In Review: Dreams and Everyday Life

Dreams and Everyday Life
by Aviv Ratzin
Publisher: Tabella Publishing
Out: Now

The Book: Dreams and everyday life is about 'the important things' in life. Not careers, health, wealth, or social status, but rather the innumerable everyday, human situations and defining experiences of daily life. From choosing the right clothes to wear, to whether to pick up a hitchhiker; from mobile phones, parties and restaurants, to learning a martial art, expressing your inner thoughts, and suicidal cacti (of course!).

The book is comprised of three separate but interconnected stories that tackle everything from the mundane necessities of everyday life, to the profound musings on technology and the future; all in a comic, whimsical, poetic and philosophical way.

Although Aviv has drawn deeply upon his own life and experiences, having grown up in one of the world's most troubled and intense regions, he has produced a funny, poignant and wonderfully humane graphic novel, with truly universal appeal.

The Review: Tabella, a small UK publisher, are fast building an eclectic but enjoyable list of graphic titles. Aviv Ratzin's intriguing insights on modern life, as his character evades real work and explores our strange modrrn world, is the latest, offering a marvellous, insightful take on relationships and the daily trials and tribulations of modern life.

Favourite elements must surely be Reuven, the hitcher who becomes a permanent resident in the protagonist's car; the vicious cacti that brook no usurper plants on his window sill; and the vampiric bats hanging from his apartment ceiling, devouring all income as fast as he makes it.

And if that isn't enough to intrigue you, then one final chapter - a savage commentary on how we are fast cocooning ourselves from reality in a bubble of social media personas and falsehood - is definitely worth a read.


Aviv Ratzin, professional animator, illustrator and guitarist, has conjured a delightful concoction of worldly observation here which, for just £7.99, is well worth checking out.

• More info and samples: www.tabella.co.uk/Dreams.html