Who else has read this trilogy by Nick Bantock? Did you like it? Why? Dislike it? Why?
Who among you has not read it, but is intrigued by the notion of an erotic pop-up book with protagonists who live 12,000 miles apart?
Spoilers may follow.
I read and enjoyed, but it has been a few years. I need to reread before I can get into any real discussion of the books. I know I liked the mystery behind it and the feel of nosing into stuff that wasn’t any of my business!
I have the set. I love them. I love the artwork and the whole “interactive” thing, with letters I have to pull out of envelopes and such. I even have a Griffin and Sabine address book.
Bantok’s pop up book of Kubla Khan is also wonderful.
Wow, 2 replies in only minutes! SDMB is so amazing.
I was introduced to them by a former girlfriend in 1998. I was just going to read the first one before going to sleep, but I got so engrossed I had to read the second too.
The ending of the third book seriously creeped me out. I wasn’t ready for it to take such a dark turn, although I can’t imagine many other ways for the story to have ended. Did any of the rest of you have a problem with that?
Lovelovelove Nick Bantok’s books. Read about The Golden Mean in a newspaper and spent the next two years searching out the series. I’ve also read The Egyptian Jukebox and The Venetian’s Wife, which combines art and computers, two of my favourite things.
While many of the reviews I’ve read of the Griffin & Sabine series focus on the act of reading the letters of strangers, it was the imaginative and exotic artwork that drew me into Bantok’s world.
Yep, I was fascinated too. It’s been the only adult pop-up book I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t expecting the dark turn in the 3rd book either, but it certainly added a whole new level upon which to re-read the books. I also read The Venetian’s Wife but was not as impressed. I think Bantock is an excellent artist/illustrator but a hit or miss storyteller.
Cheers,
Hodge
Maybe a little offsubject but I would not call G&S a pop-up book at all. After all, the idea is that you take the letters Out of the envelopes (hence out of the book, hence what’s to pop up?), exactly as if you are reading someone else’s mail. Literary voyeurism. mmmmmm.
I first discovered these books at the public library, of all places. I immediately checked out the entire set (believe it or not, none of the letters were missing). I too was entranced by the artwork. I bought a Nick Bantock calendar a couple years ago and saved the art from it for eventual framing.
I spent more time poring over each individual page of those books than I have since I was a child looking at picture books. They were so detailed and gorgeous, I almost couldn’t bear to turn the page. (I know that sounds stupid, but the art really did have a powerful effect on me.)
I keep meaning to buy the set for myself, and some of Bantock’s other work too, but I just haven’t got around to it yet.