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Breakdowns, Retrato Del Artista Como Un Joven %@#$! (2009)

by Art Spiegelman(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Mondadori

review 1: A very disappointing book. I initially was thrilled to hear that Art Spiegelman, the author of legendary graphic novel “Maus,” was going to be in Portland in mid-October as part of the Powell’s Book Events series. Like many others, I paid my $5 to get in at the Bagdad Theater. Despite poor lighting in the auditorium, which, from my vantage point at the back of the room, made Spiegelman’s backlit silhouette appear vaguely ant-like as he was standing in the shadows in front of a projector screen, the presentation was both instructive and entertaining. But the presentation is not what I am going to talk about here. At the end of Spiegelman’s presentation, the Powell’s Books guy-in-charge announced that there would be no signing of anything else than the new book. ... moreSo I foolishly bought a copy, and the expense still came to $20 despite a 30% discount. I was disappointed to realize that the book which Spiegelman himself had derided many times in his presentation, among others, chuckling and pointing out that he’d had to beef up this reissue of a failed collection of early comics of his with both a foreword and a conclusion, contains scant readable materials. First of all, the huge oversized format doesn’t fit on any shelf. Then, aside from an absolutely great 3-page episode precursor to Maus and the 4-page “Prisoner on Hell Planet,” in which Spiegelman uses dark, depressive imagery to tell his mother’s suicide, nothing else is worth reading. Sure the drawings are okay, but the skimpy succession of images is nonsensical and meaningless. Like, say, Robert Crumb’s delirious drug-addled or sexual fantasies, with the difference that Spiegelman’s efforts are obvious, trying on styles one after the other like cheap, moth-eaten sweaters at the Goodwill, now doing the R. Crumb thing, then some Cubist stuff, then on to quasi-parodies of other comics. It may appear that this reader is just being difficult or doesn’t understand the deep currents of thought shaping comics in the decades of the last century, etc. While the argument has been made that this is a wonderful opportunity to see what was the author’s mind as he was developing his unique style, the book contents are just too skimpy to justify the purchase of the book. It’s the equivalent to a straight-to-video B movie.
review 2: Dit boek heeft mijn beeld van Art Spiegelman echt immens veranderd - in eerste instantie een schrijver en tekenaar van MAUS, en, eigenlijk, alleen MAUS, en dan nog niet eens de schrijver en tekenaar van Maus, maar de schrijver en tekenaar van wat ik dacht dat Maus zou zijn. Breakdowns humaniseert Spiegelman zover dat ik waarschijnlijk Maus niet gelezen zou hebben als ik niet Breakdowns eerst had gelezen.Wel jammer dat ik in dit recensietje me vooral richt op Het Grote Andere Boek van Spiegelman, maar zo gaat dat. less

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