Tunnels by Rutu Modan Review

When Nili was a child she and her archaeologist father tried uncovering the location of the Ark of the Covenant - the gold-covered box that houses the stone tablets the Ten Commandments were written on and handed from God to Moses - but never found it. Now grown-up with a kid of her own, Nili is back in Israel and determined to find the Ark once and for all. Except their old tunnel now lies on the wrong side of the separation wall over in Palestine. Nili must assemble a team to dig to the old tunnel to dig a new tunnel to where she thinks the Ark is really held. With others cottoning on to Nili’s game, who will find the Ark first?

I’ve been a fan of Rutu Modan’s comics for years so it’s a shame that her latest book, Tunnels, turned out to be a bit of a let-down. It’s a very long, very uninteresting and pointless story with a silly premise offering little in the way of entertainment.

The narrative is slow-moving thanks to it being mostly about the characters bickering amongst themselves over the logistics of the dig, who’ll get the credit, how it’ll be funded, etc. - does that sound like gripping reading to anyone? The history of the Ark is even more dull, certain aspects of the story add nothing (why does it matter that her brother is secretly gay with an Arab besides it being obviously provocative for the region?), and the premise itself is never convincing. Of course they don’t find the Ark - it doesn’t exist, assuming it ever did!

Nili and Professor Rafi Sarid, the villain of the story, are drawn ridiculously cartoonishly for no reason - unless it’s because Modan is going for a Tintin-style character design for her protagonist (Tintin also had an overly-cartoonish character design). In fact, I got a strong Tintin vibe throughout most of the book with its mythical premise, light-hearted tone and adventurous narrative. Even the characters feel like pastiches of Tintin: Nili and her son Doctor are Tintin and Snowy, her father is Professor Calculus and Gedanken is a Captain Haddock-type.

Weird character designs aside, Modan’s art is quite lovely in general, particularly her use of bright colours that makes Israel and its countryside look beautiful. And the dramatic finale is kinda interesting as it plays out even if the ending is predictable and underwhelming.

Still, Tunnels is definitely my least favourite thing Rutu Modan has created and I’d caution fans not to have high expectations of the comic. If you’ve never read her before, I highly recommend any of her other books instead, especially The Property.