A review by mschlat
Ex Libris by Matt Madden

1.0

One of Matt Madden's biggest strengths is the ability to cartoon effectively in so many different styles (one of the reasons why I liked [b:99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style|162074|99 Ways to Tell a Story Exercises in Style|Matt Madden|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309209474l/162074._SX50_.jpg|1173573] so much). Here, Madden writes a story that uses that strength; our protagonist is in a room filled with graphic novels and reads many of them (thus producing changes in tone), with some of them being exploration of still more comics and cartoons. It's all very meta, and that's part of why I ended up disliking the book so much. There is the bare bones of a plot (who is our protagonist? why are they in the room? what happened in their failed relationship?), but the conceit of showing all the different comic genres and art robs much of the emotion out of the text. Once you add to that a vague and repetitive narration, I pretty much wanted the book to end.