A gentleman has never been as dangerous as in Green Manor: Assassins and Gentleman!! Written by Fabien Vehlmann and illustrated by Denis Brodart this graphic novel is a collection of six short stories totaling 56 pages. The stories are set in London at the Green Manor gentleman’s club where the members, all males, discuss the perfect crime and how to kill people off, some being the other members of the club, without being caught. Each story typically begins with the murderer, who is one of the gentlemen, asking a question to the other patrons or spinning a story which reveals that the gentleman who initially began the story, or posed the question is indeed a murderer. “Delicious Shivers” sets the tone of the book by one of the gentlemen asking the question of whether or not there can be a murder without either murderer or victim. He then goes on to describe how this is possible and as surprised as I was, it is possible!! The books main focus is not who committed the crimes but rather how they committed the crimes, which is often described by the murderer himself. To add more layers to the stories, they are narrated by a psychotic prisoner, who used to work at the Green Manor, to a visiting doctor. This causes readers to wonder if the stories are real, or a part of the prisoner’s imagination or if the prisoner was ever psychotic before working at the Green Manor. Despite the fact that this book is about committing murders it is surprisingly not as violent as I expected with many of the crimes happening ‘offstage.’ Green Manor: Assassins and Gentleman includes murder, poisoning, intrigue, and blackmail all the ingredients for a sure thriller.
The art work is fitting for the time period and tone of the book. In fact the illustrations are one of my favorite elements of the book. The characters are in typically Victorian London attire and the Green Manor itself has the appearance of being lit by candlelight. Although this book is set in Victorian London my main concern is that all of the main characters are male and women only play the roles of victims which is a negative for me. This leads me to caution recommending it to younger males. An example is in the second story, “Post-Scriptum”" in which one of the gentleman promises to kill a woman at a certain hour and place, and bets a famous detective that he can't prevent the murder.
6 comments:
After reading many of the graphic novel posts, I continue my feeling that graphic novels are not for me.They are so varied in storylines and issues. While I admire the artistic drawings, the underlying themes are dark and oddly twisted.
Hi Marcella,
This book sounds like a creepy, but also very intriguing graphic novel. It seems that so many graphic novels deal with fighting and graphic, fast-moving action. Just the fact that this is told from a gentlemen's club in Victorian London I think is unusual. Also, the mystery genre added to the graphic novel format I think is an interesting twist. Jack the Ripper immediately came to my mind when I saw the cover. Thank you for sharing!
This sounds like a great GN. Stephanie and I are in a Crime/Victorian Lit class this semester and I cannot think about how awesome this book would have been to be part of our curriculum, even just to break up the monotony. Even though we are in college I think it could still possibly have a place in our class as the entire class is about crime. I think it could spark great conversations about the acts and the depictions/illustrations.
This book sounds very creepy.I agree with you, I would not recomend it to YA readers. I don't like the fact that all of the victims are female.I really don't see how this book would benefit young readers.
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