه چیزی فراتر از متنشه.
-اولین اثری بود که از دیوید آلموند می‌خوندم و ترغیب شدم که بیشتر ازش بخونم-
واقعا تحت تأثیر قرار گرفتم T~T

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Savage is a graphic novel written by David Almond and illustrated by Dave McKean. McKean is best known for his collaborations with Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Coraline, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and The Wolves in the Walls. David Almond has written Skellig, The Fire-Eaters, and Clay among others. Both Almond and McKean are new to me.

The Savage starts off a bit like any of a number of British boy coming of age novels. I was most reminded of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend, The Crew by Bali Rai, Black Swan Green by David Mitchell and Winter of the Birds by Helen Cresswell. Like Winter of the Birds, events depicted in the story within the the story begin to blend with reality.

What sets The Savage apart from the novels I've mentioned are the graphic novel elements. These chapters are excerpts from Blue's story which he writes in response to the sudden death of his father from a heart attack and the bullying he faces from a bloke named Hopper. Blue writes and illustrates the story first on encouragement from Miss Molloy, his school counselor and later from his mother and sister Jess. The Savage is a wild boy who lives in a cave under the ruins of a chapel in Burgess Woods. He is the personification of Blue's pent up emotions but he becomes more than that over the course of the novel.

Despite being told on the very first page of the Savage's transformation from fiction to fact, when it does happen at the climax of the book, it comes as an emotional shock. For me the shock stemmed from how otherwise happy Blue was becoming. The process of writing the stories was working for him and his mother and sister were reading them too and enjoying them. The coming to life quip in the first chapter seemed metaphorical, as Blue was coming to life by rising above his depression and anger. Except it wasn't. The Savage does cross into Blue's world in an unexpected and wonderful way.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy loses his father to a heart attack and he and his mum and little sister are left to deal with the grief. He's also being bullied at school. He's told to write about it as it might ease his grief but instead writes a novel entitled "The Savage". But suddenly the things he writes about happen in real life and he's left to wonder if his character, the Savage, has come to life.

David Almond writes an interesting novella that's obviously aimed at a different audience to me (late twenties) and more at those around 10-12 years old. I was attracted because I'm a fan of Dave McKean's art and it's the best thing about this book, very dark and expressive but a lot less abstract than his Sandman covers.

I liked the ambiguity of whether the Savage was real or whether the boy had assumed the persona of his character and become a dual person, kind of like the protagonist of "Fight Club". It's an interesting quick read with some great art that any teen would enjoy reading.

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was rather perturbed by the bad spelling of Blue's original story. The change in font was enough distinction from the first person narrative that I didn't really need the mistakes, especially that many. To me, this started the story off a little forced-feeling. I also really wanted to like the pictures but somehow I've never been able to convince myself that I like McKean's work, perhaps because like in this case it didn't completely fit the story. The rawness is certainly right on, but annoying details like the savage's dog skin clothing and chicken feathers were missing and there isn't quite the same sense of development that the story exhibits in the illustrations. I'm also not sure how I feel about Hopper getting actually beat up but I thought the ending was quite lovely and allowed me to look back at the story and discover surprising depth to its short chapters.

[Jonathan Natusch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short wee read, and quite excellent. Part novella, part graphic novel - Almond's story is perfectly matched with McKean's art. I immediately handed it to my brother to read, who also declared it excellent. So there you go....

[jamie book · Rating 3 out of 5]

why do I have to read this for english😭

[Malena Seb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for anyone but especially teens

[Lamona Mullinax · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Savage, a fantasy book written by David Almond, is a book about the narrator getting over the hardships of his father dying. The little boy, Blue, in the story is suppose to be him as a child and he tries to work through his pain by writing himself into a story about a Savage boy getting revenge on one of his bullies, hopper and some other kids, at school that he always use to tell his father about. But, will he ever get his revenge or will he find out other ways to cope with his father's death?
The protagonist is Blue, a little boy, who is honestly trying to find himself through writing. Not only him, but his mother and sister are very heartbroken by his father's death and they all come together through his story.
I really liked the drawings, they added a lot to the story and showed a visual of what the author was going through. The different fonts and purposely mistaken spelling errors make the story real and sound like a kids narrative from the readers perspective.
I gave the rating I did because I honestly wish It was longer so I could see what else happens to the infamous "Savage."

[Jacca · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Almond and Dave McKean's first foray together is a sweet, exciting and emotional short story paired with beautiful and sometimes haunting imagery.

Almond communicates a feeling of loss through the protagonist, young and bereaved Blue, but with evocative truth. Blue doesn't find peace in anyone's pity, he doesn't find solace in positive perspectives and even being happy with his family doesn't quell his empty sadness.

He finds his peace in the escapism of his own creations. Creating a wild, untamed character that in many ways represents the wild, untamed flame inside of him and his own feelings of anger, confusion and mistrust which have surely accentuated with the loss of his father. This character and his story become Blue's wish fulfillment and magical entanglement leads his tale and himself to a wondrous conclusion.

Accompanied by McKean's ever-wonderful illustration, The Savage tells a not-so-wholesome yet entirely charming and real story of a young boy with a wild imagination and a grief-stricken mind exploring his sorrow in the magical way that few but children can.

If I had a dead dad as a young lad I imagine I'd find a lot of solace in this.

[Juan Fuentes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historia de niño que utiliza la escritura para sacar fuera a sus demonios. Los dibujos, excelentes.

[Faidz Zainal Abidin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice. Everything is nice. Love McKean's work here.

[Kt · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Almonds books are amazing 😭😭

[Ellena Eaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy dealing with the death of his father and bullies ganging up on him writes about a savage who lives in the woods near his home. Story dealing with grief and loneliness

[Mim_farahani · Rating 3 out of 5]

رابطه‌م با نوشته‌های دیوید آلموند اینجوریه که نه ازش خوشم میاد، نه می‌تونم از خوندنش دست بکشم. احساس می‌کنم خود آلموند هم دوست داره همچین حسی ایجاد کنه در مخاطب‌هاش.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely novella about dealing with grief

[Sarah Tighe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the target audience and didn't real feel like I truly got the story

[Jola · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5.