Tales from Outer Suburbia is a collection of short stories, in which we meet an exchange student who’s really an alien, a secret room that becomes the perfect place for a quick escape, a typical tale of grandfatherly exaggeration that is actually even more bizarre than he says – it’s an assortment of the odd and magical details that are brought to life in mesmerizing and fantastic illustrations.
Combining the amazing drawing style from his bestseller, The Arrival,with eloquent prose, Shaun Tan weaves a scrapbook tapestry of our modern world that is at times both strangely familiar and unbelievable. My favorite story is “The Nameless Holiday” where once a year everyone selects one of their most prized possessions, sets them out on the roof, and watches while a reindeer comes along and takes the “objects (that) are so loved that their loss will be felt like the snapping of a cord to the heart, and it’s only these that he nudges tenderly until they become hooked on his great antlers. The rest he leaves alone.” There are many other vignettes and moments of striking beauty and wonder in this collection; it certainly will capture the imagination.
- Posted by Cori