false 227350 7 <i>Shortcomings</i>, Adrian Tomine's first long-form graphic novel, is the story of Ben Tanaka, a confused, obsessive Japanese American male in his late twenties, and his cross-country search for contentment (or at least the perfect girl). Along the way, Tomine tackles modern culture, sexual mores, and racial politics with brutal honesty and lacerating, irreverent humor, while deftly bringing to life a cast of painfully real antihero characters. A frequent contributor to <i>The New Yorker</i>, Tomine has acquired a cultlike fan following and has earned status as one of the most widely acclaimed cartoonists of our time.</div><div><br><i>Shortcomings</i> was serialized in Tomine's iconic comic book series <i>Optic Nerve</i> and was excerpted in <i>McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13</i>.</div></div> 3296544 book 2 10 2007 Shortcomings total:1863|5:341|4:739|3:584|2:170|1:29| 1863 6782 2391 399 2 5 false false Thu Mar 06 08:33:35 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 06 08:41:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 3 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 09:33:18 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 07 21:33:19 -0800 2008
When I was waiting tables way bac...more...]]> 2 3 false false Wed Jan 21 14:05:27 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 14:18:44 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon Nov 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 21:17:26 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 27 09:16:02 -0800 2008
(Come to think of it, most graphic novels disappoint me more than a little bit -- Blankets, Gemma Bovary, David Boring, It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken. But I don't want to be too negative so I need to point out some that I lov...more...]]> 5 4 false false Thu Feb 14 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 19 22:43:49 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 23:58:05 -0700 2008 Optic Nerve, the issue that began the serialization of the work that would later be collected as Shortcomings. While that was a fine issue on its own, it didn't work quite as well on its own as some of Tomin...more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 03 09:19:36 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 09 19:04:08 -0700 2008 Shortcomings is a graphic novel that deals with racial identity and - to a certain degree - stereotypes. In this case, many questionable actions are perpetuated by its own main character, a young Japanese-American man named Ben Tanaka. Faced with upheaval in his life, he's suddenly forced to confron...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu May 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun May 18 15:38:09 -0700 2008 Sat May 24 06:11:13 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 20:09:14 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 20:10:31 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 30 14:40:16 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 07 10:57:53 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 04 10:30:54 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 04 10:48:46 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 20 17:01:20 -0700 2007 Thu Dec 06 12:50:35 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false true Sun Apr 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 06 16:46:07 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 06 16:53:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 10 00:49:49 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 10 00:54:41 -0800 2008
Adrian Tomine's writing and art cannot really be criticized to much. He is definitely a master of the alternative comics style. I just really can't get into his subject matter t...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Mar 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Dec 21 22:14:19 -0800 2007 Fri Mar 14 19:00:14 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Dec 08 08:51:49 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 08 08:59:08 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 16:31:33 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 18:17:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Aug 31 00:20:15 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 00:21:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jun 24 17:32:11 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 19:06:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 15:54:18 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 14:00:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat May 16 22:28:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 19 16:42:42 -0700 2009 more...]]>