Graphic Novel Friday: Casarosa's Delightful Venice Chronicles

Released in December and largely overlooked, Enrico Casarosa's The Venice Chronicles is a little gem of a book that should be on everyone's list to buy for themselves and for friends. It's probably telling that one of the rave Amazon customer reviews for the book is from the great Kazuhiro Kibuishi, who took the time to write, "I've been a fan of Enrico's work for years, and I have to say this is my favorite thing he's done. The Venice Chronicles is an illustrated travelogue full of amazing watercolors that give you a sense of traveling through Italy. My wife and I recently visited many of the places in the book, and it makes us smile and chuckle to see Enrico's character enthusiastically describe these places, filling the gaps with delightful anecdotes about the people he meets, and detailing the circumstances of the trip itself."

The crazy playfulness of The Venice Chronicles, the way in which Casarosa puts himself in the center of the narrative but doesn't overwhelm it, provides one of this graphic novel's many charms. A somewhat metafictional/existential introduction in which Casarova illustrates the dilemma in recounting real-life events--that which is too true is boring, that which is too false is a lie--is inspired lunacy of the highest order. Casarova's relationship with his wife is so beautifully portrayed, too, that these chronicles become more than just a whimsical travelogue.

In lesser hands The Venice Chronicles could easily have become sentimental, but Casarosa's restless eye, his talent for the madcap and the slapstick, and his keen observations all make for a magical experience for the reader.