Insight

Call it rereading by eating: this book will please Studio Ghibli buffs. It might not circulate from the stacks, but put it alongside the films or on a page-to-screen display, and fans will delight in finding it.

Good for curious readers, whether they want to delve into authors and books they love, feel competent faking knowledge about books everyone else seems to have read, or just dip into and out of literary worlds.

Allred’s pop art–style illustration, heavily influenced by 1960s and 1970s fashion, pop culture, and psychedelia, is perfectly suited to the era, and his adoration for his subject shines through carefully captured period details and likenesses and lovingly re-created famous photographs and album covers. Most impressive, Allred employs superimposed imagery and surrealistic flourishes to capture the raw energy of live musical performances in scenes depicting Bowie and the band in concert.

Coauthors Neilson (World of Warcraft: Curse of the Worgen) and Warger at times favor overly expository dialog at the expense of plot and character development, but they ultimately present this important chapter in American history with a great deal of gravitas, aided by the photorealistic illustrations from Borstel (18 Days).