Reviews

Two Brothers, Four Hands by Hadley Hooper, Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan

readingthroughtheages's review against another edition

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4.0

I always find it fascinating when I read about someone I should probably know but I don't. That's the case with this one, and I'm grateful for the backmatter since I found photos of the artwork of the Giacometti brothers that looked familiar.
A biography that really goes through the lifetime of the brothers - organized with headings that detail the years it is discussing, readers travel from the early years to their deaths learning about the passion of these two artists.
Illustrated by Hadley Hooper, it is a gorgeous picture book, one you'll want to have some time to read.

antlersantlers's review against another edition

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2.0

The illustration style is incredible and the artist is immensely talented but I think the potential is absolutely squandered. I, an adult, could barely follow the narrative; which is, at many points, hindered by the illustrations. Hooper uses a beautiful textural colored undertone for most of the illustrations, but it causes everything to blend together!

Here is an example:

A three-panel panel illustration, with each panel painted in a single color. Figures and buildings are drawn with gestural black lines, but the color tone makes everything blend together.

In the top left, I look at the tree -- the only different color -- and eventually I find the brothers. In the bottom right I guess I look at the wheelbarrow? But everything else is very hard to parse and Alberto is 100% part of the scenery. In the right image, Diego blends in with the studio full of stuff. There's always a lot happening, but with nothing visually indicating what is important and what isn't.

The text is fine but also hard to follow!

fantisian's review against another edition

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2.0

More like 2.75 for me

cat1122's review

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4.0

I enjoyed this story about Diego and Alberto Giacometti.

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