Things Fall Apart: A Novel

One of my favorites of this past year's picks for the AIGA's 50 Books / 50 Covers awards. Edel Rodriguez still blows my mind every time his works pops up in the NY Times or the cover of Time Magazine. He moves effortlessly between the whimsical and the brazenly political, from portraits of Saudi oil men to children's books about a penguin names Sergio. I wouldn't be surprised if Ben Shahn (one of the best American Illustrator's of all time) had a huge influence on his work, both in style and tone.

This cover feels almost finger-painted — very primitive. It is a book worth picking up and examining. Flipping the image upside-down gives the face a completely different emotion. Definitely one of my favorites of the AIGA's 50 picks.

— Fwis , 2009-06-28 07:39:06 -0400

I can't decide if I think it's Orientalist or not.

This was not the original proposed cover for the 50th Anniversary reissue, FYI.

— Anonymous Coward , 2009-06-28 21:19:35 -0400

i like. I wish the other text was done by hand as well though.

— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2009-06-29 13:18:21 -0400

This is the first to be released in the repackage of all of Achebe's backlist titles. The entire series is by Edel and is amazing! Seen together it knocks your socks off. Not sure if I can post yet as the covers haven't been released, but look for them. They'll be coming out. Edel is ridiculously talented.

— Anonymous Coward , 2009-06-30 11:12:07 -0400

Overall I like this quite a lot. The colors and textography are awfully compelling. I want to go out on a date with those font choices and have some illegitimate babies with them. I really adore that face (or mask?) illustration too. But I don't appreciate that it's ass-side up. To me that conveys "things go upside down," rather than what the title would have us believe. Sure, the two notions mean virtually the same thing, but it comes off as a lateralization of a REPHRASING of the title, rather than a lateralization of the title itself. I can so easily see that mask turned back around with some fissures and cracks in it... perhaps a few pieces "falling" away.

— Chad , 2009-07-01 04:46:28 -0400

Literalization, even. Blast spellcheck.

— Chad , 2009-07-01 04:48:00 -0400

Chad are you for real? You sound so pretentious it is almost comical. I really love the organic quality and the hand lettered title. The palette and texture really pull this together. If the head was breaking it may look Humpty-Dumpty. Sometimes the simple solutions take alot of work. Kudos.

— Anonymous Coward , 2009-07-02 13:25:44 -0400

Reveal your identity and then we can talk about being real.

— Chad , 2009-07-07 16:43:38 -0400

...until then eat sh!t and die.

— Chad , 2009-07-07 16:47:59 -0400

Are you going to bore me to death with your misused /made up words and pompous delivery? Trust me you better get used to criticism open your mouth and you will sink your own ship!

— jW , 2009-07-08 15:48:19 -0400

Beautiful site and beautiful work, JW! I've visited your homepage before and I was thoroughly impressed. I'm sorry you think I'm a pretentious, pompous asshole. I'll try to offer less insight and use more run-of-the-mill vocabulary from henceforth... errr... from now on. I "really love" this cover just like you, but I thought I'd offer another solution for the illustration, which clearly rubs you the wrong way, and for that I apologize.

I guess when you open up your mouth and offer criticism you do subject yourself to a certain level of ridicule, but it's all in good fun, and I certainly didn't want blood. I thought that was the nature of this website. But I've been wrong before and I will be again.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Literalization

— Chad , 2009-07-08 17:32:37 -0400

I love this cover.

Feistiness!

— Anonymous Coward , 2009-07-29 11:41:49 -0400

It reminds me of Picasso -- well, okay, Picasso upside down :o) But it is compelling, and gives the book a very serious yet almost emotionless look, at least to my eye. Well done.

--Duncan
=====================
Freelance illustrator for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, American Media, Fort Ross, Asimov's Science Fiction, and many other publishers. See my illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html

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