The writing gets 3 stars, the illustrations 5.  I figure splitting the difference is fair.

I picked up Charles Bowden’s “Dreamland: The Way Out of Juarez” after hearing him on a recent episode of On the Media.  This is *not* a book about Juarez or drug cartels. This is a long meditation on humanity (and the lack there of) in the idea of nation states, boundaries, and “wars” in all forms. If you’re looking for a fact-based account of the situation in Juarez look elsewhere.  The book is quite good but I found myself wondering if it would have actually worked a bit better as a full-on graphic novel.  The illustrations by Alice Leora Briggs add so much to the text and bring emotion to Bowden’s elegy for Juarez that the text alone lacks.

Parts are quite thought provoking; Bowden has a way with long sentences– something I really appreciate in an author.  However, at times his scope wandered too far and the insights felt shallow. The book is at its best when he reflects on interviewing sources or walking through the “death house.” It is at its weakest when he loses site of these concrete artifacts to ponder the abstract.

Briggs’ illustrations, though dark and occasionally graphic (no pun intended), add many layers of meaning for the reader to ponder.  One of my favorites is a variation on a pieta with a group of press photographers crowding around.  Briggs also masterfully mixes Mexican folk-motifs with styles reminiscent of the Northern Renaissance– especially the Flemish painters.  Besides, I’m a sucker for Mexican Folk Art (as we’ve discussed) and she uses a stamp motif throughout the book.   Obviously I was going to spend loads of time just getting lost in these intricate images.

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