Product Description

"Jakob Wywialowski and the Angels" is a charming short story about a man who is experiencing a celestial infestation of sorts; he is having trouble keeping his attic angel-free. It may amuse you if you are the kind of person who finds this sort of thing amusing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #417948 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-21
• Released on: 2005-06-21
• Binding: Digital
• 7 pages

Review
"Audrey Niffenegger is a visual artist living in Chicago, where she teaches at the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. Her graphic novels have won critical acclaim, and her first novel, THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, was a New York Times Bestseller and was nominated for the Orange Prize. She collects taxidermy and comic books. Her most recent book is the novel-in pictures THE THREE INCESTUOUS SISTERS."

Customer Reviews

Cute, but not a feel-good story
Very nicely crafted short. Places the reader in the story nicely. Cute, but does not have a feel-good ending. Certainly worth getting.

A fun and easy read
It's not the greatest story ever written, but it is fun and has a sense of humor. If you have 10 minutes and 49 cents, go for it. (But don't expect a masterpiece on the order of The Time Traveler's Wife!)

Every great idea begins with a spark...
...though I'll second some of the thoughts of author Niffenegger's previous reviewers and merely say that perhaps Audrey could have let this one play out a little longer?

I mean, my thinking here is that it's the start of something much more substantial, perhaps even more literary? As in, this isn't the last time we're all going to hear about the likes of Mr. Jakob Wywialowski (I, for one, would love to know who you've modelled this character after, Dear Author)?

Jakob, by the way, seems like the consummate old man cutie -- the grandfather we all want to have.

However, seven pages *is* a bit on the scant side, oui oui? Though I'm the first one to admit one doesn't need to write like Tolstoy to make a literary point, it's a bit on the lower end of the spectrum. Not "bad" lower end but more like "you've left me wanting a whole lot more" lower end. With the foreknowledge that this were to expand into a graphic novel, I mightn't be as indisposed to it, but...

...back to my original point.

Surprisingly, folks, ANGELS is a tight little read. Like its length or niente, you're going to feel something.

Sentences flow cleverly and well. Ms. Niffenegger's vocabulary choice falls into the "nice and easy" spectrum.

ANGELS is, for the most part, a "feelgood" piece, and I think this author is at all times aware of the direction things are headed in the marketplace: people are demanding shorter, more inspirational, reads; ones they can polish off within a short subway/bus ride into work (or leaving work, as the case may be).

Once the technology for this sort of thing becomes widely available, previous readers who've expressed skepticism with the shortness of Niffenegger's tale here may be more accepting of stories of ANGELS' curt length more readily.

Well, perhaps that's just one person's opinion...

In summary: in a world oftentimes gone to the squirrels, sometimes it's just nice to read about something on a groovy upbeat tip.

-- ADM in Prague