£10.48
FREE Delivery in the UK.
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.
Gift-wrap available.
Frequently Bought Together
{"currencyCode":"GBP","itemData":[{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":10.48,"ASIN":"0224078127","moqNum":1,"isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":16.59,"ASIN":"0224062107","moqNum":1,"isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":17,"ASIN":"0241145961","moqNum":1,"isPreorder":0}],"shippingId":"0224078127::utZVSoi5zHAHOmR8ZxQVlE5urysAqh5Y7I9NO2TUV4UnrEkBOmVqzf3MF6BElUtDGg1swNEjiOMScs%2FAZd35XAfD05fOPZao,0224062107::6c3PVgoSKLPHt0ZK9UKTxMiAG7VE1owmxuRSyVbEIIvp6Fb6wC3R8p6mF62g9vb5VX3Nd7SBMV7iSU6NPUHAZ2%2Fw0F1Z097j,0241145961::C%2Fr66nxp%2FM0gK3JbSISP4vkDpqmUhaqhH4imXxh8uuQ6DWZa3buCaaN7a3%2BzeZyfWk%2FSnytoZkG5cpUU2U7m1q0zrwchswIj","sprites":{"addToWishlist":["wl_one","wl_two","wl_three"],"addToCart":["s_addToCart","s_addBothToCart","s_add3ToCart"],"preorder":["s_preorderThis","s_preorderBoth","s_preorderAll3"]},"shippingDetails":{"xz":"same","xy":"same","yz":"same","xyz":"same"},"tags":["x","y","z","w"],"strings":{"addToWishlist":["Add to Wish List","Add both to the Wish List","Add all three to the Wish List","Add all four to the Wish List"],"addToCart":["Add to Basket","Add both to Basket","Add all three to Basket","Add all four to the Basket"],"showDetailsDefault":"Show availability and delivery details","shippingError":"An error occurred, please try again","hideDetailsDefault":"Hide availability and delivery details","priceLabel":["Price:","Price For Both:","Price For All Three:","Price For All Four:"],"preorder":["Pre-order this item","Pre-order both items","Pre-order all three items","Pre-order all four items"]}}
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Trade in Building Stories for an Amazon Gift Card of up to £2.79, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Learn more
Lovingly presented box of goodies narrating, primarily, the tale of a disabled young woman navigating her way into adulthood and middle age, a journey that brings hope, disillusionment, love, despair and joy. There is something deeply intimate and poignant about the story, and it felt quite voyeuristic at times reading it. Parenthood, relationships, loss, faith - its all there.
The title itself is a nice play on words - a collection of stories taking place mostly in one specific building, but it is we, the readers, who build up the narrative, through the way in which we sequence our reading of the 14 different documents included in the box.
A couple of gripes - most of the men are pretty one dimensional: self-centred and thoughtless; none of them have the depth or complexity of the female characters. And, while Branford the neurotic bee is a mildly entertaining diversion, i was too hungry to get on with the main narrative to focus my attention elsewhere.
This is a piece of treasure to indulge in over one weekend - touching, beautifully rendered, and erring just on the right side of sentimentality. Pretty much a masterpiece.
Comment
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes No
Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
For me, it's actually 3 1/2 stars, but that might be simply because I was expecting the outstanding. Chris Ware is I think my favourite American comics writer and I heartily recommend this book, but I don't think it's Ware at his very best.
If you've read (the exceedingly good) Acme Novelty Libary no. 18, Building Stories will ring a bell: Except for tales of a temporary resident the story is of the tenants of an apartment building, focussing upon the main character of the previous book. (If you own ANL no. 18 be prepared to own another copy of it--rather disappointingly it's one of the books enclosed and though it's slightly larger than the original I noticed no other changes.) Ware dips in and out of the lives of an old woman, a couple with a strained relationship, and, most of all, a lonely young woman. There's little drama in those lives and most of what we learn of these people we learn from their thoughts, but the book is credible and most of it is thoroughly absorbing, The art is of course terrific.
But a couple of the booklets barely held my interest. While the 'The Daily Bee', a mock newspaper, was very nice a booklet about the bee character, which actually has the most attractive artwork in the book, grows almost tedious. Another over-long booklet seems to have no point other than to show us that a mother loves her child. Indeed, I wondered whether Ware had written some of Building Stories shortly after becoming a parent; although he never quite slides into sentimentality he comes close to it. (The child's words and actions do seem true to life, though.)
And the lonely woman, the child's mother, sometimes verges on being a rather annoying bore.Read more ›
1 Comment
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes No
Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Chris Ware has always created remarkable stories that move, inspire, and depress, and I have watched (and collected) the majority of his work over the last twelve years. He has produced pamphlets, broadsheets, hardback books, paperbacks, journals, and work that is so tiny that you need a magnifying glass to see it (see the cover of the Acme Novelty Library http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0224077023/ref=asc_df_022407702313149772?smid=A3NAO0K0FOUXHJ&tag=hydra0b-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22218&creativeASIN=0224077023&hvpos=1o2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=148832994320404488&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=) It makes sense that this artist who has worked from the micro to the macro in terms of publishing, has brought all these forms together in huge package. It is a remarkable achievement.
Also - I'm in it. Which is nice.
1 Comment
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes No
Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
So Its been 2 years since the Acme novelty library 20 (Lint) and 4 years since Acme novelty 19, so it would be no surprise that a release from Chris Ware was pending.
This review mentions no part of the actual storyline and is therefore not going to spoil details of content to the reader of the review.
It should be noted that a small part from acme novelty 16 is reproduced in bigger scale within this set along with a bigger format hardback edition of acme novelty 18. Reprinting them bigger has done no harm and has allowed readers of Ware to access older material & avoid silly prices for older bindings. So in summary 2 enlarged editions of previously book published material and 12 new items. I also believe some of the contents of the 12 new items have been published in dribs and drabs over a the last decade in the American press and other places. However, never before has all this work been bought together.
Unlike the more recent and previous small hard back book format, we have been presented here with a huge box containing a pile of painstakingly detailed material. Each item within presents a fragment of a fuller body of work. Each fragment is presented in its own right in the form of anything from a simple small double sided paper strip, to a huge broadsheet style newspaper. One standout item for me is the hard book with gold spine & cardboard outer pages (bindings reminiscent of build to last robust kids books).
The outer box has a presence of beauty and attention to detail, when held upright the front cover is a feast for the eyes, a flow of ideas fold themselves around the lettering, the bottom of the box has foundation bricks lined up to support the 'structure' that you are holding and the top panel shows clouds 'above' the box.Read more ›
6 Comments
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes No
Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
![]({"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513HFdOvQbL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg":[248,346],"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513HFdOvQbL._SX355_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg":[357,499]})
