The Arrival by Shaun TanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Indisputably, The Arrival is a stunning wordless graphic novel that will attract readers because of how brilliantly it narrated a story through illustrations. It vividly describes the tale of an immigrant starting in a foreign land: how he struggled with communicating, adjusting to the new culture, the problem on seeking employment, and missing his family.
This fiction depicts the true story of some foreigners who chose to leave their love ones, and trying their luck abroad in order to provide a comfortable life for those they left behind. There are other stories of other characters in this graphic novel that is heart-rending, e.g. the old man who was a war veteran; he lost his other leg and when he return home, he saw that his hometown was destroyed and that there was no survivors. Another tragic story was about the mother who loss her daughter and even though it is not apparent, her daughter might have died because of child labor.
The Arrival is a worthy piece of graphic novel to check out because of its compelling story and captivating drawings. One way or another, we are familiar with one or two of the stories in this picture book; possibly that we knew someone with a similar story, or maybe our ancestors used to be immigrants also back then.
