The pictures are wonderful, but the text is just meh.

While the illustrations were beautiful, the story didn't sit well with me. So the rating is more for the illustrations and less for the story.


Visit my book blog The Bookish Island for detailed review.
http://bookishisland.blogspot.com/2017/05/audubon-on-wings-of-world-by-fabian.html

I enjoyed this just as much as the Darwin graphic novel. I didn’t know much about Audubon but his obsession with birds, his astounding artwork and his dedication to his craft (almost to the detriment of his family) comes across strongly here.

A beautiful way to present a biography of one man for whom art and science were entwined. The art is beautiful and the story is a succinct tale about obsession, Audubon's own decline pairing against american naturalisms descent into natural destruction of its pristine wilderness.

The author addresses that they have fantasized the tale but a wider scope would have only improved it, though with such gorgeous art moderation of length is to be expected. Well worth a read.

The illustrations are beautiful but Audubon was a dick so it was a bit of a hard read.

Graphic novel on the life of John James Audubon. Not sure if I would have followed the storyline without previously reading his biography.

I found this book to be very interesting & the illustrations engaging but I wish they had such closer to the truth. OR made it more obvious at the end what was made up or a stretch. It would have been easy to skip that small section and since I'm having my child read this as okay of her schooling I think it's important.

Audubon: "There is so much loss of wildlife due to settlers! It's terrible!"
Also Audubon: *kills rare birds to paint them and make people appreciate them more*

I've long been aware of Audubon's beautiful bird paintings. This graphic novel biography -- re-imagined but using many primary sources -- shines a light on many of his struggles and flaws: An obsessiveness that led him to leave his wife and children and ignore his physical health. A rivalry with fellow bird painter Alexander Wilson and, more largely, science vs. art (unlike Wilson, Audubon painted his birds in active, emotional situations, which won him no regard in the scientific community). His racist views of Indians and slaves (even as most of his work was dependent on Indian guides). The paradox of his environmentalism (killing animals to draw attention to the importance of their conservation). The hypocrisy of criticizing European settlers even as he changed his own French immigrant name from Jean-Jacques to John James.

Although it's a biography, I think this book is actually strongest in the creative license taken with dream and fantasy sequences that illustrate Audubon's inner emotional life -- his rival, his family, his hopes. The large bird illustrations and the lighting are also fantastic. And don't miss the backmatter -- a color portrait of Audubon, a short biography, and several color plates of his famous paintings referenced in the book. With the benefit of hindsight, I do think his work did much for people's awareness of birds and their beauty and importance.