The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan

How to adequately describe Shaun Tan's work?

Phillip Pullman tries to in his Foreword of The Singing Bones -

Fairy tale characters have very little character, only characteristics. They have no interior life at all. These little figures of clay, with their simplified features, their single attributes, are perfect realisations of the strangeness of the characters they represent.

Jack Zipes discusses the power they had over him in his essay also in The Singing Bones, called 'How the Brothers Grimm Made their Way into the World'.

In many respects, the Grimms' tales, which were not their own but were more like found objects that might have died without the Grimms' creative and sensitive touch, have been given new life by Tan's highly unusual sculptures....All Tan's sculptures estrange us and beckon us to gaze and think about moving them, to discover how they have been made, and why they have been drawn from the Grimms' tales.

And in the Afterword, Tan himself, comments on his choice of materials and how they were inspired by a visit to Canada and Mexico where he searched out Inuit stone-carvings and pre-Colombian clay figurines.

These exhibit a wonderful blend of whimsy and seriousness, and a well-considered marriage of earthy material - stone and clay that never pretend to be anything but stone and clay - infused with weightless and magical ideas.

These sculptures affected me at a very basic, subconscious level.
Some made me catch my breath. Others were like a sucker punch to the gut. A few more melted my heart. A couple broke it again.

Their power comes not only from the nature of the sculpture, but from the photographic styling as well. Tan has carefully set up each sculpture with its own lighting, background and angles which creates added drama and tension.

Their seeming simplicity hides layers of meaning. Like the fairy tales they represent different ones will resonate with different people for different & very personal reasons. I've highlighted a few of the ones that captured my imagination.

Beautiful and sinister at the same time.

There's something about the tenderness of the face resting in the petals that breaks me.

Maybe one day I will talk about my thing with Snow White and Rose Red. But not yet!

Hoe wonderfully creepy and diabolical is this?

I would have loved to have seen the exhibition in Melbourne featuring Tan's work. But, sadly, it is now finished and doesn't appear to be travelling the countryside.

We will have to make do with checking out Tan's blog, The Bird King, instead.

Reluctant Romantic - It's Complicated

Katie @Doing Dewey is hosting a challenge throughout February to encourage us to read a genre we tend to avoid.

This month I am reading graphic novels and discussing what keeps me from reading more books in this genre.

Today's discussion topic is "It's Complicated".

The idea is to discuss what has kept us from reading more of our chosen genre.

However my complications have taken a completely different turn this week. As it turns out, my genre has become complicated in a way that I didn't, or couldn't, predict.

As it turns out, my genre is NOT graphic novels as I originally thought, but some kind of weird hybrid that better fits the #librariansdilemma tag instead!

Is it graphic? Is it art? Is it non-fiction of fiction?

My genre is a booksellers nightmare - of the where on earth do I shelve this book? kind.

It's a story book and it's heavily illustrated or decorated, so much so that the artwork tells at least half of the story. But it's not a children's picture book. Adult themes and concepts are explored. There are no speech bubbles but conversations can take place.

Are you confused yet?

Perhaps if I show you what I mean....

Last week I read Radioactive: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss. I thought it was a graphic novel, which is why I picked it out of my TBR pile.

But it wasn't; it was this -

- exquisite artwork on every page that told the story of Marie and Pierre Curie along with the text.

Which then reminded me that I had another part-read book somewhat like it by my bed -

- Shaun Tan's incredibly beautiful, haunting, grotesque clay works in The Singing Bones which depict various scenes from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.

There's not a speech bubble in sight, and the art is the main focus of the story. Tan's creative interpretations challenge the reader/viewer to delve deeper into each of the tales hidden layers.

What is this genre?

Things at Brona's Books are not only complicated, but confused!

Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie - A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

I first heard about Radioactive during Non-Fiction November last year. It sounded delicious and exactly my cup of tea, so I put my order in at work straight away.

For my Yr 12 HSC (many, many moons ago) Science Depth Study I chose to learn about Marie Curie.
In those pre-computer, pre-internet days, I had to rely on my local library and my science teacher to source the information I needed.

I devoured impossibly obtuse science texts and difficult, dry biographies. I became obsessed despite of, or maybe because of, the Herculean nature of my undertaking.

But it wasn't the science that grabbed my attention so decidedly.

It was the fact that Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel prize for science and then the first person - male or female - to win it twice. It was rejoicing in a woman tackling a 'man's job' and doing it well - very, very well. It was the romantic working partnership with Pierre. It was the generational love of science they fostered in their daughters and grandchildren as they all followed in their scientific footsteps. It was the complicated, ethically fraught philosophy of discovery, patents, shared knowledge and how to use this new science - for good or for bad.
And it was also the frustration of hindsight. Watching Marie and Pierre work day in, day out with no protection around radioactive substances, knowing what we know now, how they were in fact, hastening their own deaths.

When Radioactive turned up in the new year I was thrilled to see the oversized, colourful, textured cover peeking out of the eco-bubbles. I was instantly transported back to my 17 yr old self - the enthusiasm I had for learning and knowledge, the belief that I could do anything and the birth of one of my many obsessions that has lasted a lifetime.

If not for Katie's Reluctant Romantic challenge to read outside my usual genres to find a new love, Radioactive may have lingered on my TBR pile, like so many other wonderful books *sigh* despite my obsession with the topic.

However Radioactive does not fit neatly into the graphic non-fiction definition. In fact, it doesn't fit neatly into any known genre! Redniss does not use the comic strip format, but her art work is an integral part of the story and she created her own font for the text.

It is non-fiction - part biography, part scientific treatise, part philosophical discussion.
And it is beautiful.

Redniss uses a process called cyanotype printing to create these images, which she describes in the notes at the back of the book. She also uses photography, drawings and maps.

I guess it doesn't matter, in the end, what genre this is (unless you're trying to shelve it in a library or book store!)

All you really need to know is that this book is bloody brilliant.
It satisfied everything my 17 (and my 47) yr old self could ever want from this topic. It was knowledge, it was beautiful and it touched my heart. It also left me craving more.

If you know of any other books that treats history, biography, science and philosophy like this one, please let me know. I want more!

This is my new genre to love!
Whatever it is.