Sunday, February 19, 2017
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Never judge a book by its cover...
I've always been told to never judge a book by its cover.... but let's admit it, we all do it. Judging a book by its cover is inevitable; we are predominately visual creatures. The same way we millennials click on YouTube videos because of the "click-bait" caption, readers get "click-bait"-ed by book covers. A book cover is the entirety of a book's first impression. Different book covers can portray a single book in so many different ways that can create different meanings on the same ideas and can influence different groups of readers to read the same book. Yet, a book cover can make or break a book's success.
Never Let Me Go is a dystopian novel by Kazuo Ishiguro that delves into the human complex behind cloning. The different published book covers for the novel portray the novel in completely different ways, all accurate in their own ways.
One of the first things I notice about each cover is the coloring used. The first cover has very bright colors, and the yellow and blue creates a strong contrast. The second has lots of colors, but they are very subtle, not as strong as the previous one. They compare because of the coloring and maybe insinuate the vibrancy of the story and the main character. This can also be shown by the fact that they both have a large image of the main character, emphasized by the contrasting color of their clothes. These two covers infer a very vibrant and positive story. The other two covers are quite the opposite, they incorporate nothing about a character, and have one very dull color, without anything to create contrast. They create a more negative and derogatory view on the story. The third one especially creates a very alienated mood, and the fourth creates a negative mood on the story.
These two covers are very contrasting in the messages they create and the way they create them.
The first cover portrays a young blonde girl, as the focal point of the image, in a very green area. She has a bright red shirt on, which dramatically contrasts from the completely green background. The contrasting of her clothes shows that she is misplaced in this specific area, and she doesn't belong there. I immediately think of the words "hidden" and "alone" when I see this image. The girl is sitting in a very tense way and is looking to the ground, signifying her loneliness and her deep thought. She seems alienated in a place that is hidden in greenery and forestry. I would believe she is alone in this place, and the image is not from a specific viewpoint.
From this, the surface interpretation of this cover would be that the story would have to do with a girl that escaped from civilization, a civilization quite similar to current day society, by the look of her clothes and her overall presentation. But this doesn't infer anything about the technical aspect of the story, including the cloning and the organ donations. The title, "Never Let Me Go" infers a romantic aspect to the story, and would probably attract readers with interests in more sweet and romantic novels.
The second cover is my personal favorite, I was immediately attracted to this one just because of aesthetic reasons. It has the outline of a body and it's organs created with barbed wire, and a very unevenly sized and placed title, "Never Let Me Go". It has very dark and dull colors and creates a very fatalistic mood. I immediately think of Tim Burton and his eccentric, quirky, and deathly style. The background is a black and white image of a forest, which compares to the previous cover, but it creates a very Harry Potter "Forbidden Forest" vibe, while the previous cover is very calm, bright and beautiful. It also does not have a specific character portrayed, as the simplistic portrayal of the human anatomy applies to humanity as a whole.
While this is a cover for the same book, it creates a completely different feel. It incorporates more of the technical context of the book, including the outline of the organs, inferring a theme that has to do with humans and the anatomy and/or creation of them. The inclusion of the barbed wire, it shows the isolationism theme with the book, and also creates a very dangerous and mysterious mood. A reader who had just picked up this book would likely assume the book had a very negative story about human flaws, which would be pretty accurate.
Overall, don't judge a book by its cover, because the cover, while possibly relating largely to the story, can also be completely irrelevant.
Never Let Me Go is a dystopian novel by Kazuo Ishiguro that delves into the human complex behind cloning. The different published book covers for the novel portray the novel in completely different ways, all accurate in their own ways.
One of the first things I notice about each cover is the coloring used. The first cover has very bright colors, and the yellow and blue creates a strong contrast. The second has lots of colors, but they are very subtle, not as strong as the previous one. They compare because of the coloring and maybe insinuate the vibrancy of the story and the main character. This can also be shown by the fact that they both have a large image of the main character, emphasized by the contrasting color of their clothes. These two covers infer a very vibrant and positive story. The other two covers are quite the opposite, they incorporate nothing about a character, and have one very dull color, without anything to create contrast. They create a more negative and derogatory view on the story. The third one especially creates a very alienated mood, and the fourth creates a negative mood on the story.
These two covers are very contrasting in the messages they create and the way they create them.
The first cover portrays a young blonde girl, as the focal point of the image, in a very green area. She has a bright red shirt on, which dramatically contrasts from the completely green background. The contrasting of her clothes shows that she is misplaced in this specific area, and she doesn't belong there. I immediately think of the words "hidden" and "alone" when I see this image. The girl is sitting in a very tense way and is looking to the ground, signifying her loneliness and her deep thought. She seems alienated in a place that is hidden in greenery and forestry. I would believe she is alone in this place, and the image is not from a specific viewpoint.
From this, the surface interpretation of this cover would be that the story would have to do with a girl that escaped from civilization, a civilization quite similar to current day society, by the look of her clothes and her overall presentation. But this doesn't infer anything about the technical aspect of the story, including the cloning and the organ donations. The title, "Never Let Me Go" infers a romantic aspect to the story, and would probably attract readers with interests in more sweet and romantic novels.
The second cover is my personal favorite, I was immediately attracted to this one just because of aesthetic reasons. It has the outline of a body and it's organs created with barbed wire, and a very unevenly sized and placed title, "Never Let Me Go". It has very dark and dull colors and creates a very fatalistic mood. I immediately think of Tim Burton and his eccentric, quirky, and deathly style. The background is a black and white image of a forest, which compares to the previous cover, but it creates a very Harry Potter "Forbidden Forest" vibe, while the previous cover is very calm, bright and beautiful. It also does not have a specific character portrayed, as the simplistic portrayal of the human anatomy applies to humanity as a whole.
While this is a cover for the same book, it creates a completely different feel. It incorporates more of the technical context of the book, including the outline of the organs, inferring a theme that has to do with humans and the anatomy and/or creation of them. The inclusion of the barbed wire, it shows the isolationism theme with the book, and also creates a very dangerous and mysterious mood. A reader who had just picked up this book would likely assume the book had a very negative story about human flaws, which would be pretty accurate.
Overall, don't judge a book by its cover, because the cover, while possibly relating largely to the story, can also be completely irrelevant.
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