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Title details for 20 km/h by Woshibai - Wait list

20 km/h

by Woshibai
ebook
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Wait time: About 2 weeks
How fast can you go in a buggy drawn by the flap of a butterfly's wings? How do you measure the speed of waking from a dream? Such abstract inquiries into the unrelenting absurdity of contemporary life make up this omnibus of meditative vignettes from one of mainland China's most prolific and recognizable—yet anonymous—new underground cartoonists of the current generation. Every story in 20 km/h toes the line between pun and poetry, and lands somewhere just short of a zen koan: come back to it as often as you like, it will never quite read the same way twice. A nondescript figure awakes from an assembly line of identically-fashioned companions and boards a rowboat destined for the unknown. A man holds the key to sleep in his hand and uses it to disappear into his mattress. The moon is plucked from the sky and fed into a vending machine for a can of soda. Woshibai's minimalist renderings are a startlingly delightful cocktail of existential dread and silent slapstick that arrest the mind's eye with equal parts humor and grace.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 16, 2023

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781770466920
    Kindle restrictions

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 1, 2023
      Drawn with clean, geometric lines and deadpan humor, Woshibai’s wordless gag comics surprise at every turn. A wagon is pulled by butterflies hopped up on nectar, a man makes audio recordings of rocks and flowers, a blindfolded woman searches for something safe to touch, and snowflakes morph into stars. Blank-faced human figures stripped down to the simplicity of public signage explore landscapes where size and perspective shift without warning and the natural and artificial overlap: an ATM dispenses autumn leaves, seashells are chiseled by a craftsman, and the same circle can be both the full moon and a coin in a vending machine. Beneath the visual playfulness and cryptic symbolism, the comics are permeated with melancholy, lighting more often than not upon isolated characters longing for connection. But Woshibai never lingers for more than a few curious pages. This off-kilter collection from one of the rising stars of Chinese alternative comics is perfect to leaf through and ponder on a quiet afternoon.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
Kindle restrictions

subjects

Languages

  • English

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