Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64635 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

Customer Reviews

A Little Too Aimless for Me
I've long been a fan of the graphic novel, and I picked this one up mainly on the strength of its Algerian setting. Parents should take note: despite its somewhat children's bookish cover and title, this book is definitely intended for an older audience (there are some four-letter words and nudity), and the somewhat rambling narrative may well not hold the attention of teens.

The story starts in colonial Algiers sometime in the 1930s, where we meet a humble widowed Algerian rabbi, his beautiful daughter, and their scrawny cat. The first third of the book concerns itself mainly with the rabbi and the cat, who, after eating a parrot, gains the ability to speak. Before long, the cat wants to learn about Judaism and convert, and starts asking all kinds of thorny theological questions. This leads to a pretty funny debate with the rabbi's mentor -- all of does a nice job of capturing the disputative nature of Judaism. (Those with a background in Judaism may well get a lot more richness and texture from this storyline than non-Jews like me.)

This promising storyline is abandoned when the cat loses its power of speech, and the middle section segues into a somewhat meandering account of the rabbi's need to pass a French test in order to remain rabbi and a visit by the rabbi's dashing rural cousin. While this does a reasonable job of depicting the indignities of colonialism, there's not much else to this section. The arrival of a thoroughly urbane young rabbi from Paris propels the final third, as the beautiful daughter falls in love with, and marries him. The married couple and Algerian rabbi then visit the husband's family in Paris (with the cat tagging along). There, the rabbi has trouble coping with the cultural differences, and goes on a little adventure to track down a musician nephew, leading to even further indignities.

I can't say I found the book nearly as delightful as most others seem to. Despite the running theme of faith, the narrative is altogether too disjointed to my taste, and despite bursts of jollity, the entire tone seemed rather wistful. The artwork is similarly impressionistic, with forms ranging from realistic to exaggerated to surreal. The palate is quite nice, as the natural earth tones of Algeria contrast vividly with the oppressive dreary grays and blacks of Paris. At times the panels get a little crowded by text though, and the entire book is a bit 'wordier" than your average graphic novel

Best new comic book series in a looong time
I love this series. It's the most magical comic book series I've read since Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" ended ten years ago. "The Rabbi's Cat" is like the best bits from "Sandman", Spiegeman's "Maus", Satrapi's "Persepolis" and Gilbert Hernandez "Palomar"-stories mixed into one stunning story. Truly wonderful. This volume contains the 3 first French albums. I've read vol. 4 and 5 (in french), and they're equeally wonderful. Hopefully they'll get translated into english too.