Week 1: The Arrival

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a book that uses illustrations in an absence of words to tell its story. In a sense, it’s like watching a movie without any dialogue. Its an even further contrast than with the old films back in the day that would show the lines on screen instead of having recorded lines and voices. This works a lot better. In those films, it can be frustrating having to wait for each screen to pass on the information especially when you obviously know they had just said something. This wordless book works much better in the sense it can deliver its intention and vision without having to use words in the first place. The illustrations are nice to look at, but they tell a story. It is very much like reading a wordless comic book or even seeing the storyboard of a movie.

One aspect of this “reading” I really enjoyed was the connection I felt being an immigrant myself. Having moved to America from South Korea as a kid, I had a lot of experiences that were different from what other kids around me were having.  Seeing this book illustrate some of those challenging but also nostalgic memories and emotions in a whimsical and thoughtful manner was a nice way for me to touch back with my own roots.