Synopses & Reviews
A family is seduced by a mysterious creature's siren song that can be heard emanating from the lagoon after dark in talented young cartoonist Lilli Carré's first long-form work, and how each member reacts to the song in is the crux of the story. For the wise--or pixilated--Grandpa, the song reminds him that, in the time he has left, he must pause to respect, appreciate, and fear nature. The song hints at something that Zoey, the daughter, is too young to fully grasp. And the song lures the sexually frustrated mother, and eventually, her husband, into danger... Carré experimented with nib pens and brushes while drawing this black-and-white graphic novel, giving the art a different feel from her previous, Eisner-and-Harvey-Award-nominated story, . was influenced by the films and , but reads more like the gothic, family narratives of Flannery O'Connor or Carson McCullers. Rhythms--Grandpa's taps, the ticking of a metronome--are punctuated by silences that pace this "sound"-driven story. Older teen and adult readers are invited to imagine the enigmatic creature's haunting, ever-shifting tune as it reverberates through weedy waters, eventually escaping the lagoon to creep into windows at night.
Review
"This slim volume packs abundant energy and demands regular revisiting." Francisca Goldsmith
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"Carré's drawings of swamp reeds, seaweed, and curling locks of hair are luscious and enchanting." Booklist
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"The solid blacks and blocky grotesquerie of strongly recall Charles Burns' , a story in which adulthood is equated with monstrosity. In , too, sexual maturity and horror are linked. But that link is mediated by a third term--a metaphor, a song." Sasha Watson Double X
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An odd yet enchanting story…guaranteed to haunt you well after reading. --Pedro Cabzuelo
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The Lagoon is a horror story, if a low-key one; like much of the best horror it makes the connection between horror and the absurd... Carré's sinuous, snaking treatment of sound provides a through-line... but it still feels disconnected in ways that few writers today are gutsy enough to attempt. The overall effect is like Clive Barker fed through a twee filter. This'll stick to you. --Sean T. Collins
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Simultaneously matter of fact and otherworldly. --Kate Fitzsimons
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The Lagoon is a peculiar book, continually confounding the reader's expectations. It starts out in many ways like a mystery or thriller novel does... But as the book progresses, it turns into a very different beast (no pun intended); a hidden romance, a story about longings, and family relationships... [T]his is a story that feels lush and moody in a way that comics often try to be but rarely succeed... a very solid, well-crafted book, and whatever Carré’s next project is, it’ll be one to keep an eye out for. --Greg McElhatton
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Carré’s book suggest a sonata of melodic lines and flowing-panel rhythms, with just a hint of sexual menace. --Richard Gehr
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Cryptic and metaphorical, a mystery that we are not invited to the core of—but the mood the book brings with it lingers on. --John E. Mitchell
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"If this is a family album, it may contain darker secrets than the pictures make explicit. When we recall that Zoey's parents make her play piano, the instrument her grandfather also played as a child, the book's palpable unease about the imprisonment of children within the psychodramas of their elders becomes vivid. Toward the end, the grandfather gives Zoey a haircut that she complains makes her look younger: the imposition of her elders' desires upon her plainly stunts her own growth. But The Lagoon offers us no portrayal of an adulthood into which it would be worthwhile to grow; in this, it is a gorgeously bleak (if remarkably conservative) work for so young an artist."
John Pistelli, Rain Taxi (read the entire Rain Taxi review)
Synopsis
Carre experimented with nib pens and brushes while drawing this black-and-white graphic novel, giving the art a different feel from her previous, Eisner-and-Harvey-Award-nominated story, Tales of Woodsman Pete. The Lagoon was influenced by the films Creature from the Black Lagoon and Night of the Hunter, but reads more like the gothic, family narratives of Flannery O Connor or Carson McCullers. Rhythms Grandpa s taps, the ticking of a metronome are punctuated by silences that pace this sound -driven story. Older teen and adult readers are invited to imagine the enigmatic creature s haunting, ever-shifting tune as it reverberates through weedy waters, eventually escaping the lagoon to creep into windows at night. "
Synopsis
A haunting, lyrical graphic novel debut. A family is seduced by the song of the Creature from the Black Lagoon in talented young cartoonist Lilli Carr 's first long-form work, and how each member reacts to the Creature's siren call in
The Lagoon is the crux of the story. Carr experimented with nib pens and brushes while drawing this black-and-white graphic novel, giving the art a different feel from her previous, Eisner-and-Harvey-Award-nominated story,
The Tale of Woodsman Pete. Lagoon was influenced by the films
Creature from the Black Lagoon and
Night of the Hunter, but reads more like the gothic family narratives of Flannery O'Connor. Rhythms - taps, the ticking of a metronome - are punctuated by silences that pace this "sound"-driven story. Older teen and adult readers are invited to imagine the enigmatic Creature's haunting, ever-shifting tune as it reverberates through weedy waters, eventually escaping the lagoon to creep into windows at night.
Synopsis
A family is seduced by a siren song emanating from the lagoon after dark as it reverberates through weedy waters, eventually escaping the lagoon to creep into their windows at night, in this haunting, lyrical graphic novel debut.
About the Author
Lilli Carré was born in 1983 in Los Angeles and currently lives and works in Chicago, making animations, illustrations, and comics. Her animated films have shown in various festivals in the US and abroad, including the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and her art is exhibited in museums. Visit her at lillicarre.com.