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Model: v. 1 (Model)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Tokyopop Press Inc (2005-02-01)
ISBN: 1591827116
EAN: 9781591827115
Dewy Decimal #: 741.59519
Paperback: 216 pages
Reading Level: Young Adult
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Customer Reviews
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The model's artist
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-05-28
Girl meets vampire. Vampire does the ooh-spooky-I'm-too-sexy thing. Girl falls for vampire despite the fact that he's immortal, undead, and a total jerk.
That's the basis for many a rotten supernatural romance, and it doesn't work much better in the tepid first volume of "Model." So-Young Lee brushes this canvas some tense moments and pretty gothic artwork, but the grotesque-looking characters and thoroughly cliched vampire-and-pretty-girl-fall-for-each-other storyline bog it down considerably.
Jae is shocked when her roommate drags in a beautiful, drunk young man, who gets up in the middle of the night and sucks blood from her neck. Three guesses what he is, and the first two don't count.
So as a sort of payback, she decides to draw his picture, only to incur the vampire Michael's wrath because he doesn't want anyone to paint him. But after she impresses him with her feistiness, Jae is given a strange commission -- she will be the first person to ever capture Michael's beauty on canvas, in exchange for regular blood donations. After some initial skirmishes, she moves into Michael's vast gothic mansion to begin work.
But of course, things keep getting weird, especially as Jae tries to keep her independence under Michael's orders, and constantly reminds herself that her host isn't human. Yeah, she thinks he's hot even though he looks girlier than she does. But things get even more complicated when the icy housekeeper's rebellious son, Ken, comes back to the mansion and reveals a long-standing feud between himself and Michael.
Vampire stories in general tend to have lots of cliches, and "Model" has them all -- gothic mansions (where does Michael get this money from anyway?), gorgeous elegant European bloodsuckers, oh-so-feisty young girls, and even a housekeeper who seems like a prettier version of Mrs. Danvers. Add a sulky male teenage rebel-without-a-cause, and you pretty much have an accurate idea of what "Model" is.
Unfortunately this story is not only cliched, but also tedious and slow-moving -- not much of anything happens, except the two main characters intermittently flirt and bicker and tease. Lee succeeds in perking things up slightly with a revelation about Ken and Michael near the end, and there's one mildly amusing scene involving Michael's "dinner hall," but otherwise it's mostly made up of cryptic questions and autumn rambles around the estate.
Even more distracting: the artwork. Korean manwha has a distinct style all its own, but Lee takes it to grotesque dimensions -- teeny heads, enormous hands and feet, incredibly long fingers and nails. And the manga/manwha "androgynous beauty" angle is taken to absurd extremes -- it is often literally impossible to tell the men from the women in this story, which doesn't reaffirm Michael's attractiveness.
In fact, Michael is actually rather creepy and obnoxious -- he talks endlessly about how gorgeous and dangerous he is, when he isn't wandering around in a sheet. And I guess I'm supposed to be impressed by Jae's spunk, but frankly she comes across as rather stupid. There's a fine line between a feisty heroine and a ditz with no self-preservation instincts... and Jae barrels straight over that line.
The first volume of "Model" ends with one intriguing little mystery, but sadly nothing else to really capture your attention. Cliches up the wazoo, and no likable characters to make up for it.
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An absolutely amazing book!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2004-12-11
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
At first I was a little unsure about this book. The graphically entrancing art was a little different to what I was used to. But when I read it, all my doubts were blown away. The story was really interesting and the character were beautiful. My only problem with it, was that it wasn't long enough. It ended abruptly and I couldn't believe there wasn't more to it. After I read it I quickly bought the rest. It is well worth the money. It's about a pennyless artist (Jae)who falls in with a captivatingly beautiful vampire (Micheal). Jae makes a deal with the devil and ends up living with Micheal, the idea is to paint his portrait. But she gets much more then she bargined for. If I could I'd give it six stars! It is the best manga book I have ever read. If your into this sort of thing it is a must have book.
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model
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-07-01
1 out of 13 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was a really cool book.I really liked the art work ,this must have been a pain to draw but it looks like the dude wanted to show his skills here and he did .I really like the main girl she was class.( showing that dull lives can get better we hope) I am not feeling the love but maybe in the next one. I have just read this and i can't wait to read the next one HURRY UP!!!! the jist of this book is vamp over drinks (not blood) and like a good drinking buddy (the girl he was drinking with) dumps him on her friend to go meet her MAN (why was she with him i want to now) what a friend i tell you, so main girl (i really got into this book so much so i forgot her name) has no clue who this guy is and like any sane person decides to draw the really hot girly guy who is passed out oh, and that girl on that cover that would be him if you like girly guys who are hot vamps who get drunk or you are one, buy it NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Retail Price: £6.99
Amazon.com's Price:£0.49
That's 93% Off!
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