Book-It 'o11! Book #1
The Fifty Books Challenge, year three! (Years one and two, just in case you're curious.) This was a library request.
Title: Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
Details: Copyright 2001, Fantagraphics Books
Synopsis (By Way of School Library Journal): "Eight interconnected stories about two teens. Enid and Rebecca have been friends for so long that it's difficult for either of them to let the other grow or change. Now Enid will probably leave their working-class neighborhood and go away to college and Rebecca cannot accept this change in their relationship. Enid is the more radical and dramatic of the two, the one who talks a male friend into escorting her into an X-rated "adult" store. Rebecca is not so much a follower as simply more circumspect. She's the one who reasons that Josh, a friend they're both guilty of provoking sexually, really deserves to sleep with one of them after all the teasing he's weathered. While the vocabulary here is raunchy, it is accurate for the characters. These realistic 18-year-olds don't always talk nice and don't always act nice but they do have moral fiber underneath their tough-girl exteriors. It's just that they're at a point in life and a place in society where exteriors are a lot more important than nice. This is a book with distinct appeal to urban high school students, but it's certainly not for their younger brothers and sisters. Depending on where your comics are shelved, add this one where the age-appropriate audience is most likely to find it. The artwork is evocative and tasteful and the book can serve as a bridge to more literary stories of friendships."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Yet another born of my fondness for The AV Club's Comics Panel and the round-about way I can find material from authors and artists even if I can't find what I was originally looking for.
How I Liked It: The book starts out with almost unbearable "teenage" dialog and a hard footing to find likability for its two sneering protagonists and their scornful eye for the rest of the book's cast.
About halfway through the book, the haunting elements that had previously only been hinted at, start to direct the book and the narrative begins to click as we witness the vulnerability of the two main characters, particularly the deeper cracks in their friendship and in their perceptions of their respective identities.
The book swells to a poignant and poetic finish that ties loose ends and makes an enjoyable read.
Notable: Clowes's style is a cross between the stylized heads of Tom Tomorrow and, oddly enough, the facial features of many of children's illustrator Ron Barrett's characters. Interesting that when casting the film version of the book, the actresses actually do resemble their characters, particularly Scarlett Johansson, whose prominent mouth matches Clowes's style.
Title: Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
Details: Copyright 2001, Fantagraphics Books
Synopsis (By Way of School Library Journal): "Eight interconnected stories about two teens. Enid and Rebecca have been friends for so long that it's difficult for either of them to let the other grow or change. Now Enid will probably leave their working-class neighborhood and go away to college and Rebecca cannot accept this change in their relationship. Enid is the more radical and dramatic of the two, the one who talks a male friend into escorting her into an X-rated "adult" store. Rebecca is not so much a follower as simply more circumspect. She's the one who reasons that Josh, a friend they're both guilty of provoking sexually, really deserves to sleep with one of them after all the teasing he's weathered. While the vocabulary here is raunchy, it is accurate for the characters. These realistic 18-year-olds don't always talk nice and don't always act nice but they do have moral fiber underneath their tough-girl exteriors. It's just that they're at a point in life and a place in society where exteriors are a lot more important than nice. This is a book with distinct appeal to urban high school students, but it's certainly not for their younger brothers and sisters. Depending on where your comics are shelved, add this one where the age-appropriate audience is most likely to find it. The artwork is evocative and tasteful and the book can serve as a bridge to more literary stories of friendships."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Yet another born of my fondness for The AV Club's Comics Panel and the round-about way I can find material from authors and artists even if I can't find what I was originally looking for.
How I Liked It: The book starts out with almost unbearable "teenage" dialog and a hard footing to find likability for its two sneering protagonists and their scornful eye for the rest of the book's cast.
About halfway through the book, the haunting elements that had previously only been hinted at, start to direct the book and the narrative begins to click as we witness the vulnerability of the two main characters, particularly the deeper cracks in their friendship and in their perceptions of their respective identities.
The book swells to a poignant and poetic finish that ties loose ends and makes an enjoyable read.
Notable: Clowes's style is a cross between the stylized heads of Tom Tomorrow and, oddly enough, the facial features of many of children's illustrator Ron Barrett's characters. Interesting that when casting the film version of the book, the actresses actually do resemble their characters, particularly Scarlett Johansson, whose prominent mouth matches Clowes's style.