It took me some time to really get into it. I almost wish I would have read each story individually first and then taken it in as a whole, but by the time I got a hang of the layout, I couldn't bring myself to start over. This is a really interesting concept, though I found it rather bleak overall as the tragedies greatly outweigh the joys. This is understandable reading the author's dedication at the beginning, but too one-sided for my tastes. ( )

The story follows the lives of eighteen people throughout the ages and all of their hopes and dreams. Even though there are eighteen different stories going on at once in the end all of them merge together into one - the story of all of us. ( )

This comic is quite simply an amazing use of the form. There are 18 panels per two-page spread. If you read the same single panel on every page it tells the story of one life at some point in history. If you read every panel on a single page, it shows how where each of those 18 lives are at that developmental moment, from birth through maturity, death, and beyond. Some of the lives end before others, and so they go black, but eventually come back if only in thought or remembrance. It is a brilliant way to expand beyond the form of the comic book, and for that I'd say this borders more on art than on a graphical story. It tells vastly more through the use of pictures and relations between pictures than it does in words, and because of that, it makes its points that much stronger. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys graphical storytelling, and more so to anyone who thinks comics are just child's play. ( )

I'm giving this book 5 stars because it is a truly beautiful work of art. In my opinion, the experiment works. I read it while listening to soft classic music and I had a very trascendent, full, artistic experience. I know it sounds a bit funny but i did. Yes maybe you will turn to the previous pages a couple of times, but it is still a work that flows nicely, if enjoyed with enough calm and at a low pace. It's also great how it makes you wonder anout the past and human history in general. Now, here comes the "but": from a content point of view, the author went down to extremely deep places, i.e. the meaning of life, the presence or absence of God, and the sense of it all. Unfortunately, he doesn't come out with anything positive or hopeful. His characters' souls are dark, tormented, bleak, and without hope or meaning. There is one or maybe two exceptions (out of the 18 characters), but those exceptions are not bearing the flame of hope and they certainly do not counterbalance the pessimistic flavor of the entire story. There seems to be no "why" in any of these people's lives. Everything is pretty much senseless. So, long story short: great work, however - in my eyes - flawed by a bitter taste of existential void. The ultimate question ("if there is a God, why does he allow the innocents suffer?") hangs there as a low, minor chord that plays through the whole composition, without finding any suggestion of hope. That is a question that many theologians and believers have addressed in the past. What is required to seriously face that question and still come out with your hope intact is faith. ( )

I hope I'm intelligent enough to follow this. The premise is definitely intriguing in a whole lot of ways.