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Cleveland (2012)

by Harvey Pekar(Favorite Author)

4.01 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Gallo Nero

review 1: As I haven’t finished a novel in a while, I’ve been barring myself from reading comics until I complete Conrad’s The Secret Agent. Perhaps I didn’t pick the right book off my shelf, but the result has been that I’ve barely read anything in the past few weeks. Today I defied my self-imposed rule by reading Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland in one sitting in the local library.This was the most Pekar I have read, but have meant to get around to American Splendor one day. The first third-ish of the book is a history of Cleveland, from which I learned a bit but it was pretty dry, and not much more subjective than Wikipedia. About half-way through the book, it started getting interesting for me, as the history of Cleveland gets hijacked by Pekar’s opinions, stories, and... more eventually, rants. Pekar is a great character - he makes fun of his obsessions (we share some obsessive collector traits), and his crankiness, and stinginess, but is depicted as loyal and giving to his friends. The best parts were his reflections on some of his past relationships, which are honest and endearing. Later, he talks about the simple pleasures he finds in life as a man approaching 70, and about his many creative plans for the future (sadly, he died before the illustrations were finished and the book was completed). Some of the biographical material undoubtedly would have also appeared in earlier published material, but that didn't bother me as I haven't read much else. Joseph Remnant's art was nice, particularly the backgrounds and cityscapes. Everyone walking around the streets has a bit of a stunned, perhaps mildly fearful look about them, which I don’t know if it was intentional but it suited the vibe, particularly in parts where Pekar describes the city falling on hard times.I’m only giving this as a 2/5 as I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone. There were some touching moments and it’s piqued my interest in Harvey Pekar a bit more but I’m sure he has a lot more to offer than 'Cleveland', which largely failed to grab me.
review 2: Sometimes you have to start from the end. I have heard all about Harvey Pekar the comic book writer (I think he prefers that term to graphic novelist) for years but I haven't been able to get past the apparent mundane nature of his subject (himself and his life, mostly) and the rough-edged, squishy feel of the associated artwork.Pekar died recently and his last book, Cleveland, is a memoir that spans most of his life. I'm not sure why I got it from the library since I tried and failed to connect with his work before, but this last book is different. I was immediately brought in because from the first few pages it's clear that this book is as much about his hometown as it is about him. As his character walks around he narrates Cleveland's history and only later gets into his own life's details. It feels like an urban hike that I like to do (Boston's the best city for that, by the way), and it's a beautiful demonstration of the way the person is tied up in the place.So I don't review every graphic novel I read here (sometimes it would take longer to write the review than to read the book) but I want to recommend this one. Now that I've started to see myself in Pekar, maybe I'll be able to finish his other more acclaimed books. less

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