Review | Empire State a Love Story (or not) by Jason Shiga

I must admit before I go on with this review that I only discovered graphic novels a little while ago, and thus my review can be totally off. I will be also using a lot of invented words, just because I can.

This book was suggested to me by one of my friends, when I asked for recommendations on my blog. She told me I couldn’t go wrong with this title, and boy was she right! I absolutely loved it!

Before I go into the plot, let me tell you that the book cover is absolutely beautiful. I want a copy just so I can look at it more often.

Empire State is the story of Jimmy, a total geek from Oklahoma who is totally oblivious to the excitement of living spontaneously. Overprotected by his mother (she still manages his finances!), he does not feel the need to get out of this comforting routine. That is, until the day when his best friend, the girl he loves (or not) moves to Brooklyn to work in a publishing company. After a while Jimmy, who at first couldn’t understand Sara’s desire to leave Oakland, decides to go on an adventure to New York City to visit her.

“Empire State tells a heartfelt story about love, jealousy, and desperation. It offers definite proof that math geniuses like author Jason Shiga actually have souls.”

-          Gene Luen Yang

In my newbie-ness, it took me a while to understand that when the drawings where in the shades of red it meant that it was in the past, like flashbacks, and that the blue was in the present. I was really confused at first, but once I figured it out, I was in love with the writing and drawing styles!

         

Even though the art is really simple, I thought it represented really well the geekiness of their world. The text/illustration ration was, in my opinion, really well balanced; it was definitely a great first graphic novel read!

I certainly recommend it to all the geeky graphic novel lovers and I can’t wait to get my hands on Meanwhile, Shiga’s first book.