Graphic Novelty²

When I first saw this book I thought the cover showed a poorly drawn fish talking to a dog, so I had no interest in picking it up, but after a few people gave it glowing recommendations I gave it a try.

So it turns out that the fish was actually a woman with a wicked sense of humor. Her stories aren’t for everyone and at times she is extremely unlikable which made some of her chapters uneven. I loved her stories about her childhood in The God of Cake, The Party and Lost in the Woods,  although my god,  she was uncontrollable child at times. Her two chapters about depression as an adult gave a very accurate portrayal of what depression feels like. I hope people gain insight as to what it feels like, and how to truly help a person, instead of giving trite advice.

As I stated earlier, the book cover’s art work was off putting to me. The drawings are deliberately crude, with depictions of her looking non-human like. As my mind refuses to shake my first impression that she is a fish person, I thought the stories in which she is clutching fish especially funny to me. Each story is color coded, so when you look at the edge of the book, there is a rainbow of colors. I liked the differentiation of chapters by color, it was an appealing look. Some of her pictures have gone viral, especially the one of her holding the broom and shouting. Many memes have changed the wording of her original picture (as I did).

I checked out her blog, which the book was based off, but it not been updated since 2013, nor has her Twitter or Facebook page been updated recently. I discovered she has a new book, Solutions and Other Problems, coming out next year- so she might be saving new content for that book, for I hope it’s not a another bout of depression keeping her from updating the blog.  Give this mostly humorous book a try, for you will be sure to find a few stories in this collection that will make you laugh out loud!

-Nancy