I last read Dante Alighieri's Inferno when I was in high school, thirty-something years ago. I never read the complete Purgatorio or Paradiso although I always planned to. This graphic novel version was a poor substitute. Chwast's simple illustrations and abbreviated text is a mere outline of the original. There is no depth here. It feels as if he used the Cliff's Notes version as his guideline. The original Divine Comedy offers wonderful imagery that could be served well by the graphic novel format in the hands of another artist like Rick Geary or Craig Thompson. This book was a disappointment.
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