Building Stories

A major moment in British cultural history.

Christopher Frayling, Radio 4

Breathtaking... Staggeringly good.

Shortlist

Just occasionally, a writer or artist – or both in one – emerges who is so astoundingly original that everything else suddenly seems like a facsimile of what has come before. Chris Ware, the 45-year-old American comics artist, is one of these. Widely hailed as one of the foremost practitioners working in the medium today, his new book, if one can call it that without being reductionist, is a work of such startling genius that it is difficult to know where to begin.

Jake Wallis Simons, Daily Telegraph

This is the first book which I have finished and immediately started again, wanting to experience each of the stories with full knowledge of what happens in the rest... The number of narrative techniques Ware uses in the novel is giddying... Building Stories is a stunning piece of work, proving yet again why Ware is so frequently included in lists of the greatest living cartoonists.

Alex Hern, New Statesman

The book-length comic strip, with one or two exceptions, has never been taken very seriously in literary circles. Ware’s new work may change all that.

Paul Davies, Daily Telegraph

2012’s strongest case for setting aside your kindle.

Esquire

One of the most remarkable, thrilling and possibly important books of the year.

Teddy Jamieson, Herald

A heartbreaking work of staggering genius. The perfect gift for book lovers and design geeks… [A] beautiful testimony to the still-untapped potential of print and paper.

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Metro

A wonderful achievement. It’s not only that it is so beautifully and attentively made – though in the age of the Kindle, and of all things disposable, Ware is certainly making a powerful statement. No, it’s the sense of belief that gets to you, the absolute commitment to the form. Building Stories does things no traditional novel can, or not without much lumbering effort; and it does things no comic has hitherto pulled off. No wonder, then, that opening it for the first time makes you feel like a child at Christmas. It’s a thing to be treasured, a box of delights.

Observer