Once in a while she takes time to pay homage to the beauty of the natural world these pages have a huge impact. Usually Walden merely gestures at Lou and Bea's surroundings with a stroke or two, but when she does add detail - to a diner counter complete with glass-dome-covered pies or the cozy interior of Lou's little trailer - every element is potent. Her line is incredibly changeable: Sometimes it feels edgy, other times loose and windswept, other times prosaically down-to-earth. Still, the specialness of these two women and their journey suffuses every page thanks to Walden's busy, nervous, versatile pen. When Lou finally finds out what Bea's running from, it turns out to be an all-too-common situation. Bea is a wild child, a mystery - but in no way an idiosyncratic one. Lou is an everywoman, kind and straightforward. The story has the feel of a dream where everything is both larger-than-life and strangely featureless: "The Road." "The Cat." Lou and Bea, too, are written as sparingly as possible. Walden doesn't build up a thick, realistic magical world, but strips detail away instead. We never learn much about the woman who delivers this pronouncement - or about anyone else Bea and Lou meet on their journey. Summer Reader Poll 2017: Comics And Graphic Novels Cartoonists Tell Us: What Do Comics Mean To You? The pair soon realize their new companion is being hunted by some mysterious men, and the only way to protect it is to keep on driving. As they drive farther west, the cat begins to manifest strange powers. They find a lost cat and resolve to return it to the address on its collar tag, even though that's in a town they've never heard of. Lou is en route to a vague destination, while the younger Bea is apparently on the run from someone or something. Two young women, Bea and Lou, meet on the road somewhere in West Texas. Her narrative and characters are spare, even sparse. One thing that's no mystery is the powerful role Walden's art plays in suspending the reader's disbelief. Exposing the hidden wires wrecks the trick, and knowledge is no substitute for the joy a well-spun illusion gives. A whole host of intangibles supports the fragile balance between truth and wonderment in a book like this, and trying to nail them down feels a bit like shouting out the secret at a magic act. When an author does get it right, as Tillie Walden does with Are You Listening?, pinpointing exactly how they did it can be tricky as well. Magical realism is a tricky genre: tricky to describe and tricky to get right. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Are You Listening? Author Tillie Walden, Tillie Walden
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