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The Quitter (American Splendor)
The acclaimed creator and subject of the American Book Award-winning biopic "American Splendor" tells the story of his troubled teen years when he would beat up other kids just to win the approval of his peers.
Paperback, 104 pages
Published
September 6th 2006
by Vertigo
(first published 2005)
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This was our penultimate entry in the library's Jewish literature discussion group. Honestly, I would've preferred one of the American Splendor collections, but seeing as I'm a hired hand---unpaid, at that---I go with the flow. The Quitter has plenty of the misanthropy one expects from Pekar since he began self-publishing his comics in 1976. It's the most novelistic of his autobiographies, however, eschewing the slice-of-quotidian bafflement approach of AS for a coming-of-age plot in which we fo...more
Category: Books
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
Author: Harvey Pekar
Gw belum pernah dengar nama Harvey Pekar sebelumnya. Tapi begitu gw melihat cover buku ini, gw langsung tertarik banget! Selain itu, alasan lainnya gw beli buku ini adalah karena lagi diskon. Makanya gw beli deh, hehehe...
Sekilas info:
Wahai pecinta buku, sering-seringlah ke Gramedia Grand Indonesia. Soalnya di sana ada tumpukan khusus untuk buku-buku yang didiskon. Harga buku ini cuma 15 ribu rupiah s...more
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
Author: Harvey Pekar
Gw belum pernah dengar nama Harvey Pekar sebelumnya. Tapi begitu gw melihat cover buku ini, gw langsung tertarik banget! Selain itu, alasan lainnya gw beli buku ini adalah karena lagi diskon. Makanya gw beli deh, hehehe...
Sekilas info:
Wahai pecinta buku, sering-seringlah ke Gramedia Grand Indonesia. Soalnya di sana ada tumpukan khusus untuk buku-buku yang didiskon. Harga buku ini cuma 15 ribu rupiah s...more
Harvey Pekar in this book is a hard character to empathise with, he is simultaneously a loser and a bully. He doesn't really explain the origins of why he acts like he does, just that he does. He isn't an unlucky man or a neglected child, it just seems to be his own foolish decision making and immaturity that leads him to failure. Of course, that in itself is his problem, and I'm sure he deserves sympathy, I just found it hard to give it.
The book is a frustrating read, he brushes over...more
The book is a frustrating read, he brushes over...more
Read this at the library when I probably should have been working. That's what happens when I sit too close to the graphic novel section.
I felt worse for Cleveland losing Harvey Pekar this July than LeBron James's announcement a few days earlier, and when I read the sad news I made a mental note to pick up a copy of The Quitter because I knew it covered parts of his life not covered in his other comics.
This is Mr. Pekar's memoir covering the time from his birth to Polish immi...more
I felt worse for Cleveland losing Harvey Pekar this July than LeBron James's announcement a few days earlier, and when I read the sad news I made a mental note to pick up a copy of The Quitter because I knew it covered parts of his life not covered in his other comics.
This is Mr. Pekar's memoir covering the time from his birth to Polish immi...more
Malbadeen
rated it
Recommends it for:
Sarah M. and Ben E.
Shelves:
memoir-ish,
comics-graphic-novels
Generally, I have a very sophisticated system for choosing the graphic novels/comics I read. It goes like this: I bring my kids to the library, peruse the kids section with them for a bit, do a little "mommy reads to her daughter" show at the tinny round table by the window (that is a stupidly designed to be adorable for kids but not smartly designed to be accommodating for the adults that almost always sit with the kids) and then I ditch them while I quickly scan the cooking/gardening...more
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Ever since I saw the film, American Splendor, I have been a big fan of Harvey Pekar. I'm not sure how I heard about The Quitter since it is not new (the copyright date is 2005).
If you like Pekar's other stuff: American Splendor or Our Cancer Year, you'll probably enjoy The Quitter.
Like his other works, The Quitter is autobiographical. The Quitter begins with Pekar's childhood and takes you up through his first jobs after high school and his life before American Sple...more
If you like Pekar's other stuff: American Splendor or Our Cancer Year, you'll probably enjoy The Quitter.
Like his other works, The Quitter is autobiographical. The Quitter begins with Pekar's childhood and takes you up through his first jobs after high school and his life before American Sple...more
This was interesting Pekar, because it is not the Pekar you expect. It predates the mundane job he has had most of his life and predates his involvement in comic books. At times he is even confident and hopeful about his future. But Harvey Pekar being who he is, the worries and pessimistic attitude win out in the end. But it makes you relate to him even more because you can identify with him, no matter what your own life is like. It shows Pekar as a tough guy street fighter in Cleveland and...more
Plot Summary:
I've never read a book quite like this one. It's a graphic novel that tells the life story of Harvey Pekar, author and narrator of "The Quitter." He is an average guy who constantly feels like a failure, no matter what he attempts. As a Jewish kid growing up in troubled and sometimes violent neighborhoods, he gets into physical fights as a way to defend and improve his self-image. He develops another habit at an early age: quitting anything in which he does not ...more
I've never read a book quite like this one. It's a graphic novel that tells the life story of Harvey Pekar, author and narrator of "The Quitter." He is an average guy who constantly feels like a failure, no matter what he attempts. As a Jewish kid growing up in troubled and sometimes violent neighborhoods, he gets into physical fights as a way to defend and improve his self-image. He develops another habit at an early age: quitting anything in which he does not ...more
Pekar is one of the giants of American comic writing and in this book expressively drawn in monochrome by Dean Haspel you can see why. This is Pekar's autobiography of his younger years and he is relentlessly brutal and honest about his own shortcomings, in particular his inability to keep going with any task when faced with being less than perfect and not receiving adultation. It is a tendency all of us have and dealing with failure is an essential part of character growth and Pekar is mercil...more
Holy cow, this book is terrifying. It's got this slow, torturous inevitability to it--one way or another, I'm not quite sure how, it gets so close to the unglamorous day-to-day reality of depression and low self-esteem. This is the first thing I've read by Pekar and I must say he's an engaging narrator, in spite of the fact that he paints himself as a thug, a loser, a screw-up. He's got honesty going for him, though, and it's going full-steam ahead in The Quitter. I'm feeling a little worried ab...more
Harvey Pekar's autobiography left me wanting more from it. It just kind of runs down events in his life, but leaves out anything charming or interesting. Essentially, it's a series of fist fights and job losses.
Angela
rated it
Recommends it for:
Fans of Harvey Pekar or fans of American Splendor
Shelves:
graphic-novels
I kinda feel bad about only giving this book two stars... mainly because I know that Pekar is such a sensitive guy and all. I can totally appreciate this book, but when I picked it up I really didn't know what it as that I was getting into! I didn't know at first that this was autobiographical, and I also had the thought that perhaps this book just needed to be a book, and not a graphic novel... But as I got toward the end and saw the appreciation that Pekar has toward the medium, and his devoti...more
For the most part, the writing is mostly on par with Pekar's other works but (and I say this with no disrespect to the artist Dean Haspiel because his artwork is really fantastic) I prefer reading Pekar's work with Robert Crumb illustrating it via American Splendor. Crumb really had a grasp of Pekar's quirks and neuroses and his stylized artwork was a perfect compliment to Pekar's personality. Unfortunately for me, Haspiel's artwork just doesn't fit very well.
Check out any of the Amer...more
Check out any of the Amer...more
Jodi
rated it
An autobiographical, self-possessed look at Harvey Pekar's life growing up a Jewish son of immigrants in working class Cleveland. Pekar portrays himself as a self-loather, who gives up easily on things when they don't work out perfectly. A colorful look at the ethnic enclaves of Cleveland of the 1920's, 30's and 40's as well as the work and work ethic of those eras. This is a lifelong autobiography, so the story line covers a great deal, all the way up to Pekar's surprised notoriety with the Ame...more
It's a little hard to believe it's taken me this long to get to Harvey Pekar and Dean Haspiel's THE QUITTER, especially after all the hyping I've done of this project while it was still in development. (But then again, what with the projects I was working on during the last months, it's not that incredible to believe I was too busy :)) I wish I could say it was worth the wait, unfortunately.[return][return]Sometimes I feel like I'm one of the very few who have not read any of Pekar's earlier wor...more
Pekar has been writing about his life for so long that it's hard to read a new piece of his on its own terms - if there's a gap, you fill it in with what you already know. And he's always used a lot of gaps, writing about little moments here and there; he'd talk at length often enough, but it was like a tour guide who might stop at any moment and let you just watch things go by for a while. His one long book, Our Cancer Year, had more or less the same rhythm, and it held together because of the...more
Oh Harvey, what do people see in you.
I liked your story in pieces but as a whole it was just "here is a grumpy dude who was kind of a jerk sometimes. here's his tale."
This is the sort of thing I'd rather read in a well-written book with no pictures - if nothing's going to happen I'd at least like it to sound good. As it was, it looked just fine, but nothing adventurous or weird to pique my interest.
I liked your story in pieces but as a whole it was just "here is a grumpy dude who was kind of a jerk sometimes. here's his tale."
This is the sort of thing I'd rather read in a well-written book with no pictures - if nothing's going to happen I'd at least like it to sound good. As it was, it looked just fine, but nothing adventurous or weird to pique my interest.
While this full-length graphic autobiography may lack the spontaneity and grit of Pekar's shorter works likes "Awakening to the Terror of a New Day," its comparative length to his early work makes THE QUITTER's desperate sense of self-defense more believable. Pekar needs a longer book to explicate the story of his development into adulthood, and to justify the chronic habits he has carried with him since youth.
If you like AMERICAN SPLENDOR, you should read this too.
If you like AMERICAN SPLENDOR, you should read this too.
I was looking forward to reading this one because I, too, am a quitter. For reasons unknown, I find it very difficult to follow through with anything unless I am literally forced to. My life seems to be littered with half-finished projects and good ideas never attempted.
While the artwork is nicely presented, the story does tend to drag at times.
While the artwork is nicely presented, the story does tend to drag at times.
Public library copy. Nicely drawn by Dean Haspiel this brief auto-bio story of Pekar's life is wonderful, my only criticism is how suddenly the story shifts in time to quickly end post An American Splendor film life because so much time was spent on his youth and early adult years. I've yet to read a Pekar penned story that I did not like.
Iain McNab
added it
Pretty good on Pekar's early years as a street-fighting schlub struggling to hold down menial jobs in Cleveland until he finds his true vocation in jazz and comic books but the altter part of the autobiography is too rushed. His first wife just disappears from the story - although we can guess why.
This was unexpectedly good. I like Harvey Pekar but this was honest and interesting and complex work. Great if you've ever been discouraged by the number of things/times you've failed. Offers you no pat/cliche advice about rising from a fall just some honest companionship with another failure.
Blargh. God this was a boring autobio. I thought I loved Harvey Pekar and his messed up ways but the more he goes on about how miserable and boring his life is... well the more boring it is. No insights, no light and shade, no nuffin. He's depressed, and depressing.
This book felt rushed to me, at least in the storytelling. It also is more of a highlights from Pekar's life, not what I would even call a memoir, and certainly not an autobiography. To me it seemed like Pekar was telling his story just to tell it, I didn't sense much connection between him and the piece. 10/03/09
While the storytelling and artwork is great, many of these stories were covered much more dramatically in the pages of American Splendor. However, if you are thinking of beginning to get into Pekar's work this is a perfect place to start.
I'm a little annoyed at the style of Pekar's work. The narration seems to move the story forward and then the dialogue is like a little anticlimax in each panel.
I like Pekar's brutal honesty about himself, although not enough to keep reading his books.
I like Pekar's brutal honesty about himself, although not enough to keep reading his books.
Eh...a comic version of some guy's unremarkable life. Wasn't bad, but not that entertaining. Dude was kinda screwed up in the head, too. I could relate to some of his problems, but still. It was just okay.
Pretty good solid book. I thought it would be more of a downer, and it wasn't really. I had my mom read it when I was through -- thought she'd like the descriptions of Cleveland back in the day.
Interesting autobiographical graphic novel of the writer of American Splendor. A honest and heartfelt tale which reveals the author's insecurities and desire for recognition. A pleasant surprise read for me.
Jennifer
rated it
Graphic novel format was engaging enough, though I enjoyed American Splendor comics and movie more; Liked the 1940's-50's Cleveland history as a backdrop; Matter-of-fact way of telling his life story was unique, though not particularly exciting to me as a reader.
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Harvey Lawrence Pekar was an American underground comic book writer best known for his autobiographical American Splendor series.
In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.
More about Harvey Pekar...
In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.
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“My parents' work ethic amazed me. How could they put in such long hours, day after day?
Part of the reason was to keep the family going - to keep me going. I realized that, although we had different values derived from different cultures and wouldn't agree on certain issues, they were good people, incredible people, and I loved and respected them.”
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Part of the reason was to keep the family going - to keep me going. I realized that, although we had different values derived from different cultures and wouldn't agree on certain issues, they were good people, incredible people, and I loved and respected them.”
