Rating:  Summary: Wow. Review: I sometimes have trouble reading books, as I find they don't hold my interest too much. This trilogy of beautiful books is so amazingly written, composed, illustrated, and everything else, that once I started the first, I could not put them down until I was done that night. They are gorgeous to look at, intriguing and mysterious to read, and I would recommend them to anyone trying to escape the monotony of John Grisham/Michael Chriton/Tom Clancy/etc. - type books (although some of them are great too).
Rating:  Summary: Beautiful... Review: to read and to simply look at! These books are just beautiful. And not only are the beautiful, but they tell an excellent story-one filled with mystery, excitement, love, and more. Told through a series of letters (this is where the 'beautiful to look at' part comes in), Griffin and Sabine is amazingly original and wonderful to read.Follow the lives of Griffin and Sabine as they discover each other in an interesting and very different way. Sabine, since a very young age, has been able to "see" what Griffin, an artist, paints. Finally discovering who she has been "seeing" for years, she begins a very intense correspondence with the lonely Griffin. What follows is one of the most powerful love stories I have ever read. This books are a must read for anyone who appreciates beauty and romance.
Rating:  Summary: Heart Grabbing Review: I'm 17 years old and my boyfriend bought me the first of the Griffen and Sabine Trilogy. Since then i have read the others in the trilogy also. It is a wonderful trilogy that grabs at your heart and keeps you in suspence wanting to read each letter to find out how it ends. The art work in these books is also amazing. Never have i seen such grabbing artwork that, at times, tugs on your heart. This trilogy is definatly a keepsake. I even made my friends read it and they all loved it! Everyone should read this trilogy. It's a collection that anyone could fall in love with!
Rating:  Summary: A Love Possessed Review: I have heard that this is a love story, and it is. I have heard that this is a story of evil, and it is that also. I believe (and on further examination may change my mind) that what makes this trilogy of Griffin & Sabine work, and what most have missed, is that it is begun in innocence. Sabine does have the gift of sight and can see Griffin's drawings and soul. He needs someone and opens himself to her. They connect and bond, but the closer they start to get, the more intimate they become, the more they become one, the more afraid Griffin becomes. He will lose himself (through madness, he thinks). He tries to gather himself together and searches for himself, while at the same time searching for her where she is not. Finally, the more accessible they become to each other, despite all the difficulties, the more vulnerable they become to an interloper. The interloper is of the greatest evil and searches for his entrance into the world through the openness and penetrability of love. That evil is embodied in a character in the book, one Victor Frolatti. I believe he turns love to evil through the vehicle of Sabine's abilities and Griffin's growing abilities. But Sabine and Griffin's sight starts to gradually diminish when he enters the picture. He becomes the shadow over the light of love. It is no longer the love of Griffin who possesses Sabine, but Victor. They become the "we," the agenda is Victor's and the child is.....
Rating:  Summary: Intriguing Review: This trilogy is really quite amazing. The concept and artwork are brilliant. But I have to disgree with a lot of reviewers about it being a love story. Love, true love, is impossible to develop through a course of letter writing. And yet Griffin (much more so than Sabine) feels that he is in love with her, which leads one to question his mental state. It is much more plausible that Sabine is an instrument of evil, and that Griffin is a victim of hers. The final card in the final book hints at that, as it seems she has found her next victim in the form of a doctor. Griffin, on the other hand, is never heard from again. That is my theory anyway, and the more I read these books, the more I am convinced that they are more of a horror story than a romance. But whatever your own personal theory turns out to be, these books have done what a lot of books fail to do. They delight the senses with the glorious artwork and design...they intrigue and get the reader to ask many questions and to look for answers. They hold the reader spellbound right up through the last page of the last book. What more can a reader ask for? A clean, definate ending? No...if we had that, then it would take away from the mystery. And the questions, mystery and guessing is what makes it fun. Highly recommended.
Rating:  Summary: A M UST HAVE!! Review: This is a great book and a great gift to give anyone who has an imagination, passion for adventure, and a thirst for mystery!! These books are filled with beautiful, exotic, textured images of far away places. The story is composed of letters exchanged between two people. So when you're reading them, it's as though you are reading fantastical letter that you've come upon one day. As you're reading these letters, you're pulled into this mystical realm of Griffin & Sabine!!
Rating:  Summary: Absolutely Gorgeous, Intimate, Abstract & Surreal Review: If you are a linear person who likes to read things that are clearly set forth in a,b,c steps and you only like realistic art, this set of books is not for you. If, however, you have any appreciation for abstraction and surrealism combined in the worlds of writing and art, you need to own your very own set at once! All three books are correspondence with actual envelopes, letters and postcards between Griffin and Sabine, both of whom are artists in niche markets, designing postcards (him) and stamps (her). They live halfway across the world from one another. The actual reading of the correspondence can be done at many levels. It can be read as a romance between the two people, which many people have chosen as their preferred view, or it can be read as two sides of the same person, with the split parts not realizing they are part of the same whole. There are also extensive other meanings that can be attached to the work depending on how much cognitive concentration you care to bring to reading and viewing the books. I abandoned that approach almost from the beginning though because I found the right-brain, instinctual pull of the art work so powerful, accompanied by the surrealism of the writing, that I preferred to take in the whole thing as an abstraction of life and the universe. There is a huge temptation to overly analyze this work or nitpick as to the ultimate destiny of Griffin & Sabine but I suggest you just let yourself go and immerse yourself in author-artist Bantock's world. This would make a fabulous gift for many people who are open to non-linear, abstract and surreal work.
Rating:  Summary: Disappointed Review: I seem to be one of the few people who were disappointed in these books. I gave the set three stars based primarily on the art work which is unusual and intriguing. The story itself I found to be predictable, repetitious, melodramatic, and curiously unengaging. I couldn't have cared less what happened to the main characters as both Griffin and Sabine are pretty wet. The only interesting character is the "evil" stanger introduced in the third book. Perhaps it is unavoidable that some parts of a multimedia project like this will be weaker than others. In this case, the story suffers at the expense of the artwork, being basically just a vehicle to necessitate the production of more postcards and envelopes, even though what they contain is fairly uninteresting.
Rating:  Summary: Worthy book, but don't look for depth Review: I heard Nick Bantock on the radio a few years ago. He explained how one day he went to the Post Office to pick up his mail, and he noticed a woman retrieving letters from her box, close to him. Her letters were exotic-looking, air-mail envelopes, artsy, beautiful stamps. He looked at his own mail, bills and grocery ads, and felt envious. He then decided to write this book. This entire collection is a joy for the eyes. The layout is fascinating: the envelopes and postcards are an innovative idea, that i haven't seen anywhere else. The illustrations are wonderful. I don't know that the story plot is all that great. If you remove the colorful layout, the story is OK, but nothing to write home about (there is an audio version of this book. Those that have listened to it could say). However, this would be an excellent present for a teenager. I know i would have been all over this book (the entire trilogy) at fourteen. It is certainly well worth it for its beauty and originality.
Rating:  Summary: Unique and compelling Review: The Griffin and Sabine trilogy in one of the most creative series of books I've read. The premise that two people encounter each other telephathically but have difficulty meeting face to face is an interesting one. It is made even more realistic and compelling by the format of the books. The story is told entirely through the correspondence between the protagonists which is displayed in real letters and postcards. It is an interesting experience to turn a page of the book, open Sabine's envelope, remove her letter to Griffin, and then read it. Finally, the most compelling aspect of the series is Bantoc's art work. His illustrations are extrordinary and very creative. The series is beautifully crafted from start to finish. Some readers might be put off by an underlying sinister quality of the series, especially in the last book. Bantok also leaves us with many loose ends which some might find frustrating. Even if the plot or the concept of this series bothers you, it is worth checking out for the concept and creativity if nothing else. This series demonstrates that "multi-media" is not just a term that refers to computers and the Internet. Bantok's series rests on three different media: writing, physical components such as envelopes and letters, and art.
|