An Ideal World - Softcover

Chen, Weidong

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0759529426 ISBN 13: 9780759529427

Publisher: Yen Press, 2009

Synopsis

Time and again, A You finds himself chasing a mysterious rabbit through his dreams. But before he can reach out and grab it...his mother is shaking him awake for another day of work. A You's not exactly thrilled with his job at the factory, so when a persistent streak of bad luck leaves him unemployed, it seems like a great opportunity to start over. The trouble is, A You doesn't have anything to move on to. With no goals or aspirations, A You roams the city searching for direction. Deep in thought on one of his strolls, A You suddenly rouses himself only to discover he's lost in the woods. He catches sight of a rabbit, and in desperation follows it through the forest. But this scene seems familiar...Is it a dream? Or could there truly be an ideal world within the darkness?

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up–After waking up from a nightmare, 19-year-old Ayou's day starts off with verbal chastisements from his nagging mother, gets progressively worse (a series of minor injuries on his way to work), and culminates with a spectacular disaster involving the collapse of a warehouse full of boxes. Suspended from his job, despondent, and unwilling to accept the advice of his friends, the young man ends up on a bus heading out of the city. He falls asleep in the hollow of a tree, and when he wakes up, Rip Van Winkle and The Wizard of Oz plot elements come into play as a short green man takes him to another world. Unsurprisingly, Ayou's sojourn in this vibrant and joyful world gives him an attitude adjustment and motivates him to live a more purposeful life. Despite the fantasy backdrop, Ayou's adventure is one mired with unimaginative lessons. His conclusion that those who lead joyful lives understand happiness is just the last in a long list of platitudes scattered throughout the story. As for the artwork, the landscape is bright and worthy of staging a video game, but it's a waste of visual whimsy for a lesson that essentially boils down to stop whining and appreciate what you have.–Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library END

From Publishers Weekly

This verbose fantasy comic from China is part Alice in Wonderland and part self-help manual. A You is a depressed 19-year-old forklift driver who dreams of chasing rabbits, but it takes him nearly half of the book to fall down the rabbit hole to a wonderland. For the first 60 pages A You's friends and co-workers tediously lecture him in an attempt to pull him out of his slump. A born complainer, A You thinks he has the worst luck; Why is my life so boring... and so hard? he asks. His visit to a utopian fantasy world changes his outlook on life as he watches a dancing street sweeper and a building painter/would-be artist enjoying their menial jobs. At the heart of the comic is a very upbeat message about entrepreneurship delivered by a humanoid zebra named The Master of Universal Love. The venture capitalist zebra's explanation of how he rose to the top is unfortunately told in the uncanny voice of a pyramid scheme leader or an Avon salesman. Peng and Chen are excellent artists, but the book gets bogged down in talky heavy-handedness, as if someone put nice fantasy illustrations into a business self-help book like Who Moved My Cheese. (Mar.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Yen Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0759529426
• ISBN 13: 9780759529427
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176