Ethel & Ernest

Told in mostly cartoon form, with dialogue alongside, this wonderful, unique book tells the true story of the author's parents, two "ordinary" people, from their first shy meeting to their last days together. World War two, the birth of television, the development and use of the atomic bomb are all seen through the eyes of Ethel and Ernest. I was charmed by the two of them, from their earliest days together to the purchase of their first house, birth of their son, wartime experiences (gas masks, blackout curtains, sending their 5 year old son to the country to be safe during the war), their son's marriage and the gradual decline and death of Ethel and Ernest. Jumps off the page!

Actually, its a pleasure knowing that since I have bought this illustrated book, it has been passed on to friends of friends of friends! I havn't even seen it for a month. No one can resist this book, which is an affectionate yet honest look by the author/illustrator Raymond Briggs, who tells the story of the courtship and life of his mother Ethel and father Ernest, set squarely in a historical period of Britian. The historical detail is amazing - from the comic antagonism of the political attitudes displayed by his mother and father, to the harsh reality of facing World War II on families. But the story is told with such humour and insight, and with such a powerful undercurrent of sadness and love, that it is uplifting rather than depressing.I noticed another reviewer said this book was hard to catergorise - and that is so. It is not a story with a particular point - the point, if any, is about life.

Briggs' depiction of his parents' lives from their meeting in the 1920s to their deaths in the 1970s takes the form of a graphic novel with color cartoon panel sets on each page. Ethel & Ernest provides an involving social history of England during the times, as well as an intimate portrait of a British couple's life. Hard to categorize but involving.

I've long been a fan of Raymond Briggs' beautiful and evocative illustrations. This is his most personal work to date. This is not about a magical snowman or Father Christmas -- this is about the artist's parents, good, hard-working people who survived the depression, the Blitz, post-war rations and a son in art school. Ethel and Ernest are the British counterparts to Tom Brokaw's "Greatest Generation" and their son tells their story lovingly and beautifully through his talent for illustration. This book would make a great gift for an Anglophile, a young person who should know more about his grandparent's generation and the hardships they endured, or for a member of that generation who might like to reminisce about the days before television when an indoor bathroom was considered a real luxury.

An absolutely wonderful memoir, and I use the word memoir deliberately as this is not simply or solely a story told in images, Briggs shows as much in each picture as any prose writer could in several paragraphs of type. This book made me laugh and cry. I gave a copy to my parents and another to a teenage friend, I can't imagine anyone not enjoying Ethel and Ernest's story. A must have.