On the Camino

This travel memoir is a departure for Jason, who's known for his wryly deadpan, sparsely dialogued graphic novels. His first autobiographical work, it traces his 32-day trek along the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile historic pilgrimage route in northwestern Spain. In his unadorned, consciously stilted drawing style and using a simple four-panel grid, he depicts the countryside and villages along the way and recounts his encounters with his fellow hikers, all depicted with animal heads in Jason's customary anthropomorphizing fashion. Jason's usually laconic approach gives way to an ongoing internal narrative in which he muses on matters both weighty (Christianity, personal isolation) and mundane (sock washing, choosing a nightly hostel, and suffering blisters) and grapples with the insularity and shyness that keep him from connecting with other people. Like his pilgrimage, the book isn't quite revelatory, but it offers an abundance of satisfying pleasures that add up to something genuinely meaningful. It's gratifying to see such a talented cartoonist stretch his artistic muscles, especially when the results are so rewarding.--Flagg, Gordon Copyright 2017 Booklist

Upon turning 50, esteemed Norwegian cartoonist Jason (I Killed Adolf Hitler) walked the Camino de Santiago (or St. James's Way), a 500-mile pilgrimage route to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. The result is his first graphic memoir, sharing the mundanities (endless hostels, hand-washing socks), fellow travelers (a rainbow of nationalities, maybe a nun, definitely a windmill repairman), and small pleasures (meals, café con leche) encountered on the way. Jason's internal monologue-by turns self-deprecating and matter-of-fact, shot through with social anxiety, and punctuated by moments of startling gag comedy and pop culture references, but always earnest and relatable-propels the journey. His trademark minimalism-simple black-and-white line work and deadpan anthropomorphic people-convey the essence of his experiences, though not the details. There are no grand epiphanies in the end, but this intimate travelogue of life's little uncertainties, absurdities, and victories is a revealing addition to the Jason oeuvre. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In 2015, Norwegian cartoonist Jason (If You Steal) set out on a 500-mile pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago across Spain to celebrate his 50th birthday. This memoir traces the author's 32-day trek of taking in the sights, sleeping in hostels, and meeting strangers from all around the world. While fans of Jason's previous books, many of which tend toward quirky, melancholy spins on romance and adventure stories, might not immediately embrace this more mundane and self-reflective tale, his distinctive melding of minimalist presentation and restless imagination is still on full display, and results in a strangely intimate portrait of the artist as he struggles with blisters, bed bugs, bad food, and social anxiety while searching for a meaningful and authentic experience. VERDICT This one might have slightly more appeal to Jason's devoted fans than those not yet familiar with his work, but as he's an internationally acclaimed cartoonist with a rabid following, that should not be a -problem.-TB © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.