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.