From Library Journal
Rowson, an illustrator whose version of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland met with critical praise, turns his considerable skills to Laurence Sterne's 18th-century classic. This appears a sure bet: a new reading of a well-known book. Yet, the novel doesn't make the transition into the graphic format smoothly. Rowson's admiration for Tristram Shandy hinders this graphic version, causing him to rely on the text rather than the illustrations to pace the story. Moreover, this book becomes not only another version of Tristram Shandy but a commentary on reading it as several celebrities wend their way through the plot, which includes a hypothetical game of strip poker between Sterne, Swift, and Rabelais and the filming of the novel by movie producer Oliver Stone. Too complex for those unfamiliar with the original, this is nonetheless recommended for libraries with large graphic novel and literature collections.?Stephen Weiner, Maynard P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Sterne's classic novel is marked by the driest of wits, an eye for human stupidities, and the author's willingness to meander away, following any seeming blind tangent that only he could weave into the fictional life story of the main character. Such a story requires a narrator who can communicate superiority and detachment, and John Moffatt does both. Moffatt is restrained, and, rather than trying to give each character a fully independent voice, he rightly allows the author's voice to color all. His pacing is first-rate, as he frequently slows to allow each of Sterne's pointed observations to sink in. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
