- Paperback: 104 pages
- Publisher: Pantheon Books; Reprint edition (Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0375714472
- ISBN-13: 978-0375714474
- Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 0.9 x 22.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,948,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Raymond Briggs has used his parents in his work before. They were the archetypes for the bemused elderly couple in his fable of nuclear war, When The Wind Blows, and in lighter vein his father has been the model for Father Christmas. But in this latest work Briggs takes it a step further in writing (and, of course, drawing) a cartoon strip biography of his parents marriage from courtship in the twenties to death in the seventies. This tribute to ordinary lives--no affairs, no illness before the end, no regrets--is inevitably a very personal work, but also serves as a fascinating social history. From when they meet as milkman and parlour maid, through the Depression, second world war, childbirth (Briggs himself gets a particularly good cameo role in the sixties, replete with magnificent sideburns), old age and death, we see a world in rapid flux while Ethel and Earnest's loving relationship remains resolutely stable. The drawings are characteristically tender--the scene when his dead mother lies on a hospital trolley is particularly moving--and the simple text gives more than a taste of these people and the times they lived through. Sentimental as well as engaging? Absolutely. But work like this gives sentimentality a good name. --Nick Wroe
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
"A best seller in Britain, this winsome little book is one family's twentieth century, told as a comic strip that fast-forwards through the decades. Briggs's artful rendering of his parents' striving captures the English working class, and as the tale progresses, you find yourself slowly sucked into their daily patter, amused by their cooing voices, impressed by their bravery. At the end, you're hardly prepared for the emotional wallop." --"Time
"In the details of Briggs's sparkling cartoons, the characters become richly specific and endearing . . . both pathetic and heroic in the face of overwhelmingevents. [They are] what make you read through Ethel & Ernest over again." --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "New York Times
"Ethel & Ernest works brilliantly and artfully as an archetype. It is the author's willingness to frame his love and anguish so piercingly that makes it such a singular piece of work. We should be grateful that Briggs is so brilliantly equipped to remind us of what we u sed to be, and why." --Nick Hornby, "New York Times Book Review
"In the details of Briggs's sparkling cartoons, the characters become richly specific and endearing . . . both pathetic and heroic in the face of overwhelmingevents. [They are] what make you read through Ethel & Ernest over again." --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "New York Times
"Ethel & Ernest works brilliantly and artfully as an archetype. It is the author's willingness to frame his love and anguish so piercingly that makes it such a singular piece of work. We should be grateful that Briggs is so brilliantly equipped to remind us of what we u sed to be, and why." --Nick Hornby, "New York Times Book Review
"From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST for all who want to know about life, love and death.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ethel and Ernest (Hardcover)
A beautiful moving story written by the well known author Raymond Briggs, author of the Snowman. The true story begins as Ethel and Ernest meet. Their love and life together unfolds through a series of beautifully illustrated cartoons. The reader is taken on a journey of life's pleasures and pains, through the war years and beyond.As a nurse and a lecturer in hospice care I was drawn to the end of the book which portrays first Ethel's dying and death followed by the death of Ernest. The images are so powerful that few words are needed. The inevitability and the pain of death and loss are clearly and sensitively portrayed. Ethel and Ernest should be available in every school, every church, and every library throughout the world. It must be on the reading list of all health care professionals. Read this book. You will laugh and you will cry but most of all you will understand a little more of life.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully crafted, simple love story,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ethel & Ernest (Paperback)
This slim volume contains the love story of Ethel and Ernest, two simple folk. Raymond, their son, is the affectionate storyteller, painting in words and pictures the story of his parents' marriage, 'til death they do part. I was in tears at the end; read it and experience times long past.Celia Crossley
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ethel & Ernest (Paperback)
This book is touching, beautifully drawn and also a surprisingly informative summary of the last 50 years. As a Briggs fan, I would rate this as his best yet.
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