Review by Booklist Review
Small is undoubtedly revered as a prodigious picture book creator--a Caldecott Medal and Honor Book, among many other lauds, provide proof--while his graphic novels (Stitches, 2009; Home after Dark, 2018) remain notably rare. His latest comprises three stories, thematically linked by "The Beast Within," as Small titles his introduction. In "The Werewolf at Dusk," a story by Lincoln Michel, an elderly man laments his youth as he (still) considers that strangers could be prey. In "A Walk in the Old City," Small plumbs a decades-old personal dream, featuring an aging psychiatrist who wanders into an arachnoid nightmare. In the third--and most compelling--Small enhances Jean Ferry's "The Tiger in Vogue" as he follows a "Mitläuffer, one who sees but walks along," in 1920s Berlin, who witnesses violence, crime, animal torture, and even Hitler but chooses to silently return home to his own safety. Undoubtedly, a timely warning against complacent complicity seems contained within. All throughout, Small's fluid, emotive art is consistently wondrous, his characters' expressions particularly, remarkably revealing. Shades of somber blue dominate his illustrations, pointedly enhanced with a haunting red in "Werewolf" and heightened with pastels (but also that warning red) in "Vogue." Beasts indeed populate Small's affecting pages, but most disturbing are the treacherous humans.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This evocative, sure-handed triptych of short stories from Small (Stitches) showcases his talent to conjure foreboding. The title piece, adapted from a story by Lincoln Michel, depicts an aging werewolf who's now "lucky overtake an injured squirrel." As isolated as ever, he's still fearful of the full moon, but for a different reason: --"It used to mean I'd hurt other people. Now it means I hurt myself." The dreamlike middle story, "A Walk in the Old City," portrays a burnt-out psychiatrist as he follows a mysterious old man across a bridge festooned with giant spiders, haunted by the specter of death. In the final entry, "The Tiger in Vogue" (adapted from a story by Jean Ferry), a dilettante in 1920s Germany tries to enjoy the "innocent delights" of a music hall--a Belle Epoque--style pop of color in a dim and rainy city--but despises one particular number, in which a woman courts a tiger dressed like a dapper gentleman. The tiger's wildness is barely contained by a cat tamer fashioned as Hitler, whose power requires the complacency and complicity of the audience. Small's elegant, spidery drawings, reminiscent of Jules Feiffer, and limited color palette unite the set. Wisdom does not beget freedom in the sorrowful world of these stories--but it's still a place well worth visiting. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Book Group. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Best-selling author and illustrator Small (Home After Dark) presents a collection of three short stories. The titular tale, adapted from a story by Lincoln Michel, concerns an aging werewolf reflecting on the bestial rampages of his past with both revulsion and nostalgia during a visit to a local pharmacy. In the second story, "A Walk in the Old City," a psychiatrist becomes lost during an afternoon stroll. After wandering the bank of a canal filled with ink-black water and meeting an enigmatic stranger who keeps enormous spiders as pets, he wonders if he's experiencing a dream laden with imagery meaningful to his own life, or whether he's a character in a dream someone else is having. Finally, Small adapts Jean Ferry's "The Tiger in Vogue." Set in Berlin in the 1930s, an unnamed narrator attends a music-hall performance involving a live tiger dressed in gentlemanly attire pantomiming a night out with a beautiful human companion. VERDICT Small's fluid linework and exceptional visual storytelling result in a compelling, deeply affecting collection.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The latest from writer-artist Small is a triptych of short illustrated stories (two adaptations and one original) that explore the idea of lurking monsters. In the first, adapted from Lincoln Michel's short story "The Werewolf at Dusk," an aging lycanthrope laments his lost vitality: The years have rendered his once-fearsome lupine form mangy, stooped, and medicated. The Small original, "A Walk in the Old City," follows a psychotherapist lost and imperiled on strange, circuitous streets who recognizes his surroundings as nothing more than a dream but then must confront the identity of the dreamer--and a pack of dog-sized spiders. The final tale is based on Jean Ferry's "Le Tigre Mondain," in which a theatergoer in 1920s Berlin has his night of frivolity ruined by the surprise performance of a popular farce featuring a tiger behaving like a man, from wearing a suit to not eating a baby, with the salivating beast held in check only by the will of the nearby and increasingly exhausted Adolf Hitler. The collection is more adult picture book than graphic novel and is immensely enjoyable. Small's linework is striking in its expressiveness and energy, figures and forms leaping across the page while eyes and lips simmer with emotion. Broad patches and layers of color imbue the illustrations with a gorgeous painterly quality. An introduction from Smalls connects the three stories thematically and challenges the reader to not fall victim to that most insidious of monsters lurking within so many of us: passivity. From the unceasing and enervating march of time to the uncertainty of our agency to the crass manipulation of the masses by the elite, Small convincingly makes the case that we are beset on all sides (especially inside) by monsters. Surreal and searing. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
