A review by amberhayward
Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw

5.0

I read this book on public transit on a very busy day with very bad weather. And not just in my town. But all over the world. Anyhow. I read it and finished it and had my initial impressions. I liked it. It had some ham-fisted rhetoric (he's NOT some kind of frog/boy hybrid you say?! He only sees HIMSELF as a frog?!) but like other graphic novels my brain will lump this in with (i.e. Ghost World) a lot of the dialogue (and inner monologue) is dead on in a way that is hard to get with just prose. The visual style works great with the writing. But still, you know. I just liked it.

Then I came home and ate some food & googled a translation of a letter in the book. It was written by in code by the husband of a divorcing couple 40 years prior:

http://myriadissues.blogspot.com/2008/07/breaking-bottomless-belly-button-code.html

And it seemed less ham-fisted and more honest and heart breaking and excellent. This passage that most (or at least some) people probably never go back and figure out was the key to the whole thing for me even though there were similar letters and ideas throughout the novel. Well played, Dash Shaw. Well played.