Strange Pictures by Uketsu
Thank you to Harpervia Publishers and NetGalley for allowing
me to read an advanced copy of Strange Pictures by Uketsu. Artists,
visual artists in particular, require not only vision and skill, also a kind of
compositional and stylistic know-how—the ability to not just represent what
they see, but also to tie the lines, colors, and shapes together into some kind
of meaningful whole—to build on parts for a synthesis, often creating something
new or unique. Uketsu, the pseudonym of a writer and visual artist in Japan,
has uniquely done this through both images and stories based on the images. Strange
Pictures is Uketsu’s first published work translated into English.
According to the author bio at the end of this book, Uketsu only appears online
and masked, where he has published other sketch mysteries. I haven’t checked
these out, but after reading Strange Pictures I am more intrigued about
what these sketch mysteries might be like and whether they are other stories
that are different narratives, but stylistically related to the four stories in
this book.
I definitely enjoyed this book. There are four stories that
all feature drawings. The story is framed by a child psychologist sharing an
picture created by a client. Dr. Hagio walks us (and the class) through an
analysis of the image, examining finer details of the drawing and suggesting
aspects of the artists/client’s character and psychology. In many ways, readers
(and characters) will also apply these analytical skills to the other stories
and the drawings they feature. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but the
stories are all somewhat different. We do learn about the common underlying
thread that links them all by the end of the story—and I think this is
mentioned in other reviews. I won’t give it away, but from my reading, I
enjoyed knowing this and trying to figure out how the stories were connected.
I liked the first two stories the most. Both had some kind
of supernatural and ghostly quality to them. I especially liked how strange and
mysterious the first story was. Yet it was also somewhat relatable and kind of
like a creepy pasta story. Two college students, members of their paranormal
club, gather together to discuss a mysterious blog that starts of seemingly
normal, but eventually devolves into a sad story of the death of a wife in
childbirth. The posts between the beginning and the end document the couple’s
pregnancy and feature “Strange Pictures” that are somehow linked. The final
post also presents another twist to the mystery, and sets the two members off
on a quest to see how the images are related. I’m not quite sure how they
figured it out, but it is a really inventive story and use of images to further
the plot. Plus, I found the whole aspect of examining an older blog and
speculating about the author’s life to be fascinating (and something I’ve done
as well). It was cool to see how the author used this medium and some of the
personal clues to kind of create and try to solve a mystery of this person’s
life. The other stories don’t use drawings in the same way, although the third
story “The Art Teacher’s Final Drawing”, does make more use of the image than
stories from Chapter 2 or 4. Chapter 3’s story about an art teacher’s murder is
the longest, and is more like a mystery. There were definitely parts that were
compelling, but also some parts that were somewhat unbelievable. The mystery really
centers on some highly technical information that isn’t probably common
knowledge, and I’m not sure how someone would find out. However, I kind of
found the murdered art teacher, Miura, a little humorous. He was described as
not a very likeable person, someone who was quick to anger, and people close to
him didn’t seem that upset by his death. This was mentioned repeatedly and
seemed much different from other characters who are murdered in mysteries.
Regardless, it is a compelling mystery and kept me guessing and reading.
Similarly, Chapter 2’s story “The Smudged Room” relies on knowledge of kanji to
interpret what happens in the drawing. It is an interesting story, and there
are some kind of mysterious and creepy elements to it as well. The final
chapter also ties things together, and it was a quick read.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I loved the use of images
and pictures to further the stories. I can’t wait to check out Uketsu’s other
online work to read more of these kinds of sketch mysteries. This book was a
quick and enjoyable read. Very unique and interesting, and I hope that there
are more Uketsu books to come.
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