Tales from Outer Suburbia defies bookseller categorization. At my local bookstore, it's found in the "young adult" graphic novel section.
The "tales" are fifteen vignettes accompanied by gorgeous illustrations. Both the illustrations and book design play an integral role in telling the stories, and the vignettes wouldn't quite work without them.
Outer suburbia, we find, is filled with an admixture of wonder, whimsy, sadness, and cruelty.
All the tales have a fantastical, dreamlike quality to them. Most of the vignettes feel nostalgic, rather sweet, but also a little sad. But "Stick Figures" is, if anything, nightmarish. "Alert" and "The Amnesia Machine" are dystopian. And "Wake" is downright depressing.
I found Tales from Outer Suburbia to be an engrossing and moving experience.
