The Book Tour by author and Illustrator Andi Watson
The Book Tour is an odd little graphic novel that follows the author protagonist as he attempts to promote his latest book release. Along the way he experiences unusual circumstances that place him a little too close to an ongoing murder investigation.
He deals with every little thing going wrong. As he doesn’t fix a single problem, they build into bigger and bigger problems along the way. Note to self, don’t just accept stolen luggage or unplanned itineraries. Seriously, take control of your life in any ways that you can.
The graphic novel is simply drawn, it evokes feelings of classic New Yorker cartoons. Everyone is plain in appearance and no one even has much personality. Just enough of each character is shown to get a feel for the general idea of a character that they are. You are trusted to fill in the blanks.
The main character is the plainest that plain can be. He is so meek and timid he basically just lets anything and everything happen to him without a fight. His whole book tour is going completely wrong and he doesn’t stand up for himself once. It’s honestly quite obnoxious.
The book blurb discribes The Book Tour as being “Kafka-eqsue.” I think that’s shooting a bit high. People just throw that phrase around without thinking about what it would actually mean. The Book Tour is a mildly surreal story in how far the author goes down this path of mistaken identity and happenstance but it’s hardly Kafka. It’s more purposefully vague and pusillanimous.
All that being said, I did find myself intrigued by the mystery. I did want to know what happened and why and if it would get settled so in that sense the book was a success. However, I was unsatisfied with the ending. Or, unsatisfied with how the protagonist finished his story. He’s a weak man, one unworthy of a happy ending, so maybe it all does work out. Gosh, how sad is that?
It’s one of those stories where you want to yell at the main character, who’s doing all the wrong things, and just smack some sense into them. Stand up for yourself! Take your fate into your own hands! Don’t trust that stranger you idiot! But he does it all anyway. He never learns from his mistakes.
The Book Tour is a quick read and I can definitely think of worse ways to spend an hour. If you like books where the bulk of the conflict is between you and the book itself then this one is definitely for you.
3/5 books 📖📖📖
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Buy it here: The Book Tour
