Two Brothers (Milton Hatoum)

Brilliant!Excellent art work. It is all black and white, but so beautifully done. A lovely loose line, atmospheric use of black, negative space, foliage and semi abstract moments. Pictures full of energy, detail and wonderfully evocative mood. The story is good too - steady emotional and physical development of the characters, surprising reveals. A masterpiece!

An exquisitely beautiful hardback comic book with no superheroes, no bodycount and which isn't a detective story, action or thriller. Though it is set in Brazil, it is the kind of comic book that a fan of indie movies would love, movies with plots that aren't so much to do with what happens next but about the detail contained in each moment, like The Station Agent, The Visitor, My Life Without Me and The Secret Life of Words.Where the stories, such as they are, in their "Daytripper" book are superficial and gimmicky, the story of Two Brothers is utterly engrossing: minutes can be spent spellbound by single panels, they are so beautiful and full of incidental but meaningful life.Opening Two Brothers, the first double page overleaf is exquisite, a very simple, wonderfully evocative black and white overhead view of what must be the Amazon river through floating clouds, with a tiny boat on it, the trail it has left behind it and the islands of forest around it. Just beautiful. The next image, beside the credits and below the title is of a bustling port market beside the water at the bottom of a hill. It is again in black and white as is the rest of the book and is again very beautiful. This is the kind of image that many minutes can be spent on, simply taking in the atmosphere and detail.The text is sparing but eloquent and the panels with no text at all, meaningful.

Exquisitely beautiful story of a family. Of jealousy within a family, of a father's jealousy over his wife,'s love for the children, the mother's jealousy over her best-loved child, the male member's jealousy over the females and vice versa, the mother's jealousy of the women who come to love her son's but biggest of all is the jealousy between twin boys for the love of the same girl. Parents grow older and die and sons grow older and become fathers. But the twins father one son between them never knowing which is the one true father. It's a tangled sordid affair, a woman who loved dearly but only receives rape in return. The child lives in the house as a son of the house but is never rightfully claimed, but perhaps the family ends with this boy who puts the passion, jealousy, adventure and love into something more positive now that it has destroyed all but him. A literary family drama told with such intensity you can feel the heat rising from the pages; I always love the art from this team and the b/w splashes across the pages with emotion. I would love to read the novel this graphic was adapted from.

I had reservations about this book just because literary comics can be hit or miss.I'm pleased to say that Ba's art doesn't disappoint, if you're a fan.Storywise it's a a generational story in the vain of Gabriel Garcia Marquez more than Paolo Coelho (which was my concern) ie about family rather than magical realism. Highly recommended if the above floats you boat.

Although I enjoyed the illustrations, I wasn't too fond of the storytelling. I didn't like any of the characters, I hated this toxic jealousy that existed within the brothers, and the toxic relationship between the mother and her favourite child. I understand that this is all part of the storyline, but it wasn't one I enjoyed reading about.Despite the fact that the story pretty much starts out with a good brother and an evil brother, it moves on to show the downwards spiral of the good brother and how vengeance and hatred takes over any good sense he may have had. I didn't like the stereotypical depiction of the "evil" brother being useless, a failure, a criminal and his mom's favourite spoiled child, and the "good" brother being the stable, successful, smart, emotionally detached one.This is a very dysfunctional story about a very dysfunctional family, one that really seems to go nowhere, with ins and outs that did not keep me invested in the story or gripped by the events taking place. I didn't find myself rooting for anyone, and I didn't find myself caring what happens to any of the characters, and that to me is a sign that the writer did not succeed in creating a fully developed story with fully developed characters.Lacks development and depth.

!SPOILER-LESS!If you are here just because you read 'Daytripper' and thought that 'Two Brothers' will be a good follow-up to that, then don't. Turn back and keep walking. This is a story completely different from what the brothers(Gabriel Bá, Fabio Moon) achieved in 'Daytripper'. This is a much more simpler and realistic depiction of a dysfunctional family. That does not mean that it is bad, it actually works pretty great. It's the kind of story that you never want to end. But if you want something similar to 'Daytripper', you are going to get extremely disappointed.I, myself, enjoyed it immensely. The story, the writing, the art, the characters, the book, itself. I loved everything about it. The black and white art of the book is a necessary evil and you will make peace with that fact very early in the story. The binding is quite solid, so longevity is not an issue. The story and characters are amazing and there's really no reason to not read it if you just like stories, in general.[mini-SPOILER: The major issue that most people will have with the story is that it is without a culminating ending and many readers won't enjoy the 'leaving it up to the reader's imagination' finale. Other than that it's a good story.]

Brilliant tale of two brothers bearing a resenent towards each other with the backdrop of small town life in a Lebanese village ,friends, aspirarions, love and hate. Poignant and deeply engrossing.Dont miss this.

It's funny, a story of twin brothers is illustrated by another set of twins.Brilliant story about Lebanese guys growing up in Brazil.

La calidad del trabajo es magnífica. Una gran historia en una edición exquisita . Estoy muy contento con mi compra.

Another exceptional piece of art from Moon and Ba (go read "Daytripper" and "The Umbrella Academy").This is the story of a Brazilian family of Lebanese descent that particularly focuses on twin boys as they grow up, enter adulthood and make their way in the world (by sheer coincidence, earlier in the day I read "Sons of the Prophet," a play about two brother of Lebanese descent living in Central Pennsylvania and revolving around their family as well - it was excellent).The narrator neither appears nor joins the story until chapter 3 (there are 11 overall). Some of the tale is told directly by the father of the twins - he is a wonderful character who deeply loves his wife, wanted to make money but also entertain friends and only had children to appease his wife. He is fabulously real and interesting. There is a very strong female character who grows up alongside the twins, and she plays a pivotal role in this story as well.The drawing capture the the architecture, furniture, streets, waterfront and people of Manuas, Brazil from the years 1915 to 1980 or so. It is adapted from the novel by Milton Hatoum.

This was a disappointing if not retold publication by the brothers. The story has lost a lot in translation and the black and white artwork pales in comparison to their color work. Characters are hard to distinguish due to poor graphic sketching and urban areas are weakly drawn leading readers to lose the fullness of sensation that a location could offer the story. We used this book as a genre selection for our book club and all agree it was a let down. For first timers reading a graphic novel, choose one of their earlier publications.

Beautiful art and an amazing story in graphic form. I recommend any works by this author...for anyone who wants to explore the full universe of what graphic novels can offer.

love the Moon/Bà brothers, all of their work has never disappointed me, this being their latest work is clearly a experienced masterpiece.I advise you to read this and daytripper for a good magical experience.Package on time perfect conditions.

I loved it but had to read the first fifty pages a couple times to truly ground myself in the characters and their world. Beautiful family saga. Now I want to see it in full color!

A true masterpiece, powerful, elegant, the art of the two artists matches perfectly with the style of the novel. I have to read it again!

as usual ba and moon kill it! they just know what there doing

It was hard to follow the plot, very confusing. But, the fact that the story is drawn is pretty neat. A bit more R-rated than I would have liked too.

Good story, but leaves you hanging at the end.

Great book and great service

Very good graphic novel. Interesting story