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A review by ncontreras83
Dropsie Avenue: The Neighborhood by Will Eisner
5.0
Wonderful. Amazing. It's not just that the illustrations are great or that the storyline is strong. It's more than that. In this book of the Contract with God trilogy, Eisner depicts the history of Dropsie Avenue over the years, beginning with 1870 and going well past the 60s. The depiction isn't just about how the land has changed but the rotation of people, memories and how that has affected a community a neighborhood. Reading book 3, reminded me of how I grew up, and where I am now. Not in the sense of this personal being but in the sense of place, location. We forget sometimes how land has its own memories of people and things. We forget how my neighborhood may have been yours, though our memories are not. It is easy to forget about place as a being, but on Dropsie Avenue Eisner magnifies it that it is hard to escape and easy to remember.
Book 3 doesn't bring a whole to the parts, it doesn't complete book 1 or book 2, in fact each novel stands on its own. But the idea is the place, the location, the transformation of how so many individuals who are connected and not connected intertwine because of a single entity. You start off becoming attached to these people, those people and their stories but it really is the story of a place of a building, a block, a neighborhood.
I am so glad that I stumbled upon these novels and I completely understand how a place, a physical aspect, a building, a street name, a block a town can carry so much more weight than our own minds and souls can hold. I am a sucker for the idea/concept of neighborhoods but because I know them and Eisner does such a wonderful job describing-explaining-stating, to be honest I can't even fully explain exactly how he has done what he has. I just know that he has, and the result is amazing.
Book 3 doesn't bring a whole to the parts, it doesn't complete book 1 or book 2, in fact each novel stands on its own. But the idea is the place, the location, the transformation of how so many individuals who are connected and not connected intertwine because of a single entity. You start off becoming attached to these people, those people and their stories but it really is the story of a place of a building, a block, a neighborhood.
I am so glad that I stumbled upon these novels and I completely understand how a place, a physical aspect, a building, a street name, a block a town can carry so much more weight than our own minds and souls can hold. I am a sucker for the idea/concept of neighborhoods but because I know them and Eisner does such a wonderful job describing-explaining-stating, to be honest I can't even fully explain exactly how he has done what he has. I just know that he has, and the result is amazing.