Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Authentic thought in the hands of the misplaced judgement of the radical, is a dream that they perceive to be a realistic and proper, never once conceding that their words, deeds and actions are the result of stolen ideas, of plagiarised misjudged steps; some may call it revolutionary, others deem it avant-garde to speak the sentence uttered by others but with a more flourished tongue and convincing attitude.
Deep down in us all, anarchy sparks, it might only be the occasional two fingers up to the faces of Government or it could be the full tossed inappropriate argument in which we goad the truth out of another by appearing to take a different stance to our own position in politics, in the social world in which art, sport or morals depends.
The problem with the world is there isn’t enough radical ethos, there is the surge of repugnant religious extremism and militant fanatics but true radicals are those who see the chance to improve humanity by conducting acts of random, intoxicating and self-serving acts, exploits which rattle the middle-class. It might just be pretending to be part of their sect, bringing a sense of mayhem and disorder to the state of the party, it could just be that they have the compunction to see their own life played out as the hero, and even if they have to write the script and star in the drama, The Memoirs of a Book Thief is the ultimate form of expression they magnificently portray.
It is a framing of French political idealism which seems to always capture the newspaper headlines on both sides of the channel and one that is treated with scepticism in some quarters but with disguised respect in others, an esteem for punching the opinion of the elite to that of a blow bag, and one that the two behind the engaging graphic novel The Memoirs of a Book Thief, A. Tota and P. Van Hove, succeed with brutal charm and incisive themes throughout.
In an era that finds it hard to accept that the truest form of revolution is to be yourself and hang the consequences, it is no wonder that the systematic use of original thought has been usurped by the echo chamber that surrounds us, the continued scroll of the same replies and jokes that inhabit the time-lines of social media, a constant barrage of plagiarised text all trying to prove they are the next best thing.
In this world something so extraordinary as The Memoirs of a Book Thief deserves full praise for being tangible, poetically drawn as well as texted and unique, indomitable. A graphic novel that glorifies in the truth of unfulfilled anarchic thought.
A. Tota & P. Van Hove’s Memoirs Of A Book Thief is available to purchase from SeldMadeHero.
Ian D. Hall