Overview
Audrey Niffenegger, the New York Times bestselling author of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, has crafted her first graphic novel after the success of her two critically acclaimed “novels-in-pictures.” First serialized as a weekly column in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, The Night Bookmobile tells the story of a wistful woman who one night encounters a mysterious disappearing library on wheels that contains every book she has ever read. Seeing her history and most intimate self in this library, she embarks on a search for the bookmobile. But her search turns into an obsession, as she longs to be reunited with her own collection and memories.
The Night Bookmobile is a haunting tale of both transcendence and the passion for books, and features the evocative full-color pen-and-ink work of one of the world’s most beloved storytellers.
Synopsis
Audrey Niffenegger, the New York Times bestselling author of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, has crafted her first graphic novel after the success of her two critically acclaimed “novels-in-pictures.” First serialized as a weekly column in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, The Night Bookmobile tells the story of a wistful woman who one night encounters a mysterious disappearing library on wheels that contains every book she has ever read. Seeing her history and most intimate self in this library, she embarks on a search for the bookmobile. But her search turns into an obsession, as she longs to be reunited with her own collection and memories.
The Night Bookmobile is a haunting tale of both transcendence and the passion for books, and features the evocative full-color pen-and-ink work of one of the world’s most beloved storytellers.
Publishers Weekly
Novelist and visual artist Niffenegger brings the dark dreaminess that characterized her bestselling novels to her first full-length graphic novel. After a fight with her boyfriend one night, Alexandra goes for a walk and comes upon a bookmobile. When she goes inside to look at the books, she discovers that it’s a library of her own reading history; every book she’s ever read, including her diary, is on the shelf. As her life continues, she searches for the bookmobile, but years go by before she finds it again. Meanwhile she becomes a librarian and a loner, eventually deciding that she wants to work in the bookmobile, though the price for doing so is high. Niffenegger’s full-color art has a naïve tone, with sometimes stiff figures, and text written in childlike script. The simplicity of the images contrasts with sophisticated page layouts in which she plays with panels and perspective. The story was originally serialized in the Guardian, and in an afterword, Niffenegger reveals that the book is the first volume in a larger project. At heart this romantic, melancholy tale is a paean to reading and to the life one person lives through books. (Sept.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Novelist and visual artist Niffenegger brings the dark dreaminess that characterized her bestselling novels to her first full-length graphic novel. After a fight with her boyfriend one night, Alexandra goes for a walk and comes upon a bookmobile. When she goes inside to look at the books, she discovers that it’s a library of her own reading history; every book she’s ever read, including her diary, is on the shelf. As her life continues, she searches for the bookmobile, but years go by before she finds it again. Meanwhile she becomes a librarian and a loner, eventually deciding that she wants to work in the bookmobile, though the price for doing so is high. Niffenegger’s full-color art has a naïve tone, with sometimes stiff figures, and text written in childlike script. The simplicity of the images contrasts with sophisticated page layouts in which she plays with panels and perspective. The story was originally serialized in the Guardian, and in an afterword, Niffenegger reveals that the book is the first volume in a larger project. At heart this romantic, melancholy tale is a paean to reading and to the life one person lives through books. (Sept.)Children's Literature -
When book lover Lexi discovers a large bookmobile on one of her nightly strolls, she eagerly boards it—and is amazed when she discovers it holds everything she's read in her life, from novels to telephone books to even her diary! Enchanted, Lexi spends an amazing night reacquainting herself with the books of her youth but is left with a terrible sense of loss when the bookmobile's mysterious owner Mr. Openshaw announces the library is closed and disappears for years. Longing to become part of the Night Bookmobile's world, Lexi withdraws from her friends and spends all of her time reading and searching—only to learn that working for the Night Bookmobile is a goal that may always lie out of her reach. How far will Lexi go to join a world that has already consumed so much of her life? And even if she succeeds, what will her choice cost her? Best known for her celebrated science fiction/romance novel The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffengger showcases both her writing and artistic talents in this graphic novel that examines the consequences and rewards of obsession. While the graphic novel can easily be mistaken for a child's picture book due to its size and shape, readers should be aware that this is not a light fantasy, as it deals with controversial issues such as obsession and suicide. That said, it is an absorbing work that will leave many readers puzzling over the nature of the bookmobile, and their reaction to Lexi's choices. Reviewer: Michael Jung, PhDLibrary Journal
Pacing the 4 a.m. streets of Chicago after boyfriend trouble, Alexandra happens on a bookmobile, lit up and blaring "I Shot the Sheriff." And it's her bookmobile, as it houses every book she has ever read—plus every cereal box, letter, and scribble. Unfortunately, it closes at dawn, so she can't stay long, and librarian Mr. Openshaw explains that she cannot borrow anything and he cannot hire her. Deeply enthralled, Alexandra seeks the bookmobile again and again, even changing her life to become a librarian (and breaking up with the boyfriend). It is not just books she seeks, however, but her own books, her own past, her own identity. This story amounts to a parable about accepting the losses of adulthood, to let go of the wish to hold forever a complete remembrance and understanding of the self. VERDICT Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife) has packed a captivating and eerie story into this short work, originally a webcomic for The Guardian and inspired by an H.G. Wells story. The clear-line color art emphasizes the mystical realism. A unique literary title recommended for adult collections.—M.C.The Barnes & Noble Review
This first graphic novel by Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler's Wife, is a sugary, visual valentine to the joys of reading.
Her narrator, Alexandra, lives in Chicago with a somewhat surly boyfriend. She heads out for a walk in the wee hours of the morning after an argument and comes upon an "enormous battered Winnebago" blaring out Bob Marley music. The inside is filled with books. It's a bookmobile, modeled after those used by the Chicago Public Library. And it's only open from dusk to dawn.
Given Niffenegger's inclination toward the supernatural, it's no surprise that there's something magical about the place. Alexandra recognizes every book on the shelves -- the Judy Blumes, Agatha Christies, Jane Austens, and Paul Austers. She even finds her diary on the shelves. Yes, it's Alexandra's personal collection, everything she's read in her lifetime, including cereal boxes. At dawn Mr. Openshaw, the librarian, gently insists she leave.
Using subtle shifts in Alexandra's clothes and facial features, Niffenegger illustrates the passing of the years as her heroine withdraws into reading and sheds her boyfriend (he can't compete with the siren song of her elusive dream lover). It's nine years before Alexandra finds the night bookmobile again, and then only long enough to decide she wants to become a librarian. More years pass, and after yet another visit, Alexandra ponders all she has given up for reading and makes a fateful decision.
The Night Bookmobile captures a solitary booklover's enduring passion eloquently: "Each spine was an encapsulated memory, each book represented hours, days of pleasure of immersion in words."
--Jane Ciabattari