Review: Alphabetique by Molly Peacock

Alphabetique (26 Characteristic Fictions) by Molly Peacock, with illustrations by Kara Kosaka

Publishing Date: November 4, 2014
Publisher: McCelland & Stewart
Pages: 160 pages

The Premise: This incredibly visual book follows twenty-six short stories, where the twenty-six letters of the alphabet are personified. That is the short version but rather than going on to describe the enter book with each short story (which btw, would be spoilery~).. There is a video from Molly herself, explaining the premise of her book:

The illustrations are done by Kara Kosaka, which are absolutely beautiful has you turn the pages and brings a whole new element to reading the novel. The stories tackle everyday narratives such as growing up, romance and more which take place in the everyday, with a touch of a magical element.

My overall thoughts and review: When I first received this book, I was immediately drawn in by the visual imagery of the book. Being a grad student that does a lot of work in visual culture, I was incredibly excited to read this. The stories are quite interesting and it is so fascinating to see the letters of the alphabet, essentially come to life. While the book is stunning and it is a cool concept, there wasn't really any stories that reached out and grabbed at me and made me walk away going "wow". Even the story titled "C", which of course I associated with my name was good and I loved the use of the letter "D" in it to kind of lead-up to the next story, didn't really blow me away. Overall, I thought the stories could have been a little bit longer to maybe push the envelop further, but I definitely commend Peacock for producing a visually stunning novel and personifying letters of the alphabet, because that is something that truly has not be done before (that I am aware of) in book form. If you are a visual art fan of me and enjoying seeing literary narratives cross paths with that of visual culture, then this is definitely one for you to check out. I also believe it makes a beautiful gift for the upcoming holiday season! ;)

My rating of the book: ✮✮✮ (3/5 stars) 

Now available for purchase at: 
Chapters/Indigo

And for some exciting news.. but be on the look out for a future post here coming from the author, Molly Peacock herself in December ;)

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by Random House Canada www.randomhouse.ca (McCelland and Stewart is a division of Random House Canada Limited ) for consideration/review. All opinions are my own.