I bought this book because the Calvin and Hobbes book that I saw yesterday was no longer there; I didn't want my trip into the city to be in vain.
This book was written and illustrated by Kid Koala and coloured by Louisa Schabas.
Nufonia Must Fall is an example of what the kids these days are referring to as "multimedia," as, along with the book, you get a CD which serves as its soundtrack.
Now, in what may very well be a testament to my ineptitude or the inherent difficulty of this particular piece of art, I'm actually not too sure I understand exactly how to use the soundtrack. I mean, I know how to listen to the CD, I'm just not sure how to do so in conjunction with the book.
For example, there are eight chapters in the book but there are ten tracks on the CD, and, even then, one of the tracks is only 29 seconds long. Does that mean that I have to read the chapter in 29 seconds?
I just don't know anymore.
For the soundtrack, itself, Kid Koala avoids the turntable acrobatics that he's most famous for to provide a pretty haunting, melancholic little soundtrack.
Every once in a while there are traces of jazz or odd little sounds but for the most part it's pretty subdued.
Aside from this apparent temporal anomaly Nufonia Must Fall is a pretty entertaining "read."
It charts the story of an unemployed robot and a lonely office girl, culminating in what the blurb refers to as "the greatest love story of our time..."
There is no dialogue in the book, the story being driven by pictures alone. Visually, it's a pretty sad book; there are no colours - just different shades of gray and white.
Actually, the story is pretty sad too, but I'd have to spoil the end to describe how.
This is all I'm going to write.
cigarettes and car crashes
are thinning our numbers out
Reviewed on Monday, 8 March 2004
