Building Stories, published on October 2, 2012, is one of the most distinct stories in the history. It was written by American cartoonist Chris Ware. Chris Ware took ten years to make this book. In 2006, his works were shown at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Chicago, U.S.A.
The story's narrator is a woman whose name is never given in the story. She has a prosthetic leg that was caused due to an accident that happened to her in her childhood. Throughout the story, the woman narrates her losses, and the stories of her neighbors in the building she lives in. There is a married couple who live below her and, according to her, they dislike each other and fight daily. An old landlady also lives in the building. The book portrays the stories of the people in the building in different time spans.
What's unique about Ware's story is that it perfectly depicts graphic details inside the building. In other words, every person's apartment is drawn in an accurate, fun way that has never been seen in a story before, The whole building is drawn in the book as if an architect has built a blueprint for it. 'Building Stories' is a physical book that is enjoyed most when read in an actual book because it is made of wood and has some features that can be seen if the actual book is bought.
Building Stories' admirers were numerous, and most of them loved and enjoyed the book and how Ware's new way of writing a book was a breakthrough in novel writing. It received a 4.2 out of a 5-star rating on Goodreads, and a 5 out of 5 in the Telegraph. New York Times, The Guardian, and Telegraph made a whole review of the book. Douglas Wold said in his review in the New York Times: "Ware has an extraordinary command of time and pacing(...)". Sam Leith said in the Guardian: "It is a cliché – and a slight inanity, come to that – to say of a comics writer that he extends the possibilities of the medium. But you find yourself wanting to say something close to it about Ware: he is so attuned to the possibilities of the medium, so completely in control of what he's doing, that he finds expressive potential in it that you simply couldn't have anticipated." Finally, Jake Wallis said in his Telegraph review: "In terms of inventiveness, Building Stories is without parallel"
Overall, Building Stories is an innovative graphic novel, a must-read for many because it is a type rarely encountered. In fact, Ware might be one of the pioneer authors to introduce such a new way of depicting stories in the form of cartoons.
