Just finished reading the wonderful Berlin: City of Stones, by Jason Lutes. It's book one of a history of Berlin, from September 1928 to May 1929. And it's another fabulous evocation of city life in the graphic novel format: tracing the arcs of several overlapping narratives; playing with time; a fiction based around real events; in particular, mapping the sense of bewilderment, loss, chaos, creativity, and uncertainty in Berlin at that point - a city on the edge. Lutes plays out the chance encounters in bustling city life with real grace, ultimately to heartbreaking effect. He also delights in making visible people's private thoughts - a motif familiar from Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire or Aaron Copland's Quiet City.
--
It's beautifully realised, both in words and images - I'm keen to check out Lutes' other work (Jar of Fools) and to see where Berlin: City of Stones goes next - though at this rate, it's going to take him a while to even get to the building of the wall, never mind it coming down.
