Book Review: Comics as a Research Practice: Drawing Narrative Geographies Beyond the Frame

Abstract

approaches, at times the thread of NRT risks getting lost in an in-depth discussion of, say, sonic geographies, or landscape studies. With this said, the permeability Simpson introduces here is admirable and progressive, moving NRT beyond a narrow pool of thinkers and ideas – but it may be a double-edged sword. This book is written in a conversational and accessible tone which makes it distinct from other key texts on NRT which tend to be poetic and descriptive in nature, which Simpson notes. This conversational tone makes for a satisfying read in which complex ideas are clearly explained. This makes the book ideal for students and those new to NRT. NRT are powerful and arguably political, in that they move beyond routinised or standardised ways of making sense of the world as life is lived – and this book makes this radical approach widely accessible. I would note though, Simpson pitches this book’s contribution with absolute humility. The conclusion, for instance, begins with a series of caveats about what the book does not do, what the reader might or might not have taken from their read, and this kind of speculation appears throughout. This is again a double-edged sword. It is admirable in that it works against overzealous contribution-claiming, but this humility also risks understating the vital contribution this book makes to social and cultural geography.