The Cage

This astonishing book from 1975, which might as well be called a graphic novel though it's very much sui generis, is indeed a mystery & Kafkaesque puzzle as stated by previous reviewers. While no human beings appear in its pages, evidence of their former presence does, hinting at an absolute absence now. The text is part narrative, part poem of modernist emptiness & mechanized wasteland -- it's direct, detached, almost lyrical even as it's lacking any emotional inflection, as if generated by ghosts wired into some laboratory abandoned to an unstated catastrophe. And yet it's also filled with an elegiac, somber beauty as well. The art -- one panel per page -- is more like a diagram of damaged memories reproduced over time, even though the linework is utterly pristine & clean.If this reminds me of anything, especially given its creation in the early 1970s, it's the wildly experimental science-fiction of the short-lived New Wave. Concentrating on Inner rather than Outer Space, it explored absurdity, the inward decay of Western civilization & the lack of anything to replace it. Often its prose resembled avant-garde filmmaking, with disjointed jump-cuts & Surreal montages. "The Cage" shares this fevered yet sterile & cool psychological tone, as well as a certain dreamlike quality that's both mesmerizing & relentless. Definitely not for every taste, but a genuine work of art that retains its power today -- most highly recommended!

Brilliant.

As usual I didn't pay for this book but instead got it for the purposes of review. Also as usual despite that kindness I give my candid thoughts below.This is the part of the review where I usually sum up the plot in a few quick sentences. I'm not going to do that this time because even after reading it I just don't know. In fact, according to the introduction, even people who have studied the book at length don't really know what it's about. Even the author himself doesn't claim complete knowledge of the book's real intent. So if they don't know then I certainly cannot claim to.The best I can really do is to describe what I think it is and you can judge from there whether you want to give it a shot. From a narrative point of view it seems to be a view of one particular place in space viewed from various points in time. The book careens back and forth from present to future to past... or is it past to future to present... or... well, see paragraph two. Nobody knows what it's about so it's certainly not obvious even what order things happen in.From a visual perspective the drawings are at times detailed and at others incisively minimalist. The artist conveys a poignant series of emotions centering on isolation and meandering widely. Any one page of this book could hang in an art gallery and lead to much thoughtful discussion as to what exactly is being depicted.To sum up, should you buy this book? That depends. If you are a person who is in need of a strong narrative flow and clear procession from A to B to C then this is not the book for you. If, however, you are one who is intrigued by the idea of a book that you will read but not understand, and in fact read five times and understand in five different ways, then you need this on your shelf. This book is a large red-glowing question mark and if you're OK with that then this is worth a look.PS: Remember, the voting buttons are there for you to indicate whether you think what I had to say was useful in making a decision. They're not asking you if my review makes you want to buy anything. So please vote appropriately and if you choose to vote my review unhelpful please leave me a brief comment so I can improve future reviews. Thanks!

I really do not know what to say about this book. Not only does the book itself really not make any sense what so ever, but the excessively grandiose introduction is both an exaggeration and factually incorrect. This book was initially published in 1975 and it is described as ‘A graphic novel before there was a name for the medium.’ It carries on describing it as ‘An early masterpiece of the graphic novel medium’ yet having done some research into the first recognised graphic novels, I find absolutely no mention of this book or the author at all. ‘Picture-Novels’ had been published since the 50’s and classics such as Tintin and Asterix had been sold in ‘paperback’ editions since 1942 and 1961 respectively. Even Marvel was producing bound combined stories of Doctor Strange and Spectacular Spider-Man in 1968. I understand the use of marketing speak, but this is akin to saying that the 1920’s Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was a car before they had coined a term for a four wheel motorized vehicle; it is just simply untrue.To say I ‘don’t get it’ would be an understatement of the level of the overstatement that prefaces this book. The book is supposedly about the collapse of society and the slow disintegration of the buildings and edifices that are left. However when you add in the weird procession of items such as beds, pictures, headphones and carved stones that seem to walk through the panels you begin to wonder if the only way you appreciating this story is with large amounts of mind altering illegal drugs or three full weeks of sleep deprivation.I am sure someone will utterly berate me for being a philistine and not understanding what a seminal work this is, but frankly I can do without seminal works, I will stick to the modern and dull works that have a story, even if it is a really basic and plodding one.

Amazing book. Hard to understand at first read but that is a good thing as it means it will bear multiple readings.The only criticism is that the packaging was not waterproof and as it had been raining hard, the cardboard package was soaked. Lucky the book was not damaged.

The best graphic novel I have read. An impossible task to fully understand, but that what makes you go back, read it again and peal another layer of the onion and find new magic every time.