Rating: ***** (5 out of 5)
Review: Sometimes, in life, a book comes along that speaks to you so clearly about the things you believe that it seems to have been written by someone inside your head. For me, “Daytripper” was one of those books.
Each chapter follows a day in the life of Brás, a brazilian writer, and ends with his death (this isn’t a spoiler, by the way – it’s right on the back cover). But that’s not what the book is about. What’s important is the notion you get that life is made of the little moments we hardly think about when we’re experiencing them. That death, no matter if you think about it or not, is always there, just another part of life. That home isn’t a place but a complex mix of people, emotions and memories. That nothing is ever as simple as it looks.
As for the artwork, it’s simply gorgeous. The drawings are the best I’ve seen from the artists (having seen their work in other books) and the coloring is genius. Some of the panels are so breathtaking that I spent some time just getting lost in them. It’s that good.
Coincidentally, just one week ago I presented a university project about death that touched upon many of the ideas that I found inside this book, and maybe that’s why it touched me in a way that may not be transmittable to other people. Still, I recommend this to everyone. Surely one of the best graphic novels I’ve read.
The Sleepless Bookworm 