Building Stories: Chris Ware Paperback – 4 Oct. 2012

I bought this on the basis of having read and loved Jimmy Corrigan, which is an utterly wonderful five star work. Now, this is a fantastic artifact. A box full of books and boards, papers and pamphlets. The story you assemble yourself in whatever order you like, each one packed with Ware's beautiful modernist art and cartoons. Not an original idea, but one very hard to get right - and make no mistake, Ware really gets the format right. But, and this is a big but, what it says isn't really very interesting. It has some good moments, some fantastic frames, some lovely tones. But we've been over this ground before, loneliness and ennui and the failure of human connections. On those subjects, this work is just a footnate to Jimmy Corrigan, variations on a theme. The format makes it, without the wonderful structure this would just be another Jimmy Corrigan.

A thing of beauty - the conception is wonderful, its large box allowing the adult to be a child again on receiving the amazing gift that completely surpasses expectations. Contemplating the all sorts of different types of publications in store is the treat that takes over next.Chris Ware writes stories current filmmakers like Thomas McCarthy, Isabel Coixet and Ritesh Batra have managed to pull off when they were at their best (hopefully Batra still is) - stories that convey in the moments and have a subtlety that make the stories seem unwritten while never documentary-like. But this writer doesnt need comparisons with creators in a different medium, being the writer of the brilliant Jimmy Corrigan.It is very difficult to find graphic novels in recent years of the quality of the likes of Jimmy Corigan, Maus, The Bone series, Fun Home, The Dolls House from the Sandman series, The Watchmen, the Dark Night Returns, but here with Building Stories you have it. The different sections in different publications of his characters lives need not be read in any particular order as the quality of the writing means it is all about the moments rather than the empty impulse to find out what happens next which ultimately only reveals when the book ends that nothing happens next. One thing that is startling to me even after already appreciating the ability of this graphic novelist via Jimmy Corrigan is that he writes as brilliantly about women as he does about men.I hope that "The Last Saturday" strips will be collected together on hard copy for me to read and treasure. I am waiting until I can get to do both things. In the meantime, does anyone know of anything else of the Building Stories kind of quality (or those from years back that I mention above) in graphic novels from the last 5,6 years, say? I have looked at a few things like Saga, Scott Pilgrim, Unterzakhn, Shortcomings and American Widow, but they dont even come close.

I thought this would be a single-book anthology. But no, it's a big collection... It's a graphic novel in two senses of the word 'novel':Firstly, the format is novel -- it comes in a curious shape, boxed up like a large board-game, containing strips, a fine book with a delicate gold-coloured spine, bande-dessinee style hardbacks, broadsheet foldouts, and more: 14 items in all! It will not fit in a shelf, unless you split it up.It's also a novel, in the sense it tells a longer story, in pieces. In fact, you can read it with your friends / significant other at the same time, like the sections of a Sunday newspaper, and compare notes. It won't make sense till you've gone through the whole thing.So, I guess I'm saying it's not really linear. It's not a book, but a collection of items. The story is dour. If you like Chris Ware, and want something melancholy and difficult, that's fun as well -- if that's possible! -- then this could be what you are after.Personally, I like it very much, but you need to be in the mood to for this kind of thing.If right now you want a good read, straightforwardly done -- then maybe not.

Great artwork and a well thought out plot. Seemed to concentrate more on just one of the characters....would have liked to know more about the others as well. Great idea...a bit of a sob story and not a plot to leave you feel uplifted. I loved the presentation and just the uniqueness of the idea....The only downside is that the gold spined hardback book is of poor quality!!! Basically the spine peels away. A Badly thought out idea on that one and its such a shame as the quality of the rest of the items is just superb. No order to start reading....just delve in.....A great experience overall.

Chris Ware has always created remarkable stories that move, inspire, and depress, and I have watched (and collected) the majority of his work over the last twelve years. He has produced pamphlets, broadsheets, hardback books, paperbacks, journals, and work that is so tiny that you need a magnifying glass to see it (see the cover of the Acme Novelty Library http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0224077023/ref=asc_df_022407702313149772?smid=A3NAO0K0FOUXHJ&tag=hydra0b-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22218&creativeASIN=0224077023&hvpos=1o2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=148832994320404488&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=)It makes sense that this artist who has worked from the micro to the macro in terms of publishing, has brought all these forms together in huge package. It is a remarkable achievement.Also - I'm in it. Which is nice.

I'm not usually big on graphic novels but I have been around architects for a couple of decades, even working with them recently (and a while back) and so I was interested in this after reading a rave review - got it for xmas and (together with the family - 24 people staying over the holiday season) we really enjoyed this - very thought provoking and ingenious use of the technology of paper and card and graphics in ways I wouldn't have imagined (even though I can do origami, and have in my youth made stuff out of breakfast cereal packets, a la Blue Peter).Anyhow, I recommend this if you like buildings, stories and graphic novels.