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Imprint: Jonathan Cape
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Published: 13/02/2014
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ISBN: 9780224096638
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Length: 160 Pages
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Dimensions: 263mm x 21mm x 205mm
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Weight: 824g
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RRP: £18.99
'I still remember arriving in the city for the first time... It wasn't easy... But here, London, is my home.'
Yumiko is a young Japanese woman who has made London her home. She has a job, a boyfriend; Japan seems far away. Then, out of the blue, her brother calls to tell her that her father has died in a mountaineering accident.
Yumiko returns to Tokyo for the funeral and finds herself immersed in the rituals of Japanese life and death – and confronting a decision she hadn’t expected to have to make.
Just So Happens is a graphic novel by a young artist and storyteller of rare talent. Fumio Obata’s drawing, in particular, is marvellous in its power and delicacy.
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Imprint: Jonathan Cape
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Published: 13/02/2014
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ISBN: 9780224096638
-
Length: 160 Pages
-
Dimensions: 263mm x 21mm x 205mm
-
Weight: 824g
-
RRP: £18.99
Reviews
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Just So Happens feels so richly intimate... [Obata] is a talent to watch. I like his elegant, understated drawings, which hint at the manga stories he must have read as a boy. Bullet trains, Shinto temples, shopping malls, sushi restaurants: he does them all beautifully. His storytelling, too, is crazily accomplished.
Rachel Cooke, Observer
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A beautiful and observant graphic novel.
James Smart, Guardian
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This is a book you may want to study, a book of inflection and nuance, a delicate, thoughtful book that entrances the eyes and compels the old grey matter.
Bookmunch
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A powerful story dealt with a deft brush in hand.
Monocle
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Told with great care and dignity... The illustrations reflect the mood of the story perfectly, creating a sense of movement and transition which mirrors Yumiko's journey.
Vicki Bartram, UK Press Syndication
