Description
The House That Groaned is a graphic novel that explores bodies and the spaces they inhabit.
It is set in an old Victorian tenement housing six lonely individuals who could only have stepped out of the pages of a comic book. There is the retoucher who cannot touch, a grandmother who literally blends into the background and a twenty-something bloke who's sexually attracted to diseased women.
Yet, as we learn the stories behind these extreme characters, it becomes apparent that we may share simlar issues - as individuals and as a society.
Introducing a fresh and utterly original new star in the graphic novel world.
About the Author
Karrie Fransman's autobiographical comic strips 'My Peculiar World' were published in the Guardian's G2, and her graphic story, 'The Night I Lost my Love' was published in the Times in 2010. She also makes Comic Apps and sculptures and her work has been exhibited in London, Belgium and Russia. She runs projects at the London Print Studio and House of Illustration. Born in Edinburgh, Karrie now lives in London in a house not dissimilar to the one in her book. You can see more of her work at www.karriefransman.com
Reviews
In a world where people know ever less about their neighbours, this graphic novel is both a fantasy...and a cautionary tale. Anyone who has ever lain in bed at night listening to the sound of unknown voices on the other side of the cardboard wall will relish the way she lets her imagination off its leash...funny...beautiful looking...this book might almost be alive -- Rachel Cooke * Observer, Graphic Novel of the Month *
An enjoyable tale, dark but full of energy, fascinated by the private lives and perversity that bulge beneath suburbia's facade -- James Smart * Guardian *
A damn fine book; hugely, spectacularly impressive * ForbiddenPlanet.co.uk *
Karrie Fransmen breaks all the rules of storytelling accumulated over the past thousands of years. She creates a confusion at first, then bursts into the obvious and simplest fact; that all the stories of and in our lives are personal and private.... The only way this wonderful book could have been written is by illustration...not by word... rather like the hidden stories drawn on the walls of caves -- Nicolas Roeg, director of Don't Look Now and Walkabout
Fransman's dual background as a psychology and sociology student and a creative advertiser helps underpin her skills at both characterisation and communication... By its melodramatic finales, The House That Groaned acknowledges some scars that miss their chance to heal, but also gives us a kind of happy ending for two tenants -- Paul Gravett * Independent *
Book Information
ISBN 9780224086813
Author Karrie Fransman
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint Square Peg
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 689g
Dimensions(mm) 258mm * 171mm * 19mm
