The Lagoon - Hardcover

Carr�, Lilli

3.36

915 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1560979542 ISBN 13: 9781560979548

Publisher: Fantagraphics, 2008

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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.

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 Carr�’s first long-form work, and how each member reacts to the song in The Lagoon 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...

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, 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.

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About the Author:

Lilli Carr� 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.

Review:

“This slim volume packs abundant energy and demands regular revisiting.”
- Francisca Goldsmith, Booklist

“Simultaneously matter of fact and otherworldly.”
- Kate Fitzsimons, Publishers Weekly

“Carr�’s book suggest a sonata of melodic lines and flowing-panel rhythms, with just a hint of sexual menace.”
- Richard Gehr, The Village Voice

“An odd yet enchanting story...guaranteed to haunt you well after reading.”
- Pedro Cabzuelo

“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, North Adams Transcript

“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 Carr�’s next project is, it’ll be one to keep an eye out for.”
- Greg McElhatton, Read About Comics

“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... Carr�'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

“Carr�’s drawings of swamp reeds, seaweed, and curling locks of hair are luscious and enchanting.”
- Sasha Watson, Double X

“The solid blacks and blocky grotesquerie of The Lagoon strongly recall Charles Burns’ Black Hole, a story in which adulthood is equated with monstrosity. In The Lagoon, too, sexual maturity and horror are linked. But that link is mediated by a third term―a metaphor, a song.”
- Noah Berlatsky, Chicago Reader

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