As a huge fan of jazz, I knew that I would enjoy this. The illustrations were excellent and the story itself was great, but i did struggle a bit with the colour palette.

Love Thelonius Monk, but this is a specialty book. I would definitely add it in a school with a strong jazz program or magnet school for the arts.

If you have an interest in jazz, Monk! may be just up your alley. Also, if you have an interest in 20th Century American music, you will find plenty of details to broaden your understanding of Thelonious Monk. But this recommendation comes with some serious reservations. The story line is great. The line art is interesting and eye-catching. But the color scheme causes severe eye strain. I am sorry black letters on blue or purple backgrounds may be stunning to view, but awful to read. So enjoy, but do not try to read in poor light or for too long.

Youssef Daoudi's <em>Monk!</em> is about as close to jazz music in literary form as you can get.

On the surface, this story is relatively simple - this is a biography of jazz genius, Thelonius Monk. But just as any life in general and the life of a black jazz musician in the 1940's-1960's decades is hardly simple, this book weaves a circuitous path to tell the story. Our narrators are Monk and Pannonica de Koenigswarter (a baroness who had been a long-time friend a patron to Monk) in other-worldly, often depressing, scenes, recalling various important moments in a life filled with important moments.

This book is clearly a labor of love and it wouldn't surprise me if it had taken an extremely long time to put together, getting each nuance and each frame of art just right. And yet there is an unmistakable sense of improvisation here as well, just the way jazz would be played. But make no mistake - it's just the <em>sense</em> of improv - this book is tightly written.

As with the story, the art is ... jazz. There's a looseness in the art that mirrors the "flexible rhythmic understructure" (from the <em>American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition</em> definition) of jazz.

I will say that when I first started this book, the style of art was just a little off-putting for me - a little confusing. But I set it aside and came back to it a few days later and was much more open to the infusion of jazz in both the art and the story.

I've listened to plenty of Monk's music, but my knowledge of his life was next to nothing before reading this. It's a fascinating story and the platonic(?), long-term relationship with Pannonica is odd and lovely and one can't help but wonder what Monk's music might have been like without this support, this muse, in his life.

This is not only one of the best graphic novels I've read in some time, this is one of the finest books I've read, period. Give it a read.

Looking for a good book? Monk! by Youssef Daoudi, is a graphic novel about Thelonius Monk and is a remarkable achievement in blending biography, art, and the sense of Monk's jazz, into one book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderful graphic novel about Thelonius Monk during the jazz age. Amazing artwork! Read while listening to Thelonius Monk in the background. Perfect.

A graphic novel biography of unconventional jazz musician Thelonius Monk and his friend and benefactor Pannonica (Nica) de Koenigswarter.

Daoudi gets major props for creativity and uniqueness in his illustrations. I’ve never seen a book illustrated anything like this. In the afterward he mentions being inspired by improvisation in jazz, and it shows. The book is primarily illustrated in bright emerald green with contrasts of brilliant fuscia, and occasional highlights of white and fluorescent colors. It’s truly something to behold, and it echoes Monk’s music in that I don’t think everyone will like it, but everyone will sure remember it. There were times when I almost felt like I needed sunglasses to read this book. But it definitely fits the topic quite well. (Color blind readers may not be able to distinguish any part of this graphic novel.) Thelonius was a complicated guy. He was a bit of an alcoholic, had strange notions of harmonics, and also was bipolar. He struggled to make a name for himself for years. Nica was a great friend to stick by him and help him succeed through his bipolar swings. And no, don’t go thinking anything untoward about their relationship. The book makes it quite clear that she was just a friend and patron, and there was nothing romantic between them. Thelonius had a wife he dearly loved who also appreciated Nica’s help in getting Thelonius gigs. I think I found Nica an even more interesting person than Thelonius. She was born into the European nobility but chose to be a patron and friend to the jazz musicians of New York, and at a time when Caucasian women weren’t often public friends of African American men. A very interesting biographical graphic novel that jazz music lovers and fans of exceptional art work should check out.

Notes on content [Based on the ARC]: 58 minor or moderate swear words and 12 strong swear words. No sexual content. A violent incident with the police is reported. Thelonius was imprisoned for drug use (and Nica later had to pay a fine for it, though that seems to have been a trumped up charge). Both were smokers, and Thelonius is mentioned to have consumed large amounts of alcohol though that’s rarely depicted.

<i>I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Excellently illustrated and I loved the idea for creating a graphic novel about the jazz greats. I think this would appeal not just for graphic novel fans but to people who don’t typically read this genre. Also would handsell it as a gift idea.

I had a hard time enjoying this book - I usually have no problem enjoying graphic novels, but I just could not enjoy this one, no matter how much I wanted to enjoy the story. It had a lot of great information about the life of Thelonius Monk, and is a very beautiful book. I quite enjoyed the art.

A beautifully rendered graphic novel. I learned a lot. Very enjoyable.