Reviews

Patience by Daniel Clowes

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thebobsphere's review against another edition

5.0

Having read nearly all of Clowes works (I'm missing Death Ray) I can say that Ghost World remains a highlight. However Patience sets a new standard and definitely is the best thing he has done.

The story focuses on a young couple and the wife, Patience is found murdered. Her husband then tries to avenge her death by travelling back and forth through time in order to stop the murder. This being a Daniel Clowes comic, you can expect things not to be so straightforward.

Although the plot borders on the ridiculous, it isn't. Clowes does a magnificent job of encapsulating his character's anguish, pain and desperation. Something I always felt he's never done before, not only that this is a visual masterpiece. Colours and shapes come out of nowhere, amazing visuals. It's a color riot and considering how dour Clowes gets, this was refreshing as well.

If I am not mistaken, Patience is Clowes first comic that does not have ties with eightball and is 180 pages long, usually he's expresses more in being brief but with Patience it works. This comic is stuffed with brave moves and it pays off.

sabretoothdream's review against another edition

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4.0

My brain, like all the characters in this graphic novel, is now broken. But in a good way. Daniel Clowes + time traveling sci fi psychedelic romance? YES. It works, I assure you, and it is all still very much his voice and tone. Glad to see he is still on top of his game.

unladylike's review against another edition

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1.0

I felt like I needed a shower after reading this. Instead, I noted to myself my main impressions from it from start to finish, and then slept nearly 14 hours.

I'm not going to read all the hype and positive reviews for this book, because I don't want to be socially swayed into giving it more credit than it deserves. All I knew was that it was Daniel Clowes's new book and reportedly another whiny dude story that Fantagraphics had prioritized in their marketing this year above all sorts of great projects by lesser-known creators.

Here are the reasons I'm not even giving this 2 stars:
1. The protagonist is a despicable, pathetic man with no redeeming qualities. Not even some hardass jerk antihero like John Constantine or Punisher or something. He's just horrible from beginning to end, and there's no one else to really root for as his opposition!

2. Yes, it's essentially another whiny dude story. I realized a few pages in it was that, but THEN it also became a story of a pregnant young wife who gets *fridged* in order to set her husband on a selfish quest of vengeance. Those are NOT among my favourite stories, for so many good reasons. And THEN it becomes a *time travel* story, which gives Clowes chances to play with sci-fi, surrealist art, and a less straight-forward-than-linear narrative sequence. All of which he wastes.

3. The art is really nothing special or great. It's like a Silver Age cartoonist was able to briefly look INTO THE FUTURE and see glimpses of Charles Burns's and Los Bros Hernandez's great, weird tales in mundane settings, and decided to paste some of those styles on top of his own. But then the book wasn't published until well after those other greats had already done their things much better, so it glides purely on the power of coming from The Cartoonist Who Saw The Future!

There are a couple of interesting ideas and well-laid panels in Patience, but they're muddied by the whole rest of the book's story and character arc.

northerncluster's review against another edition

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2.0

The artwork is nice but the story is somewhat simultaneously meandering in reach yet limited in scope.

Characters are one dimensional and too underdeveloped to bear the readers sympathy. Dialogue is hamfisted at times, and the relationships aren't believable.

Also yes, the trope with tragic trophy wife that fuels the revenge plot of the fantasy vehicle husband feels a bit tired right now.

redsilva95's review against another edition

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1.0

Posso estar sendo meio rancoroso, mas às vezes tenho a leve impressão de livros muito populares costumam mais ser amados por sua proposta do que pela sua execução. Não ajuda o fato de eu não ter curtido 'Ghost World'. Os personagens são ou detestáveis ou deprimentes, a melancolia te impede de se apegar a qualquer um. O romance é sem graça e, como apontado em algumas resenhas negativas, se você não curte os personagens não se sente investido no romance, o que prejudica a leitura da narrativa. Não curti o traço, gostei de como é colorido e vibrante, mas os personagens pareciam ter sempre a mesma reação a tudo. O elemento sci-fi foi mal trabalhado, com exceção de um personagem (um dos mais escrotos) não percebi crescimento e desenvolvimento dos personagens, e há vários elementos problemáticos aqui, como o próprio relacionamento que dita as ações na narrativa. Acho que devo desistir de ler Daniel Clowes.