20 Jun / Out in the Open by Javi Rey, based on the novel by Jesús Carrasco, translated by Lawrence Schimel [in Booklist]
*STARRED REVIEW
Somewhere, a once fertile town has lost its “green and fragrant waves,” the riverbed dried to dust. Deep in a hole in the earth, a small, huddled body hides from shouting voices determined to expose him.
Darkness and silence finally allow him to escape “the town, the Sheriff and his father” as he runs north through “terra incognita.” But he’s still just a boy, hungry, thirsty, lost. His clumsy attempt to steal from a sleeping figure is met, shockingly, with kindness. With little to call his own – a few goats, his dog – the gruff old man nourishes, protects, and teaches the boy about life “out in the open.” Despite the brusque nurturing, the boy is continuously plagued with inescapable nightmares that reveal the sadistic abuse he’s survived thus far. His vigilant pursuers relentlessly loom, now threatening both young and old.
Barcelona-based Belgian artist Rey adapts Carrasco’s award-winning novel of the same title, alchemizing the original spare prose into richly multihued panels that alternately terrify and comfort, shock and inspire, haunt, and ultimately, offer hope. Rey’s spectacular adaptation, capably translated by Schimel, is sure to multiply Carrasco’s already substantial audience.
YA/Mature Readers: Rey’s remarkable graphic adaptation should make Carrasco’s dystopic parable more accessible, even enticing, for mature teen readers.
Review: “Fiction: Graphic Novels,” Booklist, June 1, 2018
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2018 (United States)