This story was well-told and engaging throughout. I think it will definitely find its right audience and continue to inspire.

In Einstein: The Poetry of Real, Marwan Kahil and Manuel German Iglesias (Illustrator), the renown scientist looks back at his life as an old man. This retrospective biography is a black and white comic book and begins with the gift of a compass to Einstein from his father. As the narrative continues, Einstein explains the compass sparked his love of learning, which would take him places he could never imagine. Along with his triumphs in science, the biography also describes Einstein’s struggles as a husband and father, as well as his musings about the survival of civilization with the emergence of the atomic bomb.

Einstein: The Poetry of Real is fascinating in its structure. It is a short read but still covers a lot of ground. The book switches time periods quickly, and, as a result, is hard to follow. It seems to be geared to a younger audience because some of the illustrations have footnotes to explain events that would be common knowledge for an older generation. As interesting as the book is, I find the narrative disjointed, and the delivery of facts dysfunctional. Reading Einstein: The Poetry of Real was a frustrating experience for me, so I hesitate to recommend it.


I was given a free copy by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

I had high hopes when requesting this graphic novel. I hoped to learn more about Einstein. This graphic novel had wonderful graphics but fell on the narrative. I found it way too wordy for a graphic biography. There were also time jumps that were confusing. I felt many parts of the work were just quotes interwoven into the book instead of telling the actual story it meant to tell.

Reading <em>Albert Einstein: The Poetry of Real </em>by Marwan Kahil is is the first time I've delved into reading a biography that is also a graphic novel. Illustrated by Manuel Garcia Inglesias, it's actually a pretty beautiful work. I've honestly been fairly conflicted on how I would rate and review this since reading it. On the one hand, I love this idea of presenting a biography in a graphic novel format. On the other, I'd be remiss if I did not admit that this is rather a difficult way to do write one.

<b>So Much Text</b>

As a whole, the worst thing about this book is how excessively wordy it is. It's nearly impossible to read in an e-format, so you may as well save yourself the trouble and just buy the book if you're interested in reading it. Multiple pages are <em>filled</em> with long monologues, told from the perspective of Einstein himself. And it's not that this is <em>bad</em>, exactly, but rather that it doesn't match the format. In general, part of the purpose of a graphic novel is to decrease the amount of text by turning to <em>mostly</em> dialogue.

Dialogue, then, is not meant to be incredibly wordy. It's not meant to fill large amounts of space on the page. Thus, when done in this book it resulted in a massive amount of <em>telling</em> in a book that was 100% meant to <em>show</em>. In attempting to encompass a great stretch of Einstein's life, the book turned to lengthy descriptions from the mouth of Einstein that end up feeling incredibly distracting.

And sure, I get that there is a <em>lot</em> of information this book is trying to present to its readers. But, at that point, wouldn't it be better to just break this book into multiple volumes?

<b>Einstein Art</b>

In general, the artwork is pretty amazing. Like the rest of the book, it is incredibly detailed. In the same vein of the dialogue, I feel like it does err on the side of being too much at times. You can tell even by looking at the cover the level of detail that went into it. I have to applaud the illustrator for precisely how detailed he manages to get. That's not an easy feat. And while I'll admit that I did really enjoy the artwork, the level of detail in this area is also somewhat distracting.

I'm not sure whether the author and illustrator intended for this to be a book read by people new to Einstein's life or who only had a vague understanding of him. In general, I think it might be more suited to those who know a little and are very intrigued to know more. For anyone just vaguely interested, I don't imagine the level of detail will keep them engaged.

I do feel somewhat torn on how to rate this. I enjoyed the book and I learned some new things. But I also feel that a good majority of it was difficult to get through and far too wordy. I'm sure that there could have been a variety of ways to rework this biography to make it feel lass like everything was being thrown in our faces. Multiple volumes would have been one way. In fact, I wish this were the case.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

This review will go live on the Reader Fox blog on September 5, 2020.

This is a biography of Albert Einstein in the shape of a graphic novel. The story begins at the end of Einstein’s life when he is reminiscing about his successes, losses, and regrets to an unidentified student.

I liked the idea of repackaging the biography of a prominent historical figure into a potentially more accessible format, but I don’t think this was successfully done here. There is too much text that reads almost like one long monologue. It’s slow and, at times, challenging to follow. The time jumps were also confusing at times. I also think that maybe just too much of Einstein’s life was included in this novel, perhaps less would have been better here.

Sadly, the black and white art doesn’t help the novel either. It’s pretty dull and, therefore, doesn’t help with capturing the reader’s attention. On top of that, I found it difficult to recognize recurring characters.

The art was very nice, and the story gave a nice perspective on the life of Albert Einstein. The dialogue seemed very stilted, though this might have been more a sign of the times than of the author’s writing ability.

Marwan Kahil's Albert Einstein The Poetry of Real is an excellent biographic comic about Einstein's life and work. It is not always a lightweight read. In the story author explains Einstein's complex theories. If you want to understand his work, then this comic is for you. I liked all the * in this comic that gives additional information about the subject, as some words are not generally known.

I say a printed version of this would be perfect.

This is a biography of Albert Einstein. The narrative goes back and forth in time. The author presents Einstein's greatest achievements, his loves, his friends, his regrets, his passion for music as a weapon for loneliness, and his inner suffering about Jews fate in some parts of Europe. The narrative is heavy on dialogue and tries to do possibly too much (trying to cover the entire life). The art is stunning black and white. It inspires me to read more about this great genius. I give it 4 stars out of five.

This is an excellent graphic novel. All the facts and no boring waffle. Nice story line and illustrations too. Just the thing for those who are curious but only have a short attention span. Like Einstein's compass it could spark the imagination to further explore the man and his scientific theories. I sometimes get students to colour the pages that inspire them. Also I get them to make a picture, drawings or collages of quotes that inspire them. Einstein made a lot of cool quotes and jokes!
Highly recommended.

I have to say right up front, I'm not really into graphic novels but I do like anything Einstein! I thought this one was pretty good. I liked the graphics and the story flowed better than some I've tried in the past.

'Albert Einstein: The Poetry of Real' by Marwan Kahil with art by Manuel Garcia Iglesias is a biography of Albert Einstein that is heavy on dialogue as it tries to do possibly too much.

Taking a framing story of Albert Einstein at the end of his life talking to a friend, the narrative goes back and forth in time. His father gave him a compass as a young boy and that supposedly set his direction. We see his greatest achievements, his loves and friends, and his regrets. At the end of the graphic novel is a list of resources for further reading.

I seem to think this is written for younger readers because of the footnotes explaining events and ethnic items and the names dropped along the way. And there are a lot of names. I feel like this would have been better served not trying to cover the entire life. It falls short and feels like a continuous monologue. It doesn't make for very interesting reading or very deep. Which is unfortunate. The art is black and white and contains drawings of famous photographs along the way.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from NBM Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Fantastic graphic novel about one of the brightest minds of the modern age. The amount and research and detail in the work will appeal to many readers and educate without feeling like they're reading a lecture or biography.

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!

Great nonfiction graphic novel for anyone interested in Einstein or a collector. Was a bit bummed that the images were in black & white. This would be a good book for any library in the YA section or even middle grade.

The art is probably 4-5 stars. The story itself is 3-4.

I suspect it’s very difficult to figure out what to include and not include in a comic that is tackling historical figures. Probably the best I’ve personally read in this category of comic / graphical novel form was March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and artist Nate Powell. Albert Einstein definitely isn’t as memorable as that one but it is still a very good tool for easing folks into stories such as that of Albert Einstein when that would not usually be someone they’d read about.

It’s in no way a comprehensive biography but I wouldn’t expect it to be in this form. It still covers a lot. Its focus is primarily on the science but the story of the man is here. It’s at least enough to get someone curious to read more.

i would put this book as an ideal book for classrooms later in elementary school through high school.

**Thank you NetGalley and NBM Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. **

Marwan Kahil does a great job an encompassing the life of Albert Einstein into a graphic novel. Not only does it cover the prominent scientific discoveries that Einstein made over his career, the novel takes a deeper glimpse into his own life and his struggles as a Jew living in antisemitic Europe. I found it an enjoyable read where I learned quite a bit more about his works and his life.

The black and white artwork fits well with the story. I couldn't help but notice the attention to detail on the architecture of Princeton University where Einstien taught in his final years or on the watchtower that inspired Einstein's work in relativity.

There is a bit of dramatization, which is expected of a graphic novel. Yet I liked how Kahil wrote with detail about the people who influenced Einstein or who were important to him. This book is the perfect medium for students to get a deeper and more intimate glimpse at the man who revolutionized modern physics. It is definitely a book that school libraries should consider investing in.

I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

Marwan Kahil's rendition of Albert Einsteins life is absolutely amazing. This graphic novel paints a rare and intimate picture of Einstein that will be remembered for a long time.

I highly recommend this graphic novel to everyone. I learned a lot of new things that I wasn't taught in school as a child.

Authors: Manuel García Iglesias and Marwan Kahil
Year: 2019
ISBN: 978-1-6811-2202-1 (ebook)
Publisher: NBM Graphic Novels
Goodreads Rating: 2/5 stars
Content Warnings: references to the holocaust

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Einstein: The Poetry of Real tells the story of arguably the most famous scientists in modern memory. Albert Einstein traced his fascination with physics and the mechanics of the universe to a gift from his father. To keep him occupied during an illness, Einstein received a compass. After realizing that the needle would always point north regardless of where the base is, the young Einstein began to wonder about the universe itself.

Marwan Kahil and Manuel García Iglesias worked together to bring this story to life. This graphic novel offers a visual interpretation of Einstein's life. An interesting framing device that the authors use is one of Einstein's students, Mark. I'm not sure if this character is based on a real student of his, but this character nonetheless creates a thematic thread that comes full circle in the last pages.

If you're looking for an in-depth look at Albert Einstein, warts and all, that's not what you're going to get here. It's a good biography that I'd say is appropriate for younger readers interested in science. While I found it surface-level, I can see this on a middle schooler's shelf. For readers interested in a more in-depth experience, The Poetry of Real offers a recommended reading list at the end.

I think my biggest issue with this book is that it tries to be both an explanation of Einstein's theories and a dramatization of his life. As a result, both of those goals feel underdeveloped. Several philosophers and scientist show up without a proper introduction, creating the need for footnotes. On the other hand, the science flew a bit over my head as well. Some events showed up briefly but were so fleeting that I couldn't process them (Einstein's second wife was also his cousin once-removed, for example). Had Kahil and Iglesias focused more on Einstein's life without trying to go in-depth on the science, I think that would have made for a better experience. The wall of text needed to explain relativity in its nuance isn't quite compatible with the graphic novel format.

However, I thought this book was visually delightful. I don't know exactly what it is about Iglesias' art style that I like so much, but it was the perfect tonal fit for the story. It almost looks like the whole book could have been sketched on someone's lecture notes. The art style is somehow both simple and complex, and I think it was my favorite part of this book.

Einstein: The Poetry of Real is a good book for people who want to learn more about Einstein, but don't quite know where to start. It is far from a complete story, so reading it will leave you with more questions than answers. Then again, perhaps that's a testament to the man himself.

A complete yackfest, as Einstein first talks to some unidentified student, then to himself, about his influences. Come here for a drama-free plod, don't come here as a layman expecting to get any real insight, delivered in appealing or friendly manner.

This is a beautiful, detailed rendering of Einstein’s life — a graphic novel that would be a perfect addition to school/classroom libraries.