2011 Book Review: "What It Is" by Lynda Barry (#11)

What It Is by Lynda Barry

Lynda Barry's books transcend the niches of words and pictures by being a big pile of random stuff...in a good way! It isn't really scrapbooking but it's more than just collage.

"What It Is" parades itself as a book on writing, on unlocking your latent creative genius or whatever it is that made you pick it up off the shelf. While it does contain some basic prompts like "Where do thoughts come from?" and "What is an image?"; the pages are full of clippings, drawings and random bits of writing that inspire thought.

This isn't a book to speed-read through. It may feel busy and scattered at first, but allow yourself to immerse into what each page has to offer. I found myself caught up in memories and tangents of thought for hours from just a sentence.

Lynda Barry's main philosophy is that stories aren't made up or thought about, they stem from memories. Throughout, she aims to loosen you up, to sneak past your brain and into where your thoughts and feelings are hidden.

As a whole, "What It Is" seems to lose focus somewhere in the middle. The first third of the book comprises of writing prompts, Barry's musings on imagery and memory.

A good chunk in the middle becomes longer autobiographical stories from childhood and conversations about the book. These stories are some of Barry's best, but feels more like they would belong in a collection rather than in a book on writing.

The last third of the book is a concentrated section of writing exercises and memory prompts. The exercises are pretty basic: write about a certain topic for X minutes without ever stopping, word associations etc. There are some pretty good tips but I think most of the inspiration comes from the earlier chapters.

The writing section would greatly benefit someone starting out or out of practice, but more advanced writers probably already use these exercises. (And if you don't, you should be!) The art and comics are definitely still worth a look, writing veteran or not.


Please support small business by purchasing "What It Is" by Lynda Barry at your local bookstore or rent it at your local library. If you must, it is available for purchase at Amazon.com.

2011 Book Review: "Barefoot Gen" by Keija Nakazawa (#13)

I first heard of this book through a short comic titled "Beginnings" by Raina Telgemeier. Read it here. In the comic, she talks about how affected she was by reading the book as a 9 year old. I decided to read it for myself.

First of all, it's a Hiroshima survivor's tale. We all know how this is going to end. Everybody dies. (Well, almost.)

I expected to fall in love with the characters, watch them be bombed, then be uplifted by the heroics of their survival.

I wasn't into the art at first. While the lines are bold and the scenery gorgeous, face and emotions are exaggerated. It's very comical and silly at times. Many people feel this alleviates the seriousness of the work, but it's a bit distracting for me.

What I didn't expect was the straight-forward, unapologetic way Nakazawa portrayed the family's struggle against starvation and the horrific end. This is NOT a book that leaves you with warm fuzzies about the survivors facing a new life. Nakazawa shows plainly the brutal way of life the Japanese had during war, the brainwashing and manipulation, the cold triumphs of scientists and America over the atom bomb.

What made this even more devastating is that, somewhere in the first half of the book, I completely forgot all about the bomb. Nakazawa's characters are realistic, the dialogue compelling and the art beautiful. The pace of the story is steady but seems broken up into days, each one propelling the plot faster forward.

It is easy to settle into this rhythm, forgetting that each sun that sets draws us closer to the bomb dropping.


Please support small businesses by purchasing Barefoot Gen by Keija Nakazawa at your local bookstore. If you must, it is also available on Amazon.com.

2011 Book Review: "32 Stories: The complete Optic Nerve mini-comics" by Adrian Tomine (#4)

 

 I was first introduced to Adrian Tomine through his latest graphic novel, Shortcomings. I then purchased Summer Blonde, a collection of 4 short stories.

Tomine is highly regarded in comics, especially in the underground and mini scene since this is where he got his start. I decided to get his book, 32 Stories , a collection of all the mini-comics he made under the name of Optic Nerve.

Tomine speaks about drawing as a substitute for social interaction as a teenager, debuting Optic Nerve at 25 photocopied and stapled copies in August 1991.

These first few comics are sketchy, impatient one-page fiction comics and autobiographies. Very different from his current style, but representative of a young teenager still figuring stuff out.

These early stories feature him and his friends, meta stories about comics-writing, dreams and a bad job he had. The fiction stories are blunt but contain the depressing funny-sad tone that I associate with Tomine.

As his drawing style slowly matures, so do his story-lines. The autobiographic comics become 5-6 page full-length stories, while the fiction stories feature compelling characters.

It is in these stories that Tomine experiments with, and in many cases perfects, his brand of story-telling...taking characters who, at their very core, are stereotypes -- the panty thief/pervert, the loner girl, the high school drop-out; placing them in everyday situations and beginning the story in the middle...as if we just happened to be walking past their window, over-hearing snippets of conversation before walking away again.

My favorite story from this period is "Mike the Mod," where the high school drop-out seems to turn his life around and ends up...well, where we expected.

It's not a ground-breaking plot but Tomine's execution left me bitter-sweet; recalling both my own naive awe at how having an apartment and a job instead of going to school meant the world was at your feet, and the years I spent working a dead-end fast food job to pay the bills before going back to college.

In the last few stories in the collection I recognize Tomine's current clean, precise style. My favorite story from here is "Happy Anniversary," where an unnamed couple celebrate their low-key anniversary with dinner and a movie at home. The girl seems passive-aggressive, wondering whether he is truly happy and seems to hint that the relationship may be one merely of convenience.

Nothing is resolved, as is Tomine's style, but the ending is graceful, leaving us wondering. If you've ever been in a relationship, you will recognize that moment, lying awake thinking, the moment potent with possibility but ultimately, returning to the habits of daily living.

In all, there are some great stories in this collection. As a Tomine fan, I loved seeing his development as an artist and writer. The autobiographical comics were nice too, I hadn't pegged him as the type.

However, I don't think a casual reader would get much from reading this collection. The early stories are slow and dreary, while the later ones lack focus and jump around in style. New readers would benefit more from reading his later works mentioned above.


Please support small business by getting "32 Stories: The complete Optic Nerve mini-comics" by Adrain Tomine from your local book seller or direct from the publisher at Drawn & Quarterly. If you must, it is also available on Amazon.com