Ruins

(Hardback)

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Description

Winner of the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album Selected as an ALA Top Ten Graphic Novel of 2016 Samantha and George are a couple heading towards a sabbatical year in the quaint Mexican town of Oaxaca. For Samantha, it is the opportunity to revisit her past. For George, it is an unsettling step into the unknown. For both of them, it will be a collision course with political and personal events that will alter their paths and the town of Oaxaca forever. In tandem, the remarkable and arduous journey that a Monarch butterfly endures on its annual migration from Canada to Mexico is woven into Ruins. This creates a parallel picture of the challenges of survival in our ever-changing world. Ruins explores the shadows and light of Mexico through its past and present as encountered by an array of characters. The real and surreal intermingle to paint an unforgettable portrait of life south of the Rio Grande.

Reviews

"Ruins is a book rich with beauty and important ideas, and it's just a lovely book from cover to cover. . . . It's a special work of comics art."-- "Comics Bulletin"
"Ruins is a masterpiece of visual imagery and poignant storytelling. Kuper weaves an elegant tapestry of colorful human lives juxtaposed with the multi-generational monarch butterfly migrations. I recommend this extraordinary book to fellow travelers and everyone interested in the survival of the monarchs."-- "Stephen Buchmann, co-author of The Forgotten Pollinators"
"Ruins is Peter Kuper's experiences living in Oaxaca, Mexico colliding with an abiding fascination with insects woven into an epic graphic novel. Kuper illustrates the remarkable ability of the Monarch butterfly to survive, beauty intact, in the face of astonishing hurdles and illuminates the equal perseverance of the Mexican people and their culture."-- "Mark Moffett, author of Adventures Among Ants"
"As a work with strong visual narratives, Ruins is a valuable addition to any graphic fiction collection."-- "Library Journal online (starred review)"
"Sumptuously printed and designed, Ruins is a luxury book."-- "New York Observer"

Author Bio

Peter Kuper has created over a dozen graphic novels, including The System, Sticks and Stones, and an adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. He is co-founder of the political graphics magazine World War 3 Illustrated and since 1997 has written and drawn "Spy Vs Spy" for MAD Magazine. He has been teaching comics courses for over 25 years in New York City and is a visiting professor at Harvard University.