Like the other Love books by Bertolucci and Frédéric Brrémaud, this graphic novel is a wordless story about survival. In dinosaur times. The main character is a very small, feathered dinosaur that runs around underfoot trying to avoid trouble and find food, though the cover depicts another aspect of the book: its violence. One page shows a pterosaur getting dashed against a rock by a much larger dinosaur- its flockmates approach with looks of concern, then something appears to snap in their expressions, and the next minute they’re eating- literally ripping the guts out of their former companion. There is, of course, also a battle between tyrannosaurus rex and a triceratops- seems to be a given for any dinosaur story. But also scenes of caring- a mother t-rex protecting her young and providing them with food. Mostly it’s the little bambiraptor (yes, that’s the real species name) scurrying about, catching small mammals and slugs to eat, avoiding getting crushed by bigger animals. It shelters a lot under a certain long-necked dinosaur, evading predators by literally putting the big one between itself and danger. Many of the encounters between different species will veer off for a page or two- showing what happens to other animals the bambiraptor briefly interacted with. But it always comes back to this spunky little feathered dinosaur. The final pages show doom coming- various dinosaurs looking up in baffled surprise as fiery meteors start raining down from a clouded sky and a comet blazes over. Actually, the final pages are sketches and drawings of various dinosaur species- a good fourth of the book is the sketchbook pages. Which I didn’t mind at all, I really like the way Bertolucci draws animals. Not a complex storyline, but very compelling to look at regardless- the artwork is so stunning.
Borrowed from the public library.
One Response
Yay I’m glad you enjoyed it! You mentioning it a couple days ago made me want to go back and ‘read’ them all again.