Imagine Wanting Only This

(Hardback)

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Description

'Radtke is, first and foremost, a superhuman of illustration, a grandmaster like Adrian Tomine or Chris Ware.' New York Times Book Review Imagine Wanting Only This is a haunting graphic memoir about leaving, and those left behind. After the sudden death of a beloved uncle, Kristen becomes obsessed with abandoned places - derelict Midwestern mining towns, an Icelandic village preserved in volcanic ash, Cambodian temples reclaimed by jungle. At the same time, she examines what it means to be an artist, to be hungry for the next experience, to be always in transit. Beautifully illustrated in black and white, Imagine Wanting Only This confirms Kristen Radtke as an important new voice in the comics world.

Reviews

Radtke is, first and foremost, a superhuman of illustration, a grandmaster like Adrian Tomine or Chris Ware. * New York Times Book Review *
The most beautiful graphic novel youll read all year, Kristen Radtkes memoir is an absolutely stunning look at what it is to recover from grief, and is so haunting youll be thinking about it for days after reading it... At once narrative and factual, historical and personal, Radtke's stunning illustrations and piercing text never shy away from the big questions: Why are we here, and what will we leave behind * Newsweek *
Brilliant The book is a family drama, youthful romance, obsessive adventure, and karmic inquiry wrapped in a coming-of-age tale. [Radtke's] thumbnail history of left-behind people and places, and a wondrous panel-by-panel archive of the interplay between her rapacious intellect and her expansive imagination. -- Elle
[Radtke's] writing is never less than lovely, and her black-and-white drawings are masterfully eloquent: at once vivid and faded. Think Shelleys "Ozymandias", with light top notes of Alison Bechdel and Adrian Tomine. -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian **Graphic Novel of the Month** *
[Radtke is] a master of both prose narrative and visual art... In a way, what she has done in this impressive book is to revive the dead and recover the lost while illuminating a world in flux, in which change is the only constant. Powerfully illustrated and incisively written a subtle dazzler of a debut. * Kirkus *
Remarkable...a breathtaking mix of prose and illustration. * Atlantic *
One of the most haunting graphic memoirs Ive ever read... As we turn the pages on [Radtkes] journey, we are ravaged and ravished. There is a proud tradition of graphic memoirists of those dually equipped to wield word and image to tell the true and deeply considered story of a life. Alison Bechdel, Roz Chast, Riad Sattouf, David Small, Marjane Satrapi, Art Spiegelman and others have done it searingly well. Add now to that list Radtke, who proves herself an equal among equals with this debut book. * Chicago Tribune *
With elegant writing and arresting drawings, Kristen Radtkes Imagine Wanting Only This...grapple[s] with the limits of how much understanding our past can help us comprehend our present... She is a master of silhouette and shadow, of negative space, evoking a sense of potent isolation. * Boston Globe *
A stunning, honest meditation on loss... Radtkes book is enchanting. * Huffington Post *
This memoirs realisation of urgency expresses itself in human beings silence, which might frustrate readers of prose memoir. But here it is an opportunity for Radtkes readers to focus, stare, wonder to remain within urgency itself... This is a riveting use of memoir. -- Sarah Heston * Los Angeles Review of Books *
In her exquisitely soul-, mind-, and heart-shattering debut graphic memoir, Kristen Radtke explores life's big questions surrounding grief, mortality, and the impermanence of the things and the people we love most. * Nylon *
Radtke's life and the way she beautifully elevates her deeply personal experiences into universal lessons makes for brilliant, compelling, unforgettable art. * Bustle *
Kristen Radtke leads us through a bleak and beautifully crafted story of heart and heartbreak creation, connection, decay, and loss. Imagine Wanting Only This is challenging and inspiring. -- Ellen Forney, New York Times bestselling author of MARBLES
Writer, illustrator, and editor Radtkes graphic memoir does something difficult within just a few minimally designed, emotional pages: she transforms the over-studied experience of being a talented artist stuck in that yearning gulf between colleges purpose and lifes demands into something unique and thuddingly real. * Publishers Weekly *

Author Bio

Kristen Radtke is the art director and New York editor of The Believer magazine and the film and video editor of TriQuarterly magazine. She lives in New York. Imagine Wanting Only This is her first book.