It’s scary. Really very scary, if you stop and think about it. But with stunning pictures, as always with Shaun Tan.
The words are by Gary Crew, so I suppose I should mostly blame his imagination for this creepiness. The story is about Tristan, who is interested in unusual things. One day he finds something a bit like the old-fashioned Viewmaster which children have always liked. Except this seems to have a life of its own. And it doesn’t show terribly nice pictures.
I’m relieved I never owned one of these. If I had, and still had it, I’d have to throw it away.
As you can understand, The Viewer is a picture book, but not for small children.
Back to Tristan. His life is taken over by this picture monstrosity, and he loses control. And when his mother…
The Occasional Bookwitch 