The Adventuress Hardcover – September 1, 2006

I got this book for the graphics. Story is strange and I haven't given a lot of thought to it. I will de-construct the book and use elements of the pictures in collages (for private use). I do not sell my work. I really like Niffennegger's work. Time Traveler's Wife is a favorite book.

I absolutely love Audrey Niffenegger's books. I would recommend this and any of her others to everyone!

Bought this for my 18yo budding graphic designer, she loves it. Is not a book in the sense of Time Travelers Wife, is definitely to be purchased for your interest in art.

10/10

Don't buy The Adventuress hoping to have the same sense of wonderment and awe that you felt when you finished The Time Traveler's Wife. It isn't that sort of book.The Adventuress is the second of Niffenegger's picture novels (that were mass produced at least. The first being the Three Incestuous Sisters), but it's the first one she wrote. In a footnote at the end of the book, she says it was made between 1983 and 1985 when she was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago.The book is beautifully bound, the pictures are amazing. Some of them I'd be tempted to cut out and frame if it wouldn't ruin the book. In the epilogue, she describes the process it takes to create these images and thanks the people who taught her the technique.The story, itself, isn't much of a story so much as words that take you through the story the pictures tell. The art itself is the story, so if the words she wrote before in her amazingly successful novel The Time Traveler's Wife are what drew you to this story, prepare to be disappointed.But if you want to see inside the mind of an artist, who can write as well as create, I think you'll be impressed. I didn't know what to expect, but knew that I liked her work and this book was a pleasant surprise. The Adventuress is indeed an adventure for those who have never seen the work of a visual artist in which the pictures themselves are the story. It isn't a graphic novel. The words are there to enhance the images, but the pictures themselves are the star.I don't know what to tell you, but to pick it up and take a look. You could read it in 15 minutes at Barnes and Noble and know whether or not you wanted to take the chance and buy it. Myself, I'll probably keep it out as coffee table book, because it would be a shame for her art to be hidden on a bookshelf.

The Adventuress is the first book by American author and artist, Audrey Niffenegger. It was created when Niffenegger was a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, developing from a series of drawings. The original books were hand printed: a limited edition of ten copies. The drawings are aquatints, featuring a young woman in a skirt and long gloves, created by an alchemist. After the woman is kidnapped by a Baron, the story takes some bizarre turns, including transformation into a moth, an affair with Napoleon, giving birth to a cat and being cared for by nuns. The text is minimal, often as little as one or two words on the page opposite the prints.In her afterword, Niffenegger explains the complicated process involved in the hand printing. The prints, in subdued colours, are quite individual, and Niffenegger’s style is distinctive. It is easy to see from her later works (The Night Book Mobile and Raven Girl) that both the quality of the art and the storytelling have improved since the earlier books she refers to as “visual novels”. Dedicated Niffenegger fans may wish to own a copy; borrowing from the library is recommended for those who are merely “interested”. Different.

A woman captured by an avaricious lord. A metamorphosis into a moth. A union with Napoleon. A cat born from a woman. A betrayal. A death. Spirit travelling.This is basically the story of Audrey Niffenegger's picture story The Adventuress. Fascinating artwork strung together with single sentences or labels to construct something of a mystical fairy tale.The story is second after the art as Niffenegger says in the afterword. She created the pictures as they came to her in a dream-like state and only when they were completed did she try to sequence them into the story of "The Adventuress".The book design and pictures are superb with high quality paper used to bring out the best of Niffenegger's art. Given that the words used as minimal at best, this is a very quick read but then it was created not to be read but really looked at. Each picture has detail and atmosphere to capture your attention for several minutes at least.It's an interesting book of art similar in style to Niffenegger's other book "The Three Incestuous Sisters" and has some excellent pictures. The story, while meandering, is in the best of fairy tales compelling and magical in equal turns. A good, well produced book but perhaps not for everyone given it's brevity in prose.

Niffenegger appears to be publishing her work in reverse order - this offering includes ideas developed from her art-school sketchbooks. Maybe this author's "Time Traveler's Wife" was more autobiographical than she's letting on.It's not another "Wife," though. It more closely resembles her "Three Incestuous Sisters." Like the "Sisters," it's a Gorey-esque series of images, one per two-page spread, with just a few words on the facing page. And, even more than the "Sisters," it baffles the reader with dream-like transitions that defy normal logic.The imagery is what counts here. It appears to be a sequence of aquatints with line etching, a printmaking technique that looks a little like pen drawing with solid color washes. The un-named heroine of this story is an elfin young woman with short hair and missing shirt. As with Gorey, it's a style that will catch your eye or won't, and a story (I think it's a story) that will catch you imagination or won't. I'm caught, partly because of the charm of the story and art, and partly because my mind can't let go of the mystery and ambiguity in them.-- wiredweird

Only just opened 2015 it (was in storage) - house moves - and a page is torn!!! - Heartbroken!

Anything Audrey does is magical

Thanks

This book is pretty as an object but definately not a novel, more just a book filled with picutures and one sentence on each page. Nothing like Time travellers wife.

I would say its mediocre, but after reading all the glowing reviews this book got, I will just say it wasn't for me. I would have been very disappointed if I had paid more money for it (got it 2nd hand for 300 Rs only)