Title: Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and
Rodrigo Corral
Published:
February 2nd, 2012 by Razorbill
Source:
Library
Format:
Paperback
Challenge(s):
2012 Library
Grade rate: B-
After her mother died, Glory retreated into herself and her music. Her single father raised her as a piano prodigy, with a rigid schedule and the goal of playing sold-out shows across the globe. Now, as a teenager, Glory has disappeared. As we flash back to the events leading up to her disappearance, we see a girl on the precipice of disaster. Brilliant and lonely, Glory is drawn to an artistic new boy, Frank, who moves in next door. The farther she falls, the deeper she spirals into madness. Before long, Glory is unable to play anything but the song "Chopsticks."
But nothing is what it seems, and Glory's reality is not reality at all. In this stunningly moving novel told in photographs, pictures, and words, it's up to the reader to decide what is real, what is imagined, and what has been madness all along....
My review
Chopsticks is
somewhat unique. The storyis told using
pictures, drawings, instant messaging, and very few words. It was, to say the least, a novel experience
for me.
I cannot comment a lot on the characters, because we just
get to enjoy a brief glimpse of them and it wouldn’t be fair to categorize them
with so little information. Glory and
Frank truly loved each other, and were both placed in impossible situations:
Glory was pushed to be a concert pianist and Frank to be in a place that he
didn’t wanted to be.
We have a few given facts, but overall the reader is
expected and encouraged to infer part of the story. As you know my first language is Spanish, so
I perfectly understood the whole story (even when Spanish was used I
mean). Even if I were to tell you what
I thought happen, I might be ‘wrong’ since it’s wide open for interpretation. This is what I think happened *SPOILER*: I think Glory was pushed too
hard to be perfect for her father in the only way she knew how. I also think that Glory’s mother was somewhat
unstable and that her father thought to protect Glory of the world and of
heartbreak. Frank grounded her and made
her want to feel normal and loved for who she was. I think their separation made Glory briefly
loose her focus (if not exactly loose her mind), but she found a way to go back
to Frank and overcome her fixation (Chopsticks was an internal joke between
them) **END SPOILER**
The most impressive part of this book is the artistry behind
it. Every page was carefully placed to
add vital information to the story, to give us insight and trigger
understanding. This book is an amazing
work of art, and I would recommend it if you are a visual sort of person (as I
am!)
About the cover: The cover is just a brief taste of
what waits for you inside these pages.
Beautiful, right?
Have you read Chopsticks? What
did you think about it? Would you try
this book or another book in this format?
I saw this as Barnes and Noble once. It looked interesting but I kind of forgot about it. It is cool that it is done differently than most books. I think I am going to go add it to my tbr list.
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