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derpitude's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
lisawhelpley's review
4.0
I've never read anything by Lynda Barry before, and haven't ever seen her comics. This book covering a year in the life of Freddie, is odd, sad, yet satisfying to read.
fionak's review
3.0
Definitely Barry's weirdest book that I've read and probably the most depressing. A 4 star read but I'm annoyed that the previously unpublished strips were sequestered at the end instead of being part of the original narrative.
bluenicorn's review
4.0
Wow... I didn't read the back of the book, which advised those who don't like unpleasant situations to not read the book, until the end. I still would have read it, but I would have known to prepare myself. There is always this sort of bittersweet element to Lynda Barry's stories- memories of childhood emphasize the funny and the awesome, but there is always something else mentioned that throws all of those memories off- whether it be bullies, cruel mothers, or worse. Freddie had a rough time, let's just say that. The stories are well-told, and I love Marlys all the more, but... poor Freddie.
annanowo's review
5.0
Never not loving everything Lynda Barry writes. Always oddball and true. Some brutal stuff happens in this one, but the relationship between Freddie and his sister Marlys is just so deeply #1 (as Fred Milton, Beat Poodle would say).
If you haven't read any of Barry's regular comic strips featuring this family (siblings Freddie, Marlys, and Maybonne, and their cousins Arna and Arnold), you might want to start with "The Greatest of Marlys."
If you haven't read any of Barry's regular comic strips featuring this family (siblings Freddie, Marlys, and Maybonne, and their cousins Arna and Arnold), you might want to start with "The Greatest of Marlys."
themightycheez's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
octavia_cade's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
3.5
I've read several of Barry's books now, and I hate to say it, but I find her drawings so very ugly. They do nothing for me in an aesthetic sense (such sense that I have, anyway) and yet I find them so compelling regardless, a sort of train wreck grotesquerie. Which is such a good visual choice for this particular graphic novel, about an adolescent boy in a difficult home, who is framed for arson, bullied in school, and finally descends into mental illness. It sounds really grim, and it is grim, and yet there's something so slyly entertaining about it that it's difficult to look away.
levitybooks's review against another edition
2.0
I'm sort of confused at why this book is so widely well-received. I initially found it charming but then just a bit too wayward and silly.
Clearly the artwork isn't the focus here, as it is hard to defend as effective or appealing, and though Barry keeps to a strict '4 equally spaced and sized panels per page regimen' she crops the image size to fit the height of the panel remaining after oversized all-caps text has been put in. Thank goodness for the added readability of sans-serif capitals. But if we just had the text, would it be readworthy?
Maybe. Barry can clearly write cool plots, but this was hampered by the viewpoint she chose. It's irriating that the foreword poses a concrete 'good/bad' end for Freddy but the book's ending gives less closure than anything I have read in recent memory. 'Craziness' is interesting to read about when tackled from the more rational perspective of the individual, but Freddy seems to lack any sort of wanting for us to make his later quite literal babbling make sense to anyone, including his mother. Does he age in any of this, as if anything he seems to be getting less coherent, intelligent or reflective as he gets older?
I guess I'm disinterested because I'm not the right audience for this. I used to be more forgiving. It comes down to whether you would appreciate the artwork of a child with psychiatric conditions by virtue that it was completed through and with those conditions, or whether you'd just compare it to those without and find it not as appealling. Right now I'm just looking for what has an appealling art style or linear narrative structure, so this was only just about worth reading for me.
Clearly the artwork isn't the focus here, as it is hard to defend as effective or appealing, and though Barry keeps to a strict '4 equally spaced and sized panels per page regimen' she crops the image size to fit the height of the panel remaining after oversized all-caps text has been put in. Thank goodness for the added readability of sans-serif capitals. But if we just had the text, would it be readworthy?
Maybe. Barry can clearly write cool plots, but this was hampered by the viewpoint she chose. It's irriating that the foreword poses a concrete 'good/bad' end for Freddy but the book's ending gives less closure than anything I have read in recent memory. 'Craziness' is interesting to read about when tackled from the more rational perspective of the individual, but Freddy seems to lack any sort of wanting for us to make his later quite literal babbling make sense to anyone, including his mother. Does he age in any of this, as if anything he seems to be getting less coherent, intelligent or reflective as he gets older?
I guess I'm disinterested because I'm not the right audience for this. I used to be more forgiving. It comes down to whether you would appreciate the artwork of a child with psychiatric conditions by virtue that it was completed through and with those conditions, or whether you'd just compare it to those without and find it not as appealling. Right now I'm just looking for what has an appealling art style or linear narrative structure, so this was only just about worth reading for me.
mara_miriam's review against another edition
3.0
This story demonstrates the intense inner lives of children and the ways in which they find support, as well as develop and struggle in their relationships. What I liked about this book: chaotic drawings, kids dealing with this messed up world and mental illness, el fagtastico. While to hard take, I appreciate that it doesn't have a happy ending.