Talking Lines by R.O. Blechman
2. The book Talking Lines is comprised of multiple short stories. The story i read was about a man and an old woman that lived in a hotel. Inside the hotel, this middle aged man owns a shoe shining store along with living in the hotel. The old woman has lived in this particular hotel for about four years. The government decides they want to tear down this hotel for their own reasons not discussed. The man and the old woman are now forced to find their own places to reside, and for one of them a new place to open up a business. The man and old woman do find new places to live and the man gets his business back up and running, but the journey they had to take to get there was not an easy one.
3. The type of artwork used throughout this entire book looks to be done in pen. Each little story has its own significant color that is used. The artwork done for each story is uses black and whatever significant color is used for that story. To me the artwork is very poor. The lines are not straight and the words on the page are small and sloppy handwriting making it hard to read. For the most part the pictures in the book have a 2D look to them. Some of the buildings have depth making them appear somewhat 3D. However, the pictures are in a way realistic, by looking at the buildings in the story you can almost imagine this setting takes place in New York.
4. The authors purpose in writing the particular story I read, was his opinion on the government. On the last page of the story the author says, "It's sad to see the only time the government pays attention is when people are being hurt." To this author, it seems as if he believes the government does not pay attention to citizens unless something bad has taken place. Lots of people would have to agree with the idea this author is creating, but then again lots of people may disagree. This discussion could be a highly debated topic, since government has value in a citizens life.
5. The major strength about Talking Lines, is the fact that the author based all of the stories on either something that happened in his life, or something that happens to people other than himself. The author uses his emotions to create these stories which help let people understand and connect. Another strength is the use of characters. Blechman uses minimal characters in his stories so they are easier to follow whereas if he had multiple characters the stories could be much more difficult to keep up with.
6. A major weakness in this book is the writing. The writing is small and scrunched together making it difficult to understand what the author is trying to say. I believe with the amount of space not used on each page that the author could have stretched the wording out a little bit to make it easier to read. Another weakness is how the author put the comics together. It is hard to understand what picture you are supposed to read first, and in what order after that. Again, since the author did not occupy all the room on the pages, he could have space things out and made it easier to comprehend what piece you are supposed to read in what order.
7. I would recommend this book to adults or older people. I find that someone who is not at least age 30 would not care much for this book. This book is suitable for male or female, and must have an interest in peoples struggles. If you are someone that enjoys knowing what types of things people are faced with in everyday life this book would be a good one to read.
8. R.O. Blechman has written multiple other books that are similar to Talking Lines. Books such as: Georgie, Dear James, Franklin The Fly, and many more.
9. I would rate this book a 2 out of 5. Someone who has an interest in these kinds of things would have a much greater passion for the book.
