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spiderfelt's review against another edition
5.0
It is so hard to define what makes Maira Kalman's work so appealing. Perhaps it is her irreverent sense of humor, her love of the absurd, her attention to detail. Yes, I think it is her attention to detail. I love the way she notices jaunty hats, quirky packaging and small moments.
andrea_rebekah42's review against another edition
4.0
This is a lovely and fun book. As always, Maira Kalman's illustrations are beautiful and bursting with life and color. Her blend of art, history, politics, and philosophy is unique and wonderful. I have a feeling I'll be revisiting this book often.
coffeechug's review against another edition
5.0
I have a backlog of books that I need to write up reviews for.
Lately I have been trying to read a wide variety of books. I am challenging myself to read all types in hopes of gaining new insights and ideas. Needless to say it is working and along the way I have found some really great reads.
This book, And The Pursuit of Happiness, is one that jumpstarted me back to book reviewing.
Screen Shot 2014-05-19 at 12.49.52 PM
I just completely fell in love with this read. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I had no idea what it was about. I picked it up on a whim based on the cover. There is little to be gained from the inside jacket.
With my latest craze of doodles and zentangling I really enjoyed all the paintings and drawings. It reads fast, but the story is powerful and really connected to me.
As an educator it made me realize once again we can make any content engaging. Here the author is writing about history but in the context of the people as people and always around food. Brilliant! As she charts her journey you just fall in love with the flow, looking at the images, and seeing history in a new way.
It was the perfect read at the end of a school year.
For me I loved one passage more than others and it was the motto of Marquis d Lafayette and his family motto of "Why Not?" A great question to ponder and live by.
So why not read this book. I think you will enjoy and if not, then at least you tried something new.
Off to the next read.
Lately I have been trying to read a wide variety of books. I am challenging myself to read all types in hopes of gaining new insights and ideas. Needless to say it is working and along the way I have found some really great reads.
This book, And The Pursuit of Happiness, is one that jumpstarted me back to book reviewing.
Screen Shot 2014-05-19 at 12.49.52 PM
I just completely fell in love with this read. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I had no idea what it was about. I picked it up on a whim based on the cover. There is little to be gained from the inside jacket.
With my latest craze of doodles and zentangling I really enjoyed all the paintings and drawings. It reads fast, but the story is powerful and really connected to me.
As an educator it made me realize once again we can make any content engaging. Here the author is writing about history but in the context of the people as people and always around food. Brilliant! As she charts her journey you just fall in love with the flow, looking at the images, and seeing history in a new way.
It was the perfect read at the end of a school year.
For me I loved one passage more than others and it was the motto of Marquis d Lafayette and his family motto of "Why Not?" A great question to ponder and live by.
So why not read this book. I think you will enjoy and if not, then at least you tried something new.
Off to the next read.
drey72's review
4.0
I really enjoyed paging through Maira Kalman's whimsically-illustrated And the Pursuit of Happiness. This is like history with a dash of serious and a whole lot of fun. A whole lot of fun. And I'm not quite sure how to review it.
Abraham Lincoln makes an appearance. So does his stepmother. Thomas Jefferson. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Benjamin Franklin. Regular folks too. Along with scenery, furniture, shoes, flowers, hats, books...
It is exuberant. It is at times completely irreverent and snappy (as in "oh, snap!" snappy). But most of all, it is filled with excitement and hope for this democracy that is the US of A. And that is why I really like this book.
Abraham Lincoln makes an appearance. So does his stepmother. Thomas Jefferson. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Benjamin Franklin. Regular folks too. Along with scenery, furniture, shoes, flowers, hats, books...
It is exuberant. It is at times completely irreverent and snappy (as in "oh, snap!" snappy). But most of all, it is filled with excitement and hope for this democracy that is the US of A. And that is why I really like this book.
staatz's review
4.0
An optimistic view of America that doesn't white wash the nasty bits. A humorous inspirational graphic history novel travel memoir. Good stuff.
caitlinxmartin's review against another edition
5.0
Sort of a graphic novel, sort of a prose poem, mostly a love letter to democracy, And the Pursuit of Happiness is Maira Kalman's story of her journey from coast to coast to discover what democracy means.
This is a gorgeous book - as weighty in feel and heft as its contents are light and spontaneous. Kalman combines handwritten typography, her own illustrations, and photographs into an intimate picture of her thoughts and meditations on subjects as diverse as fast food, mushrooms, Alexis de Tocqueville, and why we should all be in love with Abraham Lincoln.
This is a book that made me smile (and want breakfast at a diner on the way to Mount Vernon). In the midst of our more typical pessimistic screeds about the futility of governing by the people, Ms. Kalman reminds us in her own way just how simple it can all be.
This is a gorgeous book - as weighty in feel and heft as its contents are light and spontaneous. Kalman combines handwritten typography, her own illustrations, and photographs into an intimate picture of her thoughts and meditations on subjects as diverse as fast food, mushrooms, Alexis de Tocqueville, and why we should all be in love with Abraham Lincoln.
This is a book that made me smile (and want breakfast at a diner on the way to Mount Vernon). In the midst of our more typical pessimistic screeds about the futility of governing by the people, Ms. Kalman reminds us in her own way just how simple it can all be.
jimmylorunning's review against another edition
3.0
Expectations! They are a bitch.
About a week ago, I read Maira Kalman's other book [b:The Principles of Uncertainty|627055|The Principles of Uncertainty|Maira Kalman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266601963s/627055.jpg|613404] and loved it. It is full of charming joyful paintings, paintings of all manner of things/couches/hairstyles/hats, lists and photos of people's backs, etc. All strung together in the loosest wandering free-form way possible, which is part of the charm. Afterwards, I read online about her newest book 'And the Pursuit of Happiness':
Instead, I got: Maira, filled with optimism after Barack Obama's inauguration, decides to write a book about the beginnings of this country. She doesn't do much travelling (though she does some) or meeting of regular people. Instead, she dives into history books and history museums... OK, already not as exciting a concept to me as what I had imagined... but let's give it a shot anyway.
Most of this information is common knowledge about our forefathers. History that seems to brush the surface, history that seems like myth (i.e. what they want you to believe happened). The book is filled with paintings, but most of them are paintings of oil paintings of dead white men. These paintings lack the kind of verve and observation of the paintings in her other book... Because in her paintings of regular people, you can tell by the way she paints them how she feels exactly about this person's nose, or how much she loves this woman's hair, or how the squirrelly quality of that man on the street comes out in full color. Here, we have reproductions that seem stale by comparison. I find posed oil portraits so boring, and though she tried her best, she was basically just reproducing them in this book, without adding much of her own character or interpretation into the mix (there are exceptions, of course).
Later, when she shows real people (like the kids involved in the organic farms) she opts to show photographs of them instead of paintings. Why she decided to paint oil reproductions of Thomas Jefferson while photographing the kids is a mystery to me. It seems like the opposite choice would've produced much better results, with more room for interpretation. We've all seen Thomas Jefferson a million times, in that same pose!
Then, instead of traveling to the little known spots to discover the spirit of what America is now, she goes straight to Washington D.C. What follows are portraits of government workers and congresspeople, sitting in their offices, in their business suits. All pretty boring to me. What's more, it's not like she gets below the surface of who these people are. Example: on one page we see a painting of a woman against a yellow background and the words say "I meet Haeda Mihaltses, the director of the office of intergovernmental affairs." Then the very next page, she tells you of some other people she met. OK... so what's the point of introducing the reader to Haeda Mihaltses for a page if it's not going to be followed up by anything? Who cares? She's some director or other, I didn't need to know that!
I know I've been focusing on the negatives so far, but that is because I was so disappointed. I wanted so much more from this. I don't want to mislead you though: there is a lot of good stuff in here as well. It's just spaced further apart. There is still a number of humorous, witty, quirky things sprinkled throughout. But if you've never read Maira Kalman before, DEFINITELY read [b:The Principles of Uncertainty|627055|The Principles of Uncertainty|Maira Kalman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266601963s/627055.jpg|613404] first, instead of this book!
Also: I found the first half of the book to be much better, visually; it felt like she stopped trying in the last half. Her brushstrokes were less subtle and the detail seemed to go away.
About a week ago, I read Maira Kalman's other book [b:The Principles of Uncertainty|627055|The Principles of Uncertainty|Maira Kalman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266601963s/627055.jpg|613404] and loved it. It is full of charming joyful paintings, paintings of all manner of things/couches/hairstyles/hats, lists and photos of people's backs, etc. All strung together in the loosest wandering free-form way possible, which is part of the charm. Afterwards, I read online about her newest book 'And the Pursuit of Happiness':
Inspired by the 2008 elections, artist Maira Kalman set out across these great states with pen and paper in hand to explore facets of American democracy that many Americans only contemplate on the Fourth of July.So what I expected was this: Maira stops in rest areas and gas stations, painting weird southern ephemera, philosophizes about the South and our history of slavery, suddenly she spots a duck-shaped hat and goes berserk and paints 20 pages straight of this same hat from different angles! Then she gets sidetracked and starts talking about the variety of trees beside the highway, then she follows an old abandoned train track to see where it goes, meets some hillbillies and talks with them about 'America', shoots a few deer, paints them, hitchhikes with a single mom in her yellow Honda civic hatchback to California while painting exquisite reproductions of her right ear as seen from the passenger seat, then paints some lean-tos in Nevada, paints the interior of several houses where she stayed on the floor on her epic roadtrip across the country, people-watches in a mall, paints a well manicured poodle, paints someone's sequined shoes, wonders to herself "Could the meaning of America be sequined shoes?" and there you have it THE END!
Instead, I got: Maira, filled with optimism after Barack Obama's inauguration, decides to write a book about the beginnings of this country. She doesn't do much travelling (though she does some) or meeting of regular people. Instead, she dives into history books and history museums... OK, already not as exciting a concept to me as what I had imagined... but let's give it a shot anyway.
Most of this information is common knowledge about our forefathers. History that seems to brush the surface, history that seems like myth (i.e. what they want you to believe happened). The book is filled with paintings, but most of them are paintings of oil paintings of dead white men. These paintings lack the kind of verve and observation of the paintings in her other book... Because in her paintings of regular people, you can tell by the way she paints them how she feels exactly about this person's nose, or how much she loves this woman's hair, or how the squirrelly quality of that man on the street comes out in full color. Here, we have reproductions that seem stale by comparison. I find posed oil portraits so boring, and though she tried her best, she was basically just reproducing them in this book, without adding much of her own character or interpretation into the mix (there are exceptions, of course).
Later, when she shows real people (like the kids involved in the organic farms) she opts to show photographs of them instead of paintings. Why she decided to paint oil reproductions of Thomas Jefferson while photographing the kids is a mystery to me. It seems like the opposite choice would've produced much better results, with more room for interpretation. We've all seen Thomas Jefferson a million times, in that same pose!
Then, instead of traveling to the little known spots to discover the spirit of what America is now, she goes straight to Washington D.C. What follows are portraits of government workers and congresspeople, sitting in their offices, in their business suits. All pretty boring to me. What's more, it's not like she gets below the surface of who these people are. Example: on one page we see a painting of a woman against a yellow background and the words say "I meet Haeda Mihaltses, the director of the office of intergovernmental affairs." Then the very next page, she tells you of some other people she met. OK... so what's the point of introducing the reader to Haeda Mihaltses for a page if it's not going to be followed up by anything? Who cares? She's some director or other, I didn't need to know that!
I know I've been focusing on the negatives so far, but that is because I was so disappointed. I wanted so much more from this. I don't want to mislead you though: there is a lot of good stuff in here as well. It's just spaced further apart. There is still a number of humorous, witty, quirky things sprinkled throughout. But if you've never read Maira Kalman before, DEFINITELY read [b:The Principles of Uncertainty|627055|The Principles of Uncertainty|Maira Kalman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266601963s/627055.jpg|613404] first, instead of this book!
Also: I found the first half of the book to be much better, visually; it felt like she stopped trying in the last half. Her brushstrokes were less subtle and the detail seemed to go away.