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87th out of 1,496 books
—
3,009 voters
One Hundred Demons
by
Lynda Barry
One Hundred Demons collects a series of memoiristic strips that appeared in Salon’s popular "Mothers Who Think" section. Here are 20 stories told in Lynda Barry’s distinctive cartoon-narrative style that delve into the funk and sweetness of love, family, adolescence, race and the 'hood, identity — all the forces that made her the "wreck" she is today. Barry disti...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
August 30th 2005
by Sasquatch Books
(first published August 13th 2002)
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Nov 21, 2008
Lara's
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Tweens, Teens and all other tortured souls
Shelves:
graphic-novels
Synopsis
:NAME THAT DEMON!!! Freaky Boyfriends! Shouting Moms! Innocence betrayed! Rotten things we've done that will haunt us forever! These are some of the pickled demons Lynda Barry's storeis serve up comic-strip style, mixing the true and un-true into something she calles "autobifictionalography." Inspired by a 16th-century Zen monk's painting of a hundred demons chasing each other across a long scroll, and encouraged by a 20th-century editor, Barry's demons jump out of these pages and doubl...more
In my dreams of teenage trauma prophylaxis Kathleen Hanna hands me Pussy Whipped and this book as a 13 year old, before I lose my virginity. Avenue D is playing in the background: "Shit, you know they all just want to hit it./They're just talking shit 'cos they want it," which, although nobody will prank call my house at 3am to call me a slut for a couple years, is a revelation that rings true.
I come out of adolescence unscathed.
I come out of adolescence unscathed.
how stupid am I for not reading this before?! super stupid! It was awesome.
Highlights for me:
-"Common Scents" was hilarious.
-"Hate" was gratifying.
-The line, "This ability to exist in pieces is what some adults call resilience. And I suppose in some way it is a kind of resilience that makes adults believe children forget trauma" collapsed the chest of both my childhood self as well as my parental self.
-The dialog in "Lost and Found" with the arrow pointing to one woman, reading "super dramatical...more
Highlights for me:
-"Common Scents" was hilarious.
-"Hate" was gratifying.
-The line, "This ability to exist in pieces is what some adults call resilience. And I suppose in some way it is a kind of resilience that makes adults believe children forget trauma" collapsed the chest of both my childhood self as well as my parental self.
-The dialog in "Lost and Found" with the arrow pointing to one woman, reading "super dramatical...more
I caught myself thinking about taking up a paintbrush and water colors while reading this so I could paint out my demons too. I really love the one about the aswang (a scary dog demon story that her grandma tells her interwoven with a bunch of mother-daughter stuff), Dancing---amazing amazing amazing---just think hula + suave uncles dancing the twist in the kitchen + dancing baby-madness in the morning + trying to befriend the coolest dancing girl in the world. "Sensitive nose" and "hate" and "m...more
Jul 08, 2010
Rachel Fessenbecker
added it
As a Buddhist, I really enjoyed this book. What a unique and genius take! I wish I had better words to describe it. Lynda Barry really took the graphic novel to new heights while using an Asian painting exercise in “One Hundred Demons.” Within, she covers seventeen “autobifictionalographic” stories where she observes and meditates on different “demons” that have affected her life throughout the years. Some of the demons/stories she shares are serious- like her hateful and abusive mother while ot...more
What probably worked as a serialized comic strip on Salon.com doesn't really work (for me, at least...a lot of five star reviews on this site, so I might just be weird) in book format. It took me forever to finish this because I could only bring myself to read two or three "demons" at a time. The self-consciously juvenile artwork fits the concept, but that doesn't stop it from getting distractingly ugly very, very fast. As for the stories themselves, they are occasionally quite touching and insi...more
Read for my comic book club and really enjoyed it! Barry has an artistic style that initially put me off but that I grew to really admire. I think I didn't like how she drew herself as a kid -- she's so awkward it's actually painful! Once I got into it and was able to see a bit of the author and the life behind the self-portraiture, I found the book to be filled with wonderful, melancholy insights into growing up and shot through with equal parts humor and anguish.
There are a few incredibly dar...more
There are a few incredibly dar...more
According to the blurb on the back cover, Barry describes her work as: "Autobifictionalography."
Her introduction poses two relevant questions: "Is it autobiography if parts of it are not true?" and "Is it fiction if parts of it are?"
Having read Barry's _What It Is_ not so long ago, I've been thinking of composing an article called "What It Isn't." But, I can't even figure out what to put on a rubric for the creative writing class I'll be teaching in a week. Maybe it's because the creative artist...more
Her introduction poses two relevant questions: "Is it autobiography if parts of it are not true?" and "Is it fiction if parts of it are?"
Having read Barry's _What It Is_ not so long ago, I've been thinking of composing an article called "What It Isn't." But, I can't even figure out what to put on a rubric for the creative writing class I'll be teaching in a week. Maybe it's because the creative artist...more
I first read this comic on salon.com when I was 24, which was just old enough to appreciate the tone of regret, trauma, and fragile beauty. I was crushed when the comic ended after only 17 entries. Reading it again ten years later, the writing affects me in the same way it did then. I am surprised how well I remember these stories and how I internalized them to help me make sense of the pain of growing up. The economy of Barry's storytelling is amazing. In just 18 panels she can reduce me to tea...more
I didn't immediately feel drawn to Lynda Barry's work. The Reader had Marlys pretty much every week, and I most often skipped it. Something about the style.
Oh, my regrets!
This is such a great collection of comics; such a wonderful arc, so many good stories, so many smiles and laughs and tears and meaningful moments.
Some comic artists have great drawing talent that is so far beyond any real insight, and you can get trapped and think that maybe comics are just interesting to look at, but maybe a b...more
Oh, my regrets!
This is such a great collection of comics; such a wonderful arc, so many good stories, so many smiles and laughs and tears and meaningful moments.
Some comic artists have great drawing talent that is so far beyond any real insight, and you can get trapped and think that maybe comics are just interesting to look at, but maybe a b...more
An amusing autobiographical(?) take on a girl's childhood. In graphic novel form.
Lynda Barry's graphic novels - or are they comics? - are guilty pleasures for me. This one was fascinating on lots of levels for me. First off are the stories, which are partially true, partially fictional, and which talk about her childhood and young adulthood. She doesn't have a hundred stories/demons, only seventeen, with titles like Head Lice and My Worst Boyfriend, Lost Worlds, Dancing, Hate, Resilience, Dogs, Girlness, and Lost and Found. There's lots of pain here, but also some humor, and...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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This book was good--not brilliant, but really solid work. I particularly love how she breaks one of the cardinal rules of memoir (it shouldn't be therapeutic) and then celebrates that she did ("Writing this was SO therapeutic!"). I also love how she breaks another cardinal rule of memoir and just makes stuff up for the sake of a good story (From now on, I'm planning to use her term "autobifictionalography" in response to everyone who asks if my fiction is based on my own life).
Some funny stuff,...more
Some funny stuff,...more
I picked this book up mainly because of the rumors that Ira Glass is the head lice demon boyfriend. After reading it, I think his identity is pretty clear, and her take on him (drawn reading the Lonely Genius Gazette and talking weirdly about his mother) is one of the funnier things in this collection.
I liked the idea of the Hundred Demons very much, and some of the stories are memorable and moving. But the quality of the narrative struck me as a bit uneven from strip to strip, and Barry's parti...more
I liked the idea of the Hundred Demons very much, and some of the stories are memorable and moving. But the quality of the narrative struck me as a bit uneven from strip to strip, and Barry's parti...more
one of the first graphic novels i ever read. i just read it again and i love the part with her teacher who teaches about prejudice. it's so sweet.
This is the first book of Lynda Barry's that I've read and I thought it was amazing. Her mix of comics and collage is beautiful to look at, but her stories were what I truly loved. She writes that she got the idea of drawing one hundred demons from a zen practice. Each "demon" is a chapter of memories from her childhood that capture so aptly the confusion and wonder of being a kid, all those unknownable things that happen outside your understanding and the sad guilts you continue to carry on as...more
This was one of those books that I didn't love, or even really like. But it has such positive reviews on Goodreads, and everyone I know who's read it liked it, so I wondered if maybe something was really wrong with me. There were a few things that I liked about it, so I'll start with those. I really liked the concept of One Hundred Demons. Writing about the personal demons that have haunted Lynda Barry throughout her life is such a great concept and it made me want to try it myself (as the book...more
Mar 01, 2008
Monica Edinger
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
graphic-novel
Lynda Barry is a fantastic artist/writer who needs to be better known in the children's lit/YA world.
Barry draws one hundred demons, her use of water color and ink creates really wonderful depictions of 'lost worlds,' 'lice' and other demons that followed her. Each demon came with stories about Barry's childhood, dating life and family.
The stories were often amusing, very true to life, Barry doesn't pull any punches (even when comparing Ira Glass, her worst boyfriend, to her own mother). I also loved that Barry was not only telling great stories, but in the end trying to inspire her readers to...more
The stories were often amusing, very true to life, Barry doesn't pull any punches (even when comparing Ira Glass, her worst boyfriend, to her own mother). I also loved that Barry was not only telling great stories, but in the end trying to inspire her readers to...more
Lynda Barry's version of an old Asian painting exercise where she releases demons from her life onto the paper alternates between humorous and painful anecdotes she is working through from her childhood to early adulthood to the present (2000 election). All of them are poetically and artfully realized, a few (such as her lost childhood memories of kickball and the reason she stopped dancing) to the point where they brought tears to my eyes. This is maybe my favorite thing by her so far, an amazi...more
One day, cartoonist Lynda Barry came across an ancient exercise by a Buddhist monk that calls for a painter to practice technique by drawing one hundred little demons. So she tried it, and after she inked a bunch of critters with tails and horns, she began exorcising some her own personal demons. One! Hundred! Demons! is the result, a crafty little first-person graphic memoir about living through the pains of everything from dating to dancing to the 2000 presidential election. Each of Barry’s “d...more
This book is the bomb and Lynda Barry is the bombalurina.
This book seems to be the crossroads, the point where she transformed from her perfectly incredible and delightful self, to the milk of human kindness filled, self-forgiving, fully honest role model and teacher that she is today. You can feel it.
A lot of things I'd been hunching about were confirmed herein.
The last story, about the monkey head stationery was very sweet, and made me happy for lynda.
Matt Groening may be funk lord of the uni...more
This book seems to be the crossroads, the point where she transformed from her perfectly incredible and delightful self, to the milk of human kindness filled, self-forgiving, fully honest role model and teacher that she is today. You can feel it.
A lot of things I'd been hunching about were confirmed herein.
The last story, about the monkey head stationery was very sweet, and made me happy for lynda.
Matt Groening may be funk lord of the uni...more
This was my first time ever reading a graphic novel. I liked it a lot better than I thought I would. The author's style was easy to follow. The story is good; it shows aspects of what it is like to grow up in poverty, as a member of an immigrant family and with a hateful mother. The artwork is really unique but I enjoyed it. It is visually appealing and adds to the overall reading experience. I also really like the idea behind the book: to paint your demons; the author was inspired by the painti...more
Until I read this book, I never truly "got" Lynda Barry's comics. I appreciated the creativity in her artwork, I was entertained by her brand of storytelling (I loved her novel Cruddy, for example), but her comics never really clicked with me on a visceral level. Well, One! Hundred! Demons! has changed all that. The stories are so well-written, sweetly and simply drawn, and have a universal, emotional tug that makes me crave more. I am glad to finally get on the Lynda Barry bandwagon, and look f...more
Is it fiction? Is it true? These are the first questions Barry asks in this graphic narrative. One Hundred Demons is a relective work on by Barry about her past. The art is all painted by Barry and helps bring the audience into the scene. The chapters all deal with a different demon, is it really head lice or does the lice represent something bigger and deeper. These are things Barry leaves for you to figure out in this Autobifictionography with both happy memories, sad memories, and those memor...more
READ THIS BOOK! YES, YOU! Seriously, i don't have *that* many friends on this site, and i'm not going to name names b/c that would be creepy, but i specifically think that each of you would really enjoy reading it if you haven't already.
I plowed through it all too quickly and am looking forward to re-reading it as well as her other books. Lynda Barry is a freaking genius. Don't be deceived by the bright colors...this book is written from an all-too-adult perspective. Thanks much for lending it...more
I plowed through it all too quickly and am looking forward to re-reading it as well as her other books. Lynda Barry is a freaking genius. Don't be deceived by the bright colors...this book is written from an all-too-adult perspective. Thanks much for lending it...more
May 29, 2012
Kay
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
manga-comic-cartoon-graphic
It always amazes me how well Lynda Barry seems to recall the thoughts and experiences of children, and how both her words and pictures seem to express those things without adding the filters of the grown-up brain or experience. This particular book is what she calls an "autobifictionalography", and so we get to see her both as an adult and a child. It's full of "oh yeah, I remember" moments, which I'd nominate as her particular gift, as well as moments which I'm glad were not generally part of m...more
I seem to be taking a when-in-Rome approach to book-buying lately. I picked this up on a whim this weekend in Quimby's Books in Chicago.
This is the first Barry book I've read that deals directly with her real life. Though it seems obvious in her fictional comic strips that they're laden with memories that are real to her, that's not at all the same thing as really drawing her mother, grandmother, talking about her real neighbors, her real issues and plot turns. That's very, very inspiring writin...more
This is the first Barry book I've read that deals directly with her real life. Though it seems obvious in her fictional comic strips that they're laden with memories that are real to her, that's not at all the same thing as really drawing her mother, grandmother, talking about her real neighbors, her real issues and plot turns. That's very, very inspiring writin...more
As much as we tsk and shake our heads at how cruel children can be to one another, the bullies of the world have inspired pure genius out of painful awkwardness, and Lynda Barry is the patron saint of the painfully awkward genius. In One Hundred Demons, Barry examines "demons" from her adolescence that continue to haunt, and in so doing has created a collection that is quite relatable to almost anyone. She blends a fluid Japanese brush-stroke inspired style with elements of collage, making use o...more
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| Bad Boyfriend | 1 | 12 | Feb 26, 2010 07:26pm |
Lynda Barry is an American cartoonist and author, perhaps best known for her weekly comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek.
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“This ability to exist in pieces is what some adults call resilience. And I suppose in some way it is a kind of resilience, a horrible resilience that makes adults believe children forget trauma.”
—
13 people liked it
“The groove is so mysterious. We're born with it and we lose it and the world seems to split apart before our eyes into stupid and cool. When we get it back, the world unifies around us, and both stupid and cool fall away.
I am grateful to those who are keepers of the groove. The babies and the grandmas who hang on to it and help us remember when we forget that any kind of dancing is better than no dancing at all.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
I am grateful to those who are keepers of the groove. The babies and the grandmas who hang on to it and help us remember when we forget that any kind of dancing is better than no dancing at all.”
Oct 13, 2008 11:29am