Love: the Tiger

by Federico Bertolucci

I saw this book mentioned on another blog somewhere (was it you?) and while it didn't land on my actual TBR list, when I wanted a light read this week I picked it up along with several other graphic novels at the library. It is authored by Frédéric Brrémaud although there are no words, the pages are all full of gorgeous artwork by Bertolucci.

It depicts the life of a tiger in the jungle. Most of the pages are taken up by images of the tiger prowling through the undergrowth and stalking prey. He has an awful lot of near misses. Gets harassed by monkeys, bitten by ants, a near encounter with a crocodile and fights some rival black panthers. Tries again to catch a meal- usually seems to be after a tapir (who has unusually large ears). Life as a tiger seems difficult. In the end the tiger does get his meal, an unexpected one.

Really the pictures are breathtaking. So much atmosphere, detail, fierceness and beauty. I had not heard of this artist before but he is amazingly good at drawing animals. Especially birds- and they're not the main focus. I really liked the final few pages that show some original sketches and studies done by the artist, and you can see a lot more samples online. Beautiful work.

Rating: 3/5    82 pages, 2011

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