The Arrival

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a beautiful illustrated Graphic Novel. It is completely silent having no words however; a magnificent story emerged. It is beyond me to think of how someone can create such a wonderful story using no dialogue what so ever.

The story opens with a man moving away from his family to a new world away from some sort of terrible monster, to get a start for when his family arrive. When he arrives in the new world he is in a completely foreign place. Strange letter, buildings and language. The man struggles to get by since he is completely lost in translation. Once he finds a place to stay he befriends what seems to be an ordinary rodent. The man then searches for food all of which looks very strange to him, one thing even reminds him of the monster from back home. Another man shares a memory with him from a monster from his home town, this other man invites him back to his home for dinner. It opens the next chapter of the man trying to find work, he finds a few jobs and continuously does them wrong. He ends up working in a factory where he meets an elder man who shares stories of his past in the army. The man sends a letter to his family as seasons pass he finally receives one telling him when they will arrive. His family arrives and they are again united in the new world.

I feel that this story is beautiful and in this situation the wonderful art work only helps move the story along. With the lack of word the more beautiful and realistic the art can be used without taking anything away from the story. I find that Shaun Tan also uses such strange buildings, letters, and food to emphasis that the man is in a new world. If we can understand nothing about the new world then we can relate more to the man who also understands nothing. This story parallels to immigration to the United States and helps readers understand the hard ships that immigrants had to endure. I would recommend this book to anyone you do not have to be a comic book lover to enjoy this graphic novel.