graphic novel review: Wilson by Daniel Clowes

-
Wilson
The backstory: I've started paying attention to the Amazon picks of the month. They're usually spot on with fiction (which I'm most familiar with), and they often feature a graphic novel, young adult and children's book too. Genre picks don't appear every month, but when they do, they're certainly worth noting. Wilson popped up in April, and I promptly requested it from the library. I haven't read Daniel Clowes before, but I did see the GhostWorld movie in the theater.

The basics: Wilson is the story of Wilson. Unlike any other graphic novel I've read, each page is a different short story or chapter. Clowers uses a variety of drawing and color styles. As the book begins, the chapters seemed more like loosely connected stories about Wilson; they were episodes in his life. As the novel moves on, the story began to seem more linear.


My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. It was laugh-out loud funny at times, although some of his humor (intentionally, it seems) borders on the inappropriate. There were a few jokes I found unnecessary, but I imagine that was part of the author's point. Ultimately, what Clowes achieves is truly a novel told in a fascinating way. A lot happens over the course of the novel, and although Wilson himself is not terribly likable, the book is, which is a testament to its author and artist.


The verdict: It's definitely worth reading if you're interested in graphic novels or enjoy quirky stories.


Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Length: 77 pages
Publication date: April 27, 2010 - order it from Amazon today
Source: my local public library


As an Amazon affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you!

Comments

  1. AndiJune 4, 2010 at 3:49 PM

    COOL! I didn't know about this Amazon feature or this Clowes book. Thanks for enlightening me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness)June 5, 2010 at 12:33 PM

    I've been looking for some more graphic novels to read -- this one sounds funny!

    And thanks for your really long comment about the Kindle, it was really helpful!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy reading!

Popular posts from this blog

book review: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

-
Image
The backstory: A Dangerous Place  is the eleventh historical mystery featuring Maisie Dobbs. My reviews of the other eleven (plus Winspear's stand alone historical novel) are in my Book Review Database . The basics: Set four years after the last Maisie Dobbs novel, Leaving Everything Most Loved , in A Dangerous Place , we meet up with Maisie in Gibraltar in 1927 during the Spanish Civil War. She gets off her England-bound ship in Gibraltar because she's not quite ready to return. Note: this review contains spoilers about what happened in those four years of Maisie's life between books, all of which are revealed in this novel's first thirty pages.  My thoughts: Sunday I wrote about the Maisie Mail I received. These postcards appear in the book itself, along with many others. After setting the stage in Gibraltar in the opening pages (Maisie stumbles upon a dead body), Winspear recounts the last four years of Maisie's life in the form of postcards, letters, an
Read more

book review: Run by Ann Patchett

-
Image
The backstory: After loving State of Wonder  ( my review ), I set out to read all of Ann Patchett's books. The basics: Run  is the story of the Doyle family: Bernard, an Irish Catholic ex-mayor of Boston, his deceased wife Bernadette, their adult son Sullivan, and their two adopted college ages sons, Tip and Teddy, who are biological brothers. My thoughts: I'm beginning to think Ann Patchett is my soul sister. Her writing reaches me deeply, and I've adored everything she's written. It was a special treat to read Run , the novel of hers I knew the least about going in. Although I had the framework of two of her novels and one memoir, I didn't know what to expect. Run  isn't as universally loved as some of her other works, so I was particularly curious to see how it measured up. Admittedly, Run  started off slowly for me. It took two chapters to really get into the heart of the story, but once it happened, I was hooked. One of the things I love most about
Read more

book review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

-
Image
The backstory: Gilead  won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2004, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2006. The basics: As Rev. Ames nears the end of his life in the 1950's, he begins a letter to his young son because Ames realizes his son is too young to really know him. Gilead  is that letter. My thoughts: Gilead  is a novel I'm been meaning to read for years. It's a character-driven, Midwestern narrative by one of our best contemporary writers. It should be a novel I love, yet I struggled to finish it and admit I was wowed by neither the story nor the writing. Gilead  seemed almost stream-of-consciousness at first. I appreciated that Robinson jumped right in: this novel is a letter from father to son; the reader's ignorance of these two characters is not the focus. As the novel progressed, more details began to be filled in, and the reader begins to understand the characters, setting and purpose. I enjoyed the fir
Read more