A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi is a heavy weight in your hand. An 840 paged illustrated memoir takes on the life of a young man learning about his love for manga, and even more his love for telling a story. This story takes place over fifteen years, in which a young highschool student grows up to become an influential storyteller in Japan, and the catalyst for a worldwide growth of mature graphic novels.
In the story, Yoshihiro has changed everyone's names, including his own. The protagonist, Hiroshi, is an artistic boy who grows up in a tough life to become an artist and writer. His father brings financial trouble into the house, and strains the already weathered marriage and home life. His brother, who is equally in love with manga, is slowly dying from lung trouble, is jealous of his brother's creativity and luck. Hiroshi turn's his love of his hobby into his career, working for small magazines and publishers, growing as an artist and an adult. He creates stories that pass the usual convention of children audience that it was created for, and made the gekiga style of manga. Gekiga to normal manga is what a graphic novel is to a comic book.
I don't read a lot of manga. This is actually the first one I've ever owned, but I as a fan of the graphic novel, something this heavy (literally and figuratively) is pretty great. A view inside the industry, just as is starts to change, it is a nice mix of Japanese history and the way manga authors lived, drew and worked together in the mid '50s. Hiroshi is a passionate artist and an inspiring character. I could identify with him, not wanting to do the normal comedic cartoon strips. He wanted to make something revolutionary and epic. This memoir is a testament to that want to be alternative, even if it isn't a dark or gritty story like his other books.
His art is simplistic, and the adaptation by Arian Tomine is a clean, easy read. Now that I know Tatsumi history, I'll try to read the rest of his work.
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