The Arrival

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tan, Shaun. 2006. The Arrival. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books. ISBN 0439895293

PLOT SUMMARY

A man embraces his wife and daughter and departs for a journey on a steamboat to create a better life.  This book chronicles the man’s voyage and his experience in the new land.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This graphic novel is universally well-reviewed.  While searching for positive reviews to include with this post, I had a hard time limiting myself.  In The Arrival, Shaun Tan has created a story unlike anything I have ever read before.  This book is completely wordless.  Unlike wordless picture books, the story spans 128 pages.  The story is told through small frames and it allows the reader an experience similar to watching a still-frame movie.  The sepia-toned illustrations are both realistic and beautiful.

The main character of this story is the father, who leaves his family behind to immigrate to a strange new land.  Shaun is able to evoke emotion in the reader by creating pictures that show how distraught the entire family is over his departure.  Readers should be able to identify with the man’s love for his family and the feelings of hopefulness that his journey creates.

Like many fantasy novels, the plot of The Arrival focuses on a journey.  The plot is absolutely believable and many readers will be able to relate the story to familiar stories of immigration to the United States.  Unlike those historical stories, however, in The Arrival, the man encounters bizarre creatures in the foreign land.  The creatures sometimes appear like marine-life, but are created from Tan’s imagination.

Tan excels at creating a thorough setting for this story as the setting is very much the epicenter of the entire book.  I particularly enjoyed how the new world is not completely identifiable.  It could be any place.  It reminded me strongly of scenes from Ellis Island, but that is based on my prior experiences.  Readers from other places will be able to bring their personal background and identify with the setting in their own way.  Similarly, the characters do not have clear ethnic features.  This perpetuates the feeling that the story could be taking place anywhere.  By saying that the setting could be anywhere, I do not mean that it is unclear or under-developed; I mean that readers will be able to place the story in a setting that makes the most sense for them.  This feature makes the story more valuable as it will reach more people on a personal level than a book that is specific to a certain place and a certain time. 

At the heart of this novel is the theme of the importance of family.  Although there is no text, the love that the man has for his family is obvious through Tan’s illustrations.   The Arrival is arranged in a style that is distinct and unique to this piece of work.  Tan has created an atypical story and although there is no actual dialogue, the pictures speak more than I ever thought possible.

The strength of this story is that allows readers to experience what immigrant life was actually like.  The man moves to a foreign land where everything is unknown.  As readers turn each page, they are discovering the new world along with the main character.  Readers become immigrants as well and truly experience what it means to be an immigrant.  This book would be an excellent addition to a history lesson on immigration.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Starred review in School Library Journal: “Young readers will be fascinated by the strange new world the artist creates, complete with floating elevators and unusual creatures, but may not realize the depth of meaning or understand what the man's journey symbolizes. More sophisticated readers, however, will grasp the sense of strangeness and find themselves participating in the man's experiences. They will linger over the details in the beautiful sepia pictures and will likely pick up the book to pore over it again and again.”

Starred review in Booklist: “Filled with subtlety and grandeur, the book is a unique work that not only fulfills but also expands the potential of its form.”

CONNECTIONS

Readers who enjoyed The Arrival might also enjoy some of Shaun Tan’s other works such as:

Tan, Shaun. Tales from Outer Suburbia. ISBN 0545055871

Tan, Shaun. The Red Tree. ISBN 0734411375