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Laika Nick Abadzis Books

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Laika Nick Abadzis Books

Beautiful and tragic. I don't know if I have the heart to read this book again.

Nick Abadzis’ LAIKA is a fictionalized account of the short life and sad death of Laika, the Soviet space dog. Be forewarned: it’s a three-handkerchief, bucket-of-tears kind of novel.

Laika’s story is one of loyalty and trust repaid with callous abandonment and deception, and the injustice of this tale resonates deeply. “Do not worry,” Laika is told, again and again. “Trust me.” Meanwhile, death waits for her, implacable.

Reading Abadzis’ graphic novel, I found myself saying “It’s not fair! It’s just not fair!” A very childlike reaction, one that I’m usually too jaded, or too adult, to voice so vehemently.

But the pointless suffering of an innocent animal tends to trigger that kind of vehemence. We want to the world to be less cruel, and when we see a devoted animal suffering and dying precisely because she’s so devoted, then the rationalizations we’re usually able to make as adults don’t work so well anymore.

Abadzis isn’t the first artist to engage with Laika’s tragic history. One of my favorite films is Lasse Hallstrom’s My Life as a Dog, available from the Criterion Collection. It’s the story of Ingemar, a young Swedish boy growing up in the fifties and struggling with feelings of abandonment and betrayal. Ingemar’s father is gone, his mother is desperately ill, and no one wants to tell him that his dog isn’t coming back. Sent away to live with relatives, Ingemar sits and looks at the stars and thinks of Laika, who got sent into space without any food, left there to die. “You have to compare,” he tells himself. “You always have to compare.” His grief at being sent away is sustainable, if only because he identifies with Laika, who had it so much worse.


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Laika Nick Abadzis Books Reviews

Old Yellow, Where the Red Fern Grows, Shiloh, Because of Winn-Dixie... each generation needs a good tearjerker featuring a dog.

Based on the true story of an abandoned puppy who becomes the first space traveler, Laika by Nick Abadzis is a graphic novel for people of all ages. Blending fact and fiction, the attractive visuals and readable text are well balanced.

It was fun to go back and read about the early days of the space program. There are lots of great historical photos featuring Laika and other space animals. The book is a wonderful tribute to all of the animals who gave their lives for the space program.
This tender graphic novel deals with the birth of spaceflight from the point of view of Laika, the first dog in space, who went aboard the Soviet Union's Sputnik 2, in late 1957, in a flight that was never meant to return to Earth. As the story is told here, after the success of the first Sputnik in October 1957, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev wanted to capitalize on the propaganda value of the world's first satellite and pushed for a new launching for the anniversary of the Russian revolution, just a month later, this time bringing into orbit for the first time a living being into space. There was little time for preparing a proper satellite, so a non retrievable rocket was launched. Thus, the moral of this tale is that a dog's life was sacrificed for the honor of the nation (there was little scientific value in Sputnik 2). The story here has three protagonists Laika, the female stray dog turn sacrificial space pioneer (a moving, presumably invented story about her troubled, wandering life as an unwanted dog before being caught for the Soviet space program is presented here in the first chapters), Korolev, the driven and ambitious chief designer and a former gulag inmate during Stalin's time, and the fictional Yelena, the female lab technician in charge of Laika's health who, despite the advice of her superiors, comes to care for her personally. With drawings that are attractive without being flashy, this is a very entertaining book. It is also quite poignant, without being overtly sentimental.
A wonderfully written and drawn story, that is mostly factual. Being an animal love, I couldn't stop thinking about Laika and feeling terribly emotional after finishing the book (a couple of months ago), and continue to feel sad even till today '(
I was already well aware of the 'official' story of the Soviet space dog Laika (aboard Sputnik 2) but this terrific and poignant graphic novel by Nick Abadzis fills in the missing pieces of Laika's story with skillfully (and seamlessly) interwoven fact and fiction (not too unlike James Cameron's "Titanic" in that regard). Real characters like rocket designer Sergei Korolev and fictional characters such as Laika's various previous owners are well integrated. Laika and the various other dogs in the Soviet training program have their simple, primal (touching) thoughts conveyed to the reader via thought captions which really 'feel' how a dog would/should think. The details of the period (late 1950s Soviet Union) are very authentic, and the characters are all part of a lovely (and heartbreaking) tapestry of Laika's life. The story moved me very deeply.
Don't let the art style of this graphic novel fool you, it is defiantly an adult novel, with the politics of the Cold War Space Race at the front. Nick Abadzis has mixed what is unknown about Laika and what is known about her into a story that is very believable. This graphic novel conveys the truth accurately, and holds no punches back. Has a History lover I love this book. I applaud Nick for keeping the record straight. He could have very easily morphed the truth about Laika into a happy ending story. Nick opted to stick the historical truth and for that I applaud him. He got more details right than wrong based on what I know about Laika and the Sputnik II program. Dog lovers beware, this book will leave you in tears, Reading about Laika in historical documents made me cry. If you are looking to memorialize Laika and share her story, then this book is for you. Putting emotion into history is the best way to share it, and this book is a great stepping stone to learning about Laika. If you are a dog lover looking for a tear jerker, this book I guarantee you will leave you in tears.
Beautiful and tragic. I don't know if I have the heart to read this book again.

Nick Abadzis’ LAIKA is a fictionalized account of the short life and sad death of Laika, the Soviet space dog. Be forewarned it’s a three-handkerchief, bucket-of-tears kind of novel.

Laika’s story is one of loyalty and trust repaid with callous abandonment and deception, and the injustice of this tale resonates deeply. “Do not worry,” Laika is told, again and again. “Trust me.” Meanwhile, death waits for her, implacable.

Reading Abadzis’ graphic novel, I found myself saying “It’s not fair! It’s just not fair!” A very childlike reaction, one that I’m usually too jaded, or too adult, to voice so vehemently.

But the pointless suffering of an innocent animal tends to trigger that kind of vehemence. We want to the world to be less cruel, and when we see a devoted animal suffering and dying precisely because she’s so devoted, then the rationalizations we’re usually able to make as adults don’t work so well anymore.

Abadzis isn’t the first artist to engage with Laika’s tragic history. One of my favorite films is Lasse Hallstrom’s My Life as a Dog, available from the Criterion Collection. It’s the story of Ingemar, a young Swedish boy growing up in the fifties and struggling with feelings of abandonment and betrayal. Ingemar’s father is gone, his mother is desperately ill, and no one wants to tell him that his dog isn’t coming back. Sent away to live with relatives, Ingemar sits and looks at the stars and thinks of Laika, who got sent into space without any food, left there to die. “You have to compare,” he tells himself. “You always have to compare.” His grief at being sent away is sustainable, if only because he identifies with Laika, who had it so much worse.