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A review by annabend
Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel: A Graphic Novel by Anya Ulinich
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?