Dark Stories – The Book Told Me That

I have been looking forward to reading Kari for a long time now. This weekend, I finally got an opportunity to read it in solace. I have mixed feelings about the book. I saw this book all around the last year. So many people that I follow on booktube and bookstagram have recommended it.

Kari follows a story of a queer girl named Kari. She is living away from her family with some roommates. Along with the daily life, she is often contemplating about her ex-lover Ruth. The storyline is very mixed up. It jumps from one topic to another very frequently. Sometimes it’s hard to follow when this transition occurs. Other times it flows like a breeze. And as a reader, you are engaged in the plot until the next rough transition occurs. It did bother me a little.

I like that the book was by an Indian author, the illustrations the slang was very familiar. At places, it felt very home-like. One such instance is where Kari’s parents visit her home in the new city. And her roommates are acting inappropriately. Kari tries to diffuse the situation with distraction, which is quite obvious in an Indian setting. It was things like this that stood out for me. The illustrations are raw and not very polished, which adds another layer of chaos to the story. Overall, it was a good one-time read. I quenched my curiosity from last year, and left with a good read.

Graphic novels are more than just stories, they are stories via art. I always find Graphic Novels very engaging and gripping because of the art. Will Eisner brought graphic novels to life. This was the first Graphic Novel that was created, I didn’t know that until I completed reading this book.

A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories by Will Eisner

The artwork in the book is intense, it’s hard to believe that this was the first graphic novel, it’s quite polished and bold. The book has four stories, mostly relating to Will’s own experiences while growing up. The title of the story comes from the first story, A contract with God. All four stories are tragic and depressingly audacious. There is every sort of tragedy happening in those 200 pages.

In the first story, a man named Frimme Hersh builds a contract with God, that he abides by every word, but God doesn’t. It’s a mirror to the society, of how our behavior is driven by the benefits we get out of it. The way the story is told makes it predictable but also sad, you don’t want Frimme to do things he is doing, but he abides by human nature. The second story is of a street singer who is poor and never had a stroke of luck in any profession he chose, which drove his family to poverty and substandard living condition. He is careless and driven by momentary happiness, he cheated on his wife for a break in the music industry. The moment he gets some money, he starts celebrating, but it doesn’t last long for him. The third story is of a poor worker in a tenement who is of perverted nature and doesn’t hesitate to hit or molest a child for his lust. His story ends tragically in due course as his pleasure bubble burst.

Each of the stories end tragically. How, is the spoiler. You are left to pity the characters and also to blame them for their tragic end. Overall, it’s a masterpiece, it takes you in this dark side of human nature with few words and a couple of drawings. I would recommend this to anyone who likes dark stories, graphic novels and wants to read more Will Eisner.