House of Sugar collects a two-year run of strips in Halifax's The Coast Weekly. Originally published in 2006 (by Tulip Tree) these small, four-panel episodes, with their heavy lines and slightly squashed faces, resemble high school drawings that have grown up. The collection's themes are consistent: our immediate pasts are messy and painful places, but if we look so far back that we have to squint to see, everything is strong and elegant. Autobiographical anecdotes make up the bulk of House of Sugar, detailing Kraatz' childhood in the prairies and West Coast. Recurring characters include her wise and sentimental grandfather, her unattainable peers, and her treasured brother. The book is also peppered with appearances by the various idealized men and women from the 1940s who comfort and inspire Kraatz throughout her life. The stories contain tales of Ogopogo, reasons to not become a makeup artist, Kraatz's experimentation with drugs, and the deflating realization that trapeze artists get runs in their stockings, too. House of Sugar also boasts an introduction by Canadian singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett.

House of Sugar

Comics & Graphic Novels

Kraatz, Rebecca

Graphic Novels

Conundrum Pr

<p>Snaps takes place just before, during, and after the Second World War in a tiny town on Vancouver Island. The complex narrative is a period piece told from various points of view, in the Modernist literary tradition, and sometimes the characters and their stories overlap in intriguing ways. The style is magic realism combined with pulp dialogue. There are soldiers, tough working women, and children, who present their slice of life stories in a brief two or three pages, almost in a photographic way, hence the title. Sometimes dreamy, sometimes surreal, this graphic novel will further establish Kraatz's reputation as a writer-centric artist and a talent to watch.</p>

Snaps

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Books by Kraatz, Rebecca

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kraatz, Rebecca. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

House of Sugar

Snaps