From School Library Journal
YA-An engrossing and revelatory picture story. After a brief courtship, Ethel, a ladies' maid, and Ernest, a milkman, married and bought a house. Much bemused at the size and amenities of this dwelling, they settled in to make a home. After some years, their only child, Raymond, was born and the small family moved through the world of working-class England before, during, and after World War II. Ernest's strong socialist bent contrasted with Ethel's admiration of the vanishing aristocracy. The Depression years, Raymond's evacuation during the war, the Blitz and the extended rationing, and the new socialistic government policies and the relative security of the '50s are realistically portrayed in both colored pictures and text. While presenting this story in a comic-strip format, Briggs doesn't flinch at revealing personal details; at the end, readers see his mother's disease-ravaged corpse and his father's inability to carry on. This is a vivid chronicle of a time and place not very far past and the life story of an average, but loved and loving couple. As a memoir, as a graphic novel, as an invitation to participate in someone else's memories, it is most successful. A quick but haunting read that's sure to involve anyone who picks it up.
Susan H. Woodcock, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Briggs (The Snowman, When the Wind Blows) is possibly the premier cartoonist publishing exclusively with a major publishing house, and any new work of his deserves a very careful look. Here, we are presented with a story for adults, the cartoon version of Briggs's parents' lives. What comes across is a social history of Britain from the years prior to World War II to the death of both parents in 1971, as they and their son are caught up in larger political events. Because of the brevity of the narrative, we are only allowed glimpses of what Briggs's parents were like; unfortunately, they are cast too neatly as opposites, with one rigid and the other more spontaneous. There is also a bit of sentimentality in the presentation of struggling young artist Raymond Briggs. The artwork is sure, easygoing, and playful; clearly, Briggs is on top of his artistic and storytelling abilities. The question is whether his medium is subtle enough to carry his message. This book will interest Briggs's many fans as well as readers interested in modern British history.AStephen Weiner, Maynard P.L., MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Briggs' acutely observed, lovingly told comic-strip tale of milkman Ernest and housemaid Ethel, who meet and marry in post^-World War I London, is the story of a prototypical working-class couple, a pocket history of Britain in the twentieth century, and a touching tribute to Briggs' parents, the book's inspiration. Ethel and Ernest nobly contend with the onslaught of the century's changes, from the blitz to decimal currency to a man on the moon, as well as such personal tribulations as their son Raymond's decision to go to art school ("He'll never get a proper job with hair like that!" Ethel moans). Briggs' detailed drawings--pastel renderings that often conjure a dreamlike aura--well evoke period and milieu, and his spot-on dialogue nails the characters, contrasting Ernest's naive idealism and Ethel's common sense. The many Briticisms may put off some stateside readers, and the comic-strip format may discourage others, but Briggs' warmhearted celebration of the ordinary is surely appealing enough to win the big audience it deserves. Gordon Flagg
Review
It is the author's willingness to frame his love and anguish so piercingly that makes Ethel & Ernest such a singular piece of work. -- The New York Times Book Review, Nick Hornby
Ordinary existences lived countless times. Yet in the details of Briggs's sparkling cartoons, the characters become richly specific and endearing. -- The New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
From the Inside Flap
nny, and utterly original, Ethel & Ernest is Raymond Briggs's loving depiction of his parents' lives from their chance first encounter in the 1920s until their deaths in the 1970s.
Ethel and Ernest were solid members of the English working class, part of the generation that lived through the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century. They met during the Depression--she working as a maid, he as a milkman--and we follow them as they court and marry, make a home, raise their son, and cope with the dark days of World War II. Briggs's portrayal of how his parents succeeded, or failed, in coming to terms with the events of their rapidly shifting world--the advent of radio, television, and telephones; the development of the atomic bomb; the moon landing; the social and political turmoil of the sixties--is irresistibly engaging, full of sympathy and affection, yet clear-eyed and unsentimental.
Briggs's illustrations are small masterpieces; coupled with the wond
About the Author
Raymond Briggs was born in London in 1934. One of the most innovative and popular author-illustrators in the world, he has won numerous awards for his work. His children's books, including the classics The Snowman and Father Christmas, have sold millions of copies worldwide. He lives in England.
