This was mind-boggling and depressing.

I generally have very little interest in comics that adapt prose novels, but I made an exception for this one because David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp is one of my favourite comics, and a lot people seem to think his work on City of Glass is in the same league (and in any case, it’s one of the few other things he’s published outside of superheroes).

To be perfectly honest, my misgivings about adaptations haven’t been fully assuaged. I’ve never read the original novel (or any Auster), but I can’t shake the feeling that this comic is something of an abridged version – a taster to whet my appetite for the real thing. I can’t really say whether that’s just a product of my own prejudice, if it’s due to a failure on the part of the adapters, or if it’s inevitable because of the nature of the comic medium. What I can say is that, despite a creeping sense that the original is probably superior, I still really like the comic.

It’s a very postmodernist work, in a way that reminds me of Thomas Pynchon. Events flow from realistic to surreal in a disorientating manner, characters deliver stream-of-consciousness soliloquies, everyone’s sanity is questionable, and the plot is full of inexplicable, bizarre twists and turns. Moreover, there are direct philosophical discussions of decidedly postmodernist topics, such as the relationship between words and the true essence of the things they describe, and the existence of a true self independent of the roles one fulfills (the same themes that are explored indirectly through the story). This is an unashamedly intellectual and literary work, sometimes dense and often confusing, and I can’t say I fully grasp everything it’s trying to say, but nonetheless I certainly enjoy it overall. It’s compelling both as a weird and wonderful series of strange happenings, and as a thought-provoking exploration of heady topics.

The art does a perfect job of matching and enhancing the narrative’s particular brand of weirdness. Although the story’s low on action and full of long conversations, there are no pages filled with talking heads. Instead, focus shifts mesmerizingly from characters to backgrounds to thoughts to memories to inexplicably evocative abstraction. This is exactly the kind of masterful and innovative use of the comic medium that Mazzucchelli demonstrates in Asterios Polyp, so on this count, it doesn’t disappoint at all. Interestingly, though, it’s not clear how much actually comes from Mazzucchelli himself, and how much is from his collaborator, Paul Karasik. Karasik is actually credited above Mazzucchelli on the cover, and both are just credited for “adaptation”, with no indication of how their duties were divided. My edition has a foreword by Art Spiegelman that suggests Karasik is actually responsible for the more innovative and abstract elements. In any case, the style is consistent throughout, with no sign that the two artists drew different pages.

In sum, this hasn’t quite dispelled my reservations about adaptations – I feel compelled to read the novel to compare – but, if I put that consideration aside and treat this as a work in its own right, I can say unreservedly that it’s an excellent one. It’s cerebral, surreal and enigmatic in ways that may sometimes be a little frustrating, but are totally enthralling.

The heck did I just read?
The kind of book you finish and want to read all available analysis on it. Loved the intertextuality and how the author puts the reader in a constant search for answers, just like a detective.
Furthermore the irony of the lack of answers in a crime/detective novel is on point.
The adaptation to graphic novel is also quite good and exploits the visual medium, although since I haven't read the original novel I cannot compare it.
I definitely recommend it. Although the novel makes good use of postmodernist techniques so be ready to be confused and with more questions than answers.

Video review

How do you move into a different medium a story that's written to remain stubbornly anchored to its native one?

I thought this was a pretty amazing graphic novel, and I definitely plan on reading the original City of Glass next. Concepts of identity, the role of the author in creating meaning, and the blurred line between fiction and reality are all present here, and explored in quite an intriguing way. I don't know how I felt about the ending, though. Maybe I just haven't thought about it enough, but it seemed too open-ended to me. In a way it makes sense, since this story is not a traditional narrative. It attempts to extend itself beyond the confines of the page by involving the author himself as a "fictional" character (but he's still the author...further complicated by the fact that Quinn himself is a writer also--but goes by a different pen name). Still, I would have liked an ending that was more...final...even if that finality was contrived (as all literary endings are, I guess).

I think what left me wanting a "final" ending was the fact that the story starts off in a somewhat "normal" narrative vein. The issues of identity and the inclusion of the author are introduced pretty early on, but about 3/4 of the way in, the narrative quickly descends into abstraction. A part of me loves it, a part of me doesn't. I'm undecided I guess.

[magyarul lentebb]

On my journey of discovering graphic novels... just kidding, I have no intention of doing that. But I really liked this one. With a foreword by Maus's Art Spiegelman, City of Glass has a great story written amazingly (that should not come as a surprise, it's Auster after all), so it had a strong skeleton. But the graphics were not just illustrations either, they helped the story transform into something new. I found an original idea on every page, in the creative use of the grid, showing the character of a voice, the disintegration of a mind in pictures instead of words while still keeping the importance of language, and it was fun to see the drawn versions of Auster and his family, too. My attention never faltered for a second, this graphic novel had a firm grip on it. Very well done.

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A kép(es?)regények világában tett felfedezéseim következő állomása Paul Auster New York trilógiájának átdolgozása. Valójában nincs szó semmiféle műfajfelfedezésről, csak ez a kettő* érdekelt, de az Üvegváros alapján nem tennék le a formáról. A Maust elkövető Art Spiegelman előszavával megjelent kötetnek persze őrülten erős alapja volt, hiszen Auster írta. Az előszó szerint figyelmeztette is a projekt mögött álló Spiegelmant, miszerint már többször próbáltak filmforgatókönyvet varázsolni ebből a szövegből, mindhiába. Karasik és Mazzucchelli párosának végül mégis fantasztikusan sikerült az adaptáció. Nem csupán illusztrálták a történetet, egy egészen új művet hoztak létre. Minden oldalon újabb eredeti ötlettel találkoztam, a képregény rácsainak kreatív használatától az írott jellemzések képi megjelenítésre cserélésén át (miközben a nyelv semmit nem veszít jelentőségéből) a rajzolt Auster-családig. Egy pillanatra sem eresztette a figyelmem, remek munka.

*a másik a Cheshire Crossing volt, sóhaj

Posle odličnosti poput Asterios Polipa, Macukeli je za mene zauvek car careva, i mogao bi do kraja karijere da igra iks-oks sam protiv sebe i to naziva umetnošću i objavljuje i meni bi to bilo super, sa Osterom ili bez. I Karasikom.

Strip pred nama je neka vrsta detektivske priče, samo što nije. Radnja, bremenita monolozima koji bez upozorenja prelaze iz prvog u treće lice, prati četiri ličnosti (ako sam dobro izbrojao) vezane u jednog protagonistu. Jedan od njih, da zabuna bude veća, je Pol Oster. Samo što nije. Nivoi stvarnosti se nižu i ljušte dok se umetnik (ovde mislim zapravo na svu trojicu) igra našom pažnjom i zateže nam tepih ispod nogu.

Grafički, strip u načelu prati 3x3 (iks-oks, kažem lepo) rešetku, ali ima i čestih spajanja čime se, po mom utisku, istovremeno održava struktura ali i menja ritam pripovedanja, što dobro dođe jer unosi dinamiku u celu stvar. Jedna ili dve table su čak "3x3 spleš rešetke", i to funkcioniše zanimljivo i kao celina i kao delovi. Macukeli se dosledno drži ovakve geometrije sve do pred kraj priče. Takođe, ima dosta zumiranja i igranja zanimljivim putanjama kamere, i tu je verovatno bilo referenci koje sam tek uspeo da naslutim - ili možda ipak samo učitam, ko će ga znati.

Treba mi još ovakvih stripova.

This is a reread. I'll leave my original five star rating even though this review might not reflect that entirely. It's a weird book and I think you have to be in a certain mindset to really appreciate it. It blew my mind when I first read it. I've been flip-flopping on whether this or Asterios Polyp was the better book and, having reread the latter recently I thought it might be a good idea to revisit the former as well.

At the end of the day I think City of Glass paved the way for Asterios Polyp. A lot of the same cartooning techniques and explorations of the medium's potential are found here. The expression of characters' personality and voice through the art and speech bubbles. The mastery of both straightforward and more abstract storytelling.

But I think the fact that it relies so heavily on the original text, and that said text relies so heavily on long monologues, works against the final product. Mazzucchelli bravely chose not the illustrate those long tirades with simple head shots of the characters, but goes full on experimental. The speeches are laid over these cinematic and highly symbolic transitioning panels that span over multiple page. It's fascinating at first (the opening is nothing short of masterful), but grows a little repetitive and tiring after a while.

I do still very much applaud Mazzucchelli and Karasik for compellingly adapting such a metaphysical, and supposedly unadaptable novel. And I'm sure my opinion will change again next time around. But, as of now it feels like a proto-Asterios Polyp to me more than anything else. At least on a technical level.

Thematically, it's a post-modern deconstruction of noir detective stories, that tackles the concept of perceived identity by tying to idea of the true meaning of words. As such, it's wonderfully meta (Paul Auster himself makes an appearance) and highly conceptual. But it also sometime veers too close to being an essay rather than a story. Which I guess is part of the deconstructionist aspect of the work, but can also make it a little aggravating for the reader. The plot isn't really the primary focus, and much more so the ideas it carries.

At the end of the day, I still really liked it. And I still think it's an example of the mastery Mazzucchelli holds over the sequential arts medium. But it does lack the heart that characterizes Asterios Polyp to me

Tendo feito essa leitura como recomendação de uma adaptação muito boa, se não uma das melhores, não poderia concordar mais. Iniciar a leitura dando uma pausa com o A Trilogia de Nova York para apreciar essa adaptação foi muito interessante, tanto pelo fato de estar com a história ainda em mente como por através dessa leitura pescar pontos que passaram batidos na leitura da obra original.
Por mais que a escrita do Paul Auster seja quase que hipnótica, nem tinha terminado o primeiro capítulo a história já tinha me capturado, a densidade de ideias que ele entrelaça é bastante grande e pode ser um tanto cansativa. Tal dificuldade é suavizada aqui pois os autores se ativeram ao essencial, o que não significa de forma alguma uma redução.
Impressiona como as ilustrações e designer da HQ conseguem remeter e ilustrar ideias da obra original, tornando-a um complemento muito bom, eu diria até que quase essencial. Cabe destacar o “final” de um dos personagens que é descrito de forma belíssima com recursos extremamente simples.
Aliás simplicidade é a palavra aqui, o traço em preto e branco casou perfeitamente com essa adaptação. Obra recomendadíssima; me pergunto se os autores chegaram a adaptar os outros dois contos da trilogia.

2.5

Графическая адаптация кафкианского нуарного триллера Пола Остера "Стеклянный город". Писатель классических криминальных романов, мысленно сросшийся со своим героем, отвечает на случайный телефонный звонок от девушки, умоляющей некоего частного детектива придти на помощь к её не вполне нормальному мужу, опасающемуся, что его жизни угрожает опасность, решает притвориться этим частным детективом, а дальше события закручиваются как в "Головокружении" Хичкока, где никто не понимает, где правда, а где ложь, где реальность, а где чей-то дурной сон.

Первая половина книги несколько лучше, чем вторая, но в целом довольно мощно и читается на одном дыхании. Прекрасный визуальный язык Дэвида Маццучелли увлекает читателя в перипетии сюжетного лабиринта, а классные безумные диалоги оттеняют сумасшествие большого города.

n  n

This is one of the most moving, weird, horrifying, heart-stopping graphic novels I've ever read, and there aren't many friends I'll be recommending it to- but I loved it.

I kept singing the Fionn Regan song that says, "For the loneliness you foster/ I suggest Paul Auster," as the book deals with the themes of language, names, identity, and how we use all those things to both reveal and conceal.

"Things have broken apart, and our words have not adapted. If we can't name a common object, how can we speak of things that truly concern us? My work is simple. In New York, brokenness is everywhere. I collect shattered objects to examine, and I give them names."