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emkoshka's review
4.0
I picked this up at random from the library shelf on the strength of it being a graphic novel about online dating, a subject close to my heart, haha. It was about so much more though: Russia, Jewishness, the migrant experience, neuroticism, New York, men, love and loss. I got a bit weary at the story surrounding the Orphan, particularly his disposable way with women and Lena's obsession with him. But overall, I really enjoyed the ride and was left wondering how much was truth and how much fiction?
jadatower's review
2.0
2.5 stars
I didn't know anything about this book going in, I just picked it up from the library one day for fun.
It was not a fun read. I had to push myself through most of it, and it almost ended up on my dnf shelf. This might have just been a bad book for me, but I just could not enjoy most of this book at all.
I didn't like how the one African American portrayed in the pictures just looked like an awful black face costume.
I also HATED how Lena only calls her boyfriend dude "the orphan" for the ENTIRE time he's in the book. One or two times would've been cool, but then give him a name please.
All in all, was not an enjoyable read for me.
I didn't know anything about this book going in, I just picked it up from the library one day for fun.
It was not a fun read. I had to push myself through most of it, and it almost ended up on my dnf shelf. This might have just been a bad book for me, but I just could not enjoy most of this book at all.
I didn't like how the one African American portrayed in the pictures just looked like an awful black face costume.
I also HATED how Lena only calls her boyfriend dude "the orphan" for the ENTIRE time he's in the book. One or two times would've been cool, but then give him a name please.
All in all, was not an enjoyable read for me.
bghillman's review
5.0
I honestly don't know if this was actually good. I think it was, but mostly it was astounding how she was able to make me feel immensely insecure on almost every page as the story developed. One could summarize this book as redemption through fucking, and it did not deal with all of the problematic parts of the narrative (motherhood, abuse, violence, adultery). I know it will stick in my mind for a long time in part because I read this, however unfairly, as autobiography. It was pre bedtime reading and I have become accustomed to having a stomach ache and occasional insomnia due to anxiety and regret from reading this book. I would very much like to hear other affective reactions of this.
colleenish's review
4.0
Wow. This was a weird one. I love graphic novels
A deep, weird book about the emotional consequences of immigration, first loves, other loves, and many other things. There was sex and nudity. There was poetry. It was beautiful and engrossing and twisted and real. I wouldn't have thought that I would like it, but I think I did.
I don't know what I think.
A deep, weird book about the emotional consequences of immigration, first loves, other loves, and many other things. There was sex and nudity. There was poetry. It was beautiful and engrossing and twisted and real. I wouldn't have thought that I would like it, but I think I did.
I don't know what I think.
cirrolew's review
3.0
I really loved the art of this book. I loved the dreamy feel of the water color-esque inks, the use of unconventional materials, the way the flashbacks were a completely different style. It was very well done.
sonyaw's review against another edition
5.0
Gary Shteyngart’s characterization of this graphic novel as “funny, painful, outrageous” is apt as hell, especially if you've had the misfortune of dating in the 21st century, as an elderly (hah!) single parent. This is the graphic novel I might’ve written about my post-breakup dating life, if I had an ounce of talent.
Goddamn, [a:Anya Ulinich|124999|Anya Ulinich|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1406226863p2/124999.jpg], I felt that duckling to my core.
Goddamn, [a:Anya Ulinich|124999|Anya Ulinich|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1406226863p2/124999.jpg], I felt that duckling to my core.
bluepigeon's review against another edition
4.0
Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel is a story of immigration, the perpetual arriving; a story of online dating and serial marriages, the nostalgic first love that never was or could be; a story of dating a man who loves women, but cannot stay; and a story of one woman insisting on searching for happiness.
All in all, a great tale, true to the immigrant experience, even down to the generalized anxiety disorder. There is a lot in this novel, which is packed with everything from coming-of-age, learning to pretend to be Jewish, finding love, hating love, many phone and face-to-face conversations with "girl friends" about men... The graphic structure mostly carries the story well, except for the long monologs (either in conversation or in thought), which perhaps could be better if divided up in more panels, instead of covering whole pages. It is challenging to get a lot of conversation through in graphic novel format, but it is doable, especially when the images don't have to be exactly about what the words are saying or what the characters are doing (sitting and talking), but something more, something that adds to the words instead of just representing them.
Recommended for those who are dating online, those going through a divorce, those who never understood why that good guy broke up with them, and those who like construction sites.
All in all, a great tale, true to the immigrant experience, even down to the generalized anxiety disorder. There is a lot in this novel, which is packed with everything from coming-of-age, learning to pretend to be Jewish, finding love, hating love, many phone and face-to-face conversations with "girl friends" about men... The graphic structure mostly carries the story well, except for the long monologs (either in conversation or in thought), which perhaps could be better if divided up in more panels, instead of covering whole pages. It is challenging to get a lot of conversation through in graphic novel format, but it is doable, especially when the images don't have to be exactly about what the words are saying or what the characters are doing (sitting and talking), but something more, something that adds to the words instead of just representing them.
Recommended for those who are dating online, those going through a divorce, those who never understood why that good guy broke up with them, and those who like construction sites.
annabend's review against another edition
4.0
People of Goodreads, this was so good!
Beyond the general plot of an adult woman going out into the world of dating, this novel is about the selves that occupy our bodies from childhood, through immigration, through parenthood and through love.
Anya Ulinich's graphic novel occupies that uncomfortable space between memoir and fiction, although it does so eloquently and hilariously.It is rather a re-imagining of the self in an existing literary context, a negotiation of the author's story by Chekhov and Malamud. Ulinich brilliantly pits past and present against each other, juxtaposing them on the same page to draw the nuances of life as a Soviet Jewish girl, as an American mother, and as a lover straddling two cultures.
The graphic novel would appeal to anyone. If you are looking for a relationship sort of book, you will not be disappointed. If you are looking to analyze, if you are looking for a study of the human soul, you will not be disappointed.
A word or two about the art: atmospheric and dark.
My one complaint about the Magic Barrel is the vagueness of the ending. SPOILER WARNING!
The argument that one should let go of their creative pursuits and get a "real" job seems entirely contradictory to what Ulinich and Lena Finkle are all about. I feel a tad cheated. I also did not enjoy seeing the Orphan again especially so easily contrasted to a bright and happy Lena. Of course in a fictionalized biography you can hardly expect a neat little bow for an ending, but it still did not feel quite right. There was something missing in the resolution. The sense of forward-motion, maybe?
Beyond the general plot of an adult woman going out into the world of dating, this novel is about the selves that occupy our bodies from childhood, through immigration, through parenthood and through love.
Anya Ulinich's graphic novel occupies that uncomfortable space between memoir and fiction, although it does so eloquently and hilariously.It is rather a re-imagining of the self in an existing literary context, a negotiation of the author's story by Chekhov and Malamud. Ulinich brilliantly pits past and present against each other, juxtaposing them on the same page to draw the nuances of life as a Soviet Jewish girl, as an American mother, and as a lover straddling two cultures.
The graphic novel would appeal to anyone. If you are looking for a relationship sort of book, you will not be disappointed. If you are looking to analyze, if you are looking for a study of the human soul, you will not be disappointed.
A word or two about the art: atmospheric and dark.
My one complaint about the Magic Barrel is the vagueness of the ending. SPOILER WARNING!
The argument that one should let go of their creative pursuits and get a "real" job seems entirely contradictory to what Ulinich and Lena Finkle are all about. I feel a tad cheated. I also did not enjoy seeing the Orphan again especially so easily contrasted to a bright and happy Lena. Of course in a fictionalized biography you can hardly expect a neat little bow for an ending, but it still did not feel quite right. There was something missing in the resolution. The sense of forward-motion, maybe?