Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
by Chris Ware
published
September 12th 2000
(first published 2004)
by Pantheon
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binding
Hardcover, 380 pages
literary awards
2001 Guardian First Book Award
isbn
0375404538
(isbn13: 9780375404535)
description
This first book from Chicago author Chris Ware is a pleasantly-decorated view at a lonely and emotionally-impaired "everyman" (Jimmy Corriga...more
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| chicago readers: welcome! | 30 | 9 | 11/10/2007 08:00PM |
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avg 4.36
Read in June, 2008
A friend, a physicist actually, recommended this to me after I rolled my eyes at superhero comic books. It's really great, heavy stuff. In just episode 1, Jimmy gets to meet his hero at a convention, who macks on his mom, stays the night, ignores Jimmy, and then leaves Jimmy to pass on his regrets/greetings to the mom.
The big plot, though, is twofold. One, how Jimmy gets re-discovered by his father, who had earlier walked. It turns out the father had re-married, and the story of that family i...more
The big plot, though, is twofold. One, how Jimmy gets re-discovered by his father, who had earlier walked. It turns out the father had re-married, and the story of that family i...more
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I love me some graphic novels but I don't pretend that the vast majority of them rise to the level of serious literature. Most of the time I look for the large number of books out there that are "clever" (as in, better than 90% of TV) as a mindless respite between novels. And in the case of ones such as Louis Riel, Berlin, or Maus, I get a little bit of education without trudging through a 600 page history book.
Jimmy Corrigan, though, is one of the five or six graphic novels I'...more
Jimmy Corrigan, though, is one of the five or six graphic novels I'...more
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Some of my favorite books are graphic novels, and this one is second maybe only to Blankets. It's a sad, shockingly complex graphic novel that toys with your expectations of the comic medium. Jimmy's a lonely middle-aged man who's in an unhealthily co-dependent relationship with his also-lonely mother. He doesn't know who his father is--until the day he sees a man dressed as Superman commit suicide outside his office window. On that same day, he receives a letter and a plane ticket fr...more
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Well, the technical quality of the art is certainly good, and it's formally inventive and all that, and it most definitely does an effective job at maintaining and conveying a consistent mood- if you were feeling charitable, you could even say that there's something kind of magnificent about it's overwhelming, unrelieved bleakness- but when I was finished I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the point of the whole thing had been. On quality I'd say it deserved three stars, if it wasn't ...more
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Read in November, 2008
The first half of this took some getting used to- the author uses some confusing layouts and the main character is incredibly frustrating. I found myself resenting him and hating him even though he is a pitiful character completely addled with neuroses. However, the neuroses are mostly ones that strike close to home; they are just grotesque exaggerations of fears and feelings I've felt at times, and so ultimately serve a purpose. The story isn't one I could relate to first-hand; it deals with...more
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Read in January, 2006
Oh yes. Get this book. It's crazy. It's so minutely crafted you can just spend hours and hours looking at Chris Ware's intricate imagination (which he makes fun of) and non-linear narrative style. The story, layered like lasagna, is about Jimmy Corrigan's life, imagined and real. It's a loser's life, mired in paranoia and abyssal self esteem. But he makes a decision to meet his estranged dad, and it takes him on the adventure of a lifetime. A heartbreaking journey.
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Read in February, 2005
recommends it for:
People with eyes, brains, gasping capabilities
I'm surprised that GoodReads doesn't allow a sixth star for this book alone. I can not say enough great things about Jimmy Corrigan. Honestly, it changed my life, and I can't imagine anyone not being in awe of its mathematics, literally and figuratively. This book is like the Catcher in the Rye for graphic novels. It raised the bar and it will not be matched for a very long time. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Breathtaking and deep. Brilliant.
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If anyone, anywhere still needs to be convinced that graphic-novels can match traditional novels in artistic achievement, give them this book. Chris Ware's art perfectly balances this slow, complex, tragic tale of human emotion and lonliness. His technical skill and inovative panel layouts stretch sequential art to its limits, and never hit a false note. One of the most touching and memorable novels, graphic or otherwise, that I have ever read.
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Read in February, 2005
recommends it for:
Lorrie Moore, Lydia Davis, Ann Beattie
I like this book.
I feel like the author is a very nice person who has been very lonely for many years and suffered alone, and who in his times of loneliness wrote and drew to console himself.
I feel like the author is a very nice person who has been very lonely for many years and suffered alone, and who in his times of loneliness wrote and drew to console himself.
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another chicago great. loved this & highly recommend it, even if sometimes i accidentally say 'billy corgan' instead of 'jimmy corrigan.'
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Read in September, 2008
recommended to saxonb by:
madeline
Its hard for even the biggest skeptic of the graphic novel to deny Chris Ware's genius. Corrigan is indeed heart-breaking and such is only further emphasized by Ware's accompanying visuals. There is certainly more to this book than the bumbling anti-adventures of our anti-hero and almost speechless Corrigan. The layers are subtle, surreal and result in one more aspect to add to the surprisingly affective depth that this story (and its sub-stories) contains.
However, I found myself at the en...more
However, I found myself at the en...more
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6 comments
Read in September, 2008
This book was amazing. Very well developed characters that are sympathetic and real. The story is about Jimmy who lives in Chicago and his only friend is his controlling mother, who he calls every day. The one person with whom he has face-to-face contact with hates him. One day he gets a letter from his father, who he has never met. The other half of the book is devoted to the childhood of Jimmy's grandfather, James. James has no mother. He lives with his father, William, in the Chicago o...more
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Read in November, 2008
Incredibly sad. The impressive thing is most of the melancholy doesn't stem from overwrought, dramatic events but rather the eerily believable facets of Jimmy's life. The drab apartment buildings with neglected trees and empty parking lots, complete with a McDonald's arch in the distance. Jimmy eating a can of Campbell's soup by himself after stammering his way through a conversation with his overbearing mother. The shitty Thanksgiving decorations at the retirement home he visits.
Altho...more
Altho...more
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Read in September, 2008
This is one of the most ambitious and self-consciously "literary" comics I have ever read. In many ways, it succeeds. The writing is frequently excellent, and the dream-like asides and interlocking stories are complex and interesting. The artwork is simple and a little sterile, but there are many clever details and recurring visual motifs hidden everywhere. The repetition of tiny visual details effectively mirrors people's private thoughts.
The completion of this book clearly t...more
The completion of this book clearly t...more
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Read in August, 2008
It took me a while to tap into what Ware was doing in this book. At first I didn't see much likable about Jimmy or his dad or his grandfather or his great-grandfather, but in time they developed into into thought-provoking studies of human nature. Particularly the grandfather's story was interesting and accessible--and the connection to the Chicago Colombian Exhibition of 1893 was great. It's a subject I have actually studied and returned to several times. Ware does a nice job capturing the Whit...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in June, 2008
As I had my little mini-book club of graphic novels this summer, this was the most astonishing. Beautifully drawn, with subtle bits of visual storytelling on practically every page; and it's somehow a story about nothing and everything with nary a wasted page. My breathless hyperbole is leavened by the fact that I was sort of bored and perplexed throughout, but nevermind: I like practically everything anyway.
Once I got into Ware's world of slow-cooking bacon and the book's involving back sto...more
Once I got into Ware's world of slow-cooking bacon and the book's involving back sto...more
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Chris Ware's work, at first blush, looks like a designer's detail work more than the sweeping panels of a great comix mind. In fact, his books are peppered with narrative devices that look more like diagrams than comic panels.
But the beauty of Ware's "Jimmy Corrigan" is that the story is sometimes best expressed through these diagrams. Ware has the skill to render simple figures on a walk as well as complex family trees and histories, each within a two-page spread.
And that's ...more
But the beauty of Ware's "Jimmy Corrigan" is that the story is sometimes best expressed through these diagrams. Ware has the skill to render simple figures on a walk as well as complex family trees and histories, each within a two-page spread.
And that's ...more
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Jimmy Corrigan is a lonely guy -- a jittery, unattractive middle-aged man trapped in a dead-end job. The days bleed into each other, his only escape being a fantasy realm where he dons tights and becomes "the smartest kid on Earth." A grim history of parental abandonment, stretching all the way back to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and down the Corrigan family tree, has culminated in Jimmy's insignificant existence.
Jimmy's life finally takes a turn when he receives a letter from ...more
Jimmy's life finally takes a turn when he receives a letter from ...more
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Read in August, 2008
Jimmy Corrigan is a study in style and form. This story would be nothing special if it was not presented in the avant-garde comic book style that Ware uses. The story would probably be considered both quaint and forgettable if it were, say, a short story appearing in The Sun. But wait until you see Ware's book. It is like no other, filled with bizarre rules on how to read it (It even says on the cover that it is a study in reader tolerance) and massive departures from the plot to show Jimmy's th...more
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