The Arrival

The book by Shaun Tan, title The Arrival was published by Hodder Children’s Books in 2006.

Shaun Tan is a grandmaster of illustration. His books vibrate with emotion, bringing the reader into resonance, affecting the imagination and the sensibility.

The book “The Arrival” is a tribute to all expatriates. For the brave people who left their homes in search of a better life. A tribute to the dreamers who believed that a better world existed and that they could be a part of it.

In pictures stylized on old family photographs we get to know the story of such a dreamer. The main character leaves his family, wife and daughter and goes to a foreign country in search of work. The place where he arrives turns out to be the longed-for utopia, clean, bright and safe. The perfect land to bring her family and start a new life.
But the beginning is not so easy. The pain of separation from loved ones is intensified by the omnipresent strangeness. Everything is different and incomprehensible, from writing to food to animals. What helps the protagonist to get used to his new place is the kindness of other people. They can afford this kindness because they themselves have been in his place before. The reader watches the stories told by these people. Each of them left their home, each became an emigrant for a different reason. They fled poverty, war, lack of prospects, or violence. Regardless of the reason, they walked a similar path and found peace and happiness, not thanks to a magical place, because there is no such thing, but thanks to the support and kindness of other people.

Because it is people who make a home.

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