Review: Pärlor & Patroner

Day fifteen. I am actually starting to see the end of this marathon reviewing and at the same time really getting into it. Reading several books each and every day, choosing one and writing about it now almost feels like the normal way to act...

Title: Pärlor & Patroner
By: Loka Kanarp
Language: Swedish
126 pages, b&w, hardcover
Kolik förlag, 2009
ISBN: 9789197610353







Pärlor & Patroner - 60 historiska kvinnoporträtt (Colliers & Cartridges - 60 Historical Portraits of Women) by Swedish artist Loka Kanarp is a breeze to read. The concept is deceptively simple: Kanarp writes and draws short biographies of women in history, only giving them one page each. This condensing of a life into four panels means of course that it all gets very subjective, but that is also one of the reasons why this book works. The choice of persons to portray, but also what to reveal about them, is all up to Kanarp and she does a good job of keeping the reader interested throughout the whole book. One of the key aspects, I think, is that Kanarp has refrained from filling the book with idol portraits of feminists and strong, admirable women. Instead she shows interesting women, good and bad (indicated by the title...), which gives the book a stronger sense of direction and feeling of thruthfulness.

This is a groundbreaking, beautifully designed and most importantly captivating book. Kanarp's black and white drawing style is beautiful, iconic and with a nice retro feeling to it. I would of course like to see Kanarp do much longer biographies, but understand that the format is dictated by the magazines which originally publish these comics.

This book is at the moment only available in Swedish, but that is something I predict will be rectified shortly, as it is unique on an international scale. It would undoubtedly appeal to an audience far outside of Sweden, something that I'm sure foreign publishers will take notice of.