Good-Bye, Chunky Rice
Craig Thompson's Good-Bye, Chunky Rice is a great story about enduring and unlikely friendships between a turtle, a mouse, a man and his bird. It's deceptively innocent and deeply moving (kind of like The Iron Giant, except about a turtle and a mouse rather than a boy and a robot).
I hesitate to even quote the plot summary on Amazon, since it will spoil part of the reading experience. Here's all you need to know about the story:
The solemn little turtle Chunky Rice embarks on a journey from his seaport home, obeying an inner call he can't quite articulate. His mouse girlfriend, Dandel, encourages him. ("You're like a little flower that's outgrown its pot," she says, as they build their last sand castle.)
The rest is a wonderfully illustrated tale of friends, family and lovers who are forced apart and yet forever connected in various ways.
I've praised Craig Thompson's composition before, but the way he arranges panels and pages in Good-Bye, Chunky Rice is brilliant. New themes, witty layouts and subtle but powerful transitions--things I missed in the first reading--jump out at me just about every time I pick it up. This is comics at its best, a finely woven web of story, theme, structure and art.
I normally don't solicit comments, but if you've read Good-Bye, Chunky Rice I'd like to know what you thought.
