The Arrival | 
 enlarge | Author: Shaun Tan
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $9.50
You Save: $10.49 (52%)
New (37) Used (17) Collectible (4) from $9.50
Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 2780
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 11.8 x 9 x 0.6
ISBN: 0439895294
EAN: 9780439895293
ASIN: 0439895294
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New - Has remainder mark. Fast shipping from trusted wholesaler with many exclusive publisher contracts.
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Product Description
"A shockingly imaginative graphic novel that captures the sense of adventure and wonder that surrounds a new arrival on the shores of a shining new city. Wordless, but with perfect narrative flow, Tan gives us a story filled with cityscapes worthy of Winsor McCay." -- Jeff Smith, author of Bone
"A magical river of strangers and their stories!" -- Craig Thompson, author of Blankets
"Magnificent." -- David Small, Caldecott Medalist
In a heartbreaking parting, a man gives his wife and daughter a last kiss and boards a steamship to cross the ocean. He's embarking on the most painful yet important journey of his life - he's leaving home to build a better future for his family. Shaun Tan evokes universal aspects of an immigrant's experience through a singular work of the imagination. He does so using brilliantly clear and mesmerizing images. Because the main character can't communicate in words, the book forgoes them too. But while the reader experiences the main character's isolation, he also shares his ultimate joy.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
FOR THE GUESTS as much as FOR THE HOSTS August 21, 2008
If you are a "Guest":
ANYONE WHO HAD TRAVELED away from their family, culture and land, will find comfort in this book. It provides with rich metaphors and imagery of departure, culture shock, misunderstandings, confusion, adaptation--you name it!--all of those experiences an immigrant or a long-distance traveler is going through.
If you are a "Host":
Likewise, ANYONE WHO'D EVER MET A FOREIGNER, and had difficulty communicating, or had ever occupied oneself with a thought of what it means "to arrive somewhere" and what an experience of arrival to a land of no known customs and language may be like--will also benefit greatly from this presentation.
Book presentation:
The medium of the story delivery through a series of pictures (wonderful illustrations in their own right!!!) allows for multiple interpretations of the content and is adaptable to any travel/immigration situation. The story itself has depth in its many layers, depending on whose side of it you are following: the Daughter's, the Wife's, or the Man's, or perhaps--some other character in the book :-)). Detailed illustrations make me return to these pages again and again, finding some new twist, or making new interpretations.
Both, children (as young as 4) and adults I have shared this book with, loved at least something about it. Younger children, unless familiar with the experience, will probably not understand all the complexity of it, however, the very idea of presenting these experiences through pictures allows them to stay with the story and enjoy it just the same. As far as adults, I cannot think of anyone whom this book may leave untouched or indifferent.
This is by far one of the most MOVING, THOUGHT PROVOKING, INSPIRING, and beautifully done books! I never stop hunting for good volumes out there, and this one is A TREASURE for book lovers and collectors alike.
Surreal, but Familiar August 18, 2008
Shaun Tan's "The Arrival" is an enormously engaging book that captures solely through illustration, the pathos, despair, joy, longing and tenderness of leaving one's country and family to come to a new land. In this new land of fantasy architecture, peculiar pets and wonderfully bizarre foods, the protagonist discovers many friends who give him comfort and share their knowledge with him. In an underlying theme, the reader experiences the tension of political upheaval and conflict through Tan's evocative presentation of chaos, war and armies on the march. Especially to be treasured and pondered over are the wonderfully drawn, ethnically diverse faces that the artist portrays on the book's endpapers. Even traversing the surreal landscape and environment Tan creates, it is easy to feel that is as familiar as a dream.,
Beautiful, complex story August 9, 2008
I reached the last page of this wordless book wanting only to go back to the first page again. It leaves a warm whirl of different impressions, none in conflict with each other but never wholly fitting together, either.
The drawing itself leaves many of those impressions. These delicate monochrome images, possibly pencil drawings, range from sepia to cool grays. Their beautiful, literal style works equally well at showing the joy of a little girl or the confusion of immigration to an alien culture. Despite realism approaching photographic, Tan's fantasy world fills with strange beasts, impossible architecture, and foods almost too baffling to eat. Tan's invented written language clearly carries meaning, but meaning that the reader can not penetrate. Then, in another reversal back from fantasy to reality, it conveys the newcomer's new life in a new world with insight and sympathy. Tan's afterword says that this story derives from four years of research on the immigrant experience, research that paid off in every page and panel.
As you can see, the imagery and story tie inextricably into each other. That visual storytelling reaches its peak in nightmare metaphors of war - I won't even try to describe the emotional truth of those dark, impossible pictures. This ends on a high note, though, with the family reunited in their new land. I won't spoil it, but it brings a quote charmingly to life: "When you've reached the top, it's your responsibility to send the elevator back down."
-- wiredweird
Genre transcending. Elegant. Eclectic. An art gallery in a book. August 4, 2008
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R6E48L5RFAURT A truly astonishing wordless artistic work from Australian Shaun Tan. A universal migrants' story described using archetypal imagery and symbolism. A 'Salvador Daliesque' deliciousness of a book- stunning. If a picture is worth a thousand words then Shaun Tans book with 700 plus pictures is an art gallery that speaks volumes.
Beautiful and Poignant July 27, 2008
I'm an 8th grade history teacher and I look forward to using the beautiful imagery of this book in my lessons on immigration in early America. This book was recommended by my professor and she was spot on.
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