Goodreads | Chris's review

Chris's review

Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
by David Michaelis

[close]

blog this review

Copy/paste the text below into your blog.

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195218.Schulz_and_Peanuts_A_Biography?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WnkG9oMQL._SL160_.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195218.Schulz_and_Peanuts_A_Biography?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/54620.David_Michaelis">David Michaelis</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11386553?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars Schultz and Peanuts has been sitting on my bookshelf since Christmas. I'm only getting around to it now because while I recognize the enormity of what Charles Schultz brought to the comics page and his undeniable impact on American culture... I never really loved Peanuts growing up. Oh I liked Peanuts... but I was growing up during the wonderful if all too brief boom period for American newspaper strips: The Far Side, Bloom County, Calvin & Hobbes.... these strips really molded me as a comic strip reader. Peanuts... well, it was good, but it was also omnipresent on commercials, bed sheets, school supplies and so on. I never really latched on.
 
 In fact while I was growing up, I never understood why people loved Peanuts so much until a few years ago when Fantagraphics started releasing The Complete Peanuts collections- those terrific books really put me in my place and showed me Schultz's genius... although I do think I grew up reading Peanuts the strip's lesser days. The acidity that distinguished Peanuts in its heyday was all but gone from the strip. I remember joking with my comic friends in high school that it seemed like Peanuts was, for weeks on end, a kid talking to a basketball. Literally, Schultz did a half month of Rerun talking to a basketball.
 
 That's one of the great things about Schultz and Peanuts- it puts those strips in context. Hell, the biography puts every strip in context, which is absolutely fascinating considering ol' Sparky was pretty staunchly opposed to people reading his comics as proxys for his own life... but Michaelis presents a really good argument for the way certain storylines were shaped by Schultz's life and times. Certainly this is a great, gripping read with exhaustive documentation and interviews from just about every person that could speak with knowledge on Charles Schultz and his life.
 
 If I had to pick one thing that slightly bothered me about the book, I'd have to go with Michaelis' constant use of quotes from interviews that the cartoonist did over his forty-plus years producing the strip. Michaelis uses these quotes to underscore a lot of Schultz's inner turmoil and anguish... the very things that drive his artistic ability. I buy that completely but at the same time... I don't know. I would imagine that Charles Schultz is probably the most interviewed cartoonist in the history of comics. More, he seems like he genuinely didn't like to be interviewed. Putting that together, it seemed strange to me to hold so much stock in what Schultz said in these numerous interviews, especially since there was so much contradictory material there. Again, it's a virtue that Michaelis doesn't shy away from this fact but at the same time... I don't know. I just didn't enjoy that aspect of the book.
 
 Small quibble, great book.
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/82521?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Chris's review
rating:
bookshelves: non-fiction

Schultz and Peanuts has been sitting on my bookshelf since Christmas. I'm only getting around to it now because while I recognize the enormity of what Charles Schultz brought to the comics page and his undeniable impact on American culture... I never really loved Peanuts growing up. Oh I liked Peanuts... but I was growing up during the wonderful if all too brief boom period for American newspaper strips: The Far Side, Bloom County, Calvin & Hobbes.... these strips really molded me as a comic strip reader. Peanuts... well, it was good, but it was also omnipresent on commercials, bed sheets, school supplies and so on. I never really latched on.

In fact while I was growing up, I never understood why people loved Peanuts so much until a few years ago when Fantagraphics started releasing The Complete Peanuts collections- those terrific books really put me in my place and showed me Schultz's genius... although I do think I grew up reading Peanuts the strip's lesser days. The acidity t...more Schultz and Peanuts has been sitting on my bookshelf since Christmas. I'm only getting around to it now because while I recognize the enormity of what Charles Schultz brought to the comics page and his undeniable impact on American culture... I never really loved Peanuts growing up. Oh I liked Peanuts... but I was growing up during the wonderful if all too brief boom period for American newspaper strips: The Far Side, Bloom County, Calvin & Hobbes.... these strips really molded me as a comic strip reader. Peanuts... well, it was good, but it was also omnipresent on commercials, bed sheets, school supplies and so on. I never really latched on.

In fact while I was growing up, I never understood why people loved Peanuts so much until a few years ago when Fantagraphics started releasing The Complete Peanuts collections- those terrific books really put me in my place and showed me Schultz's genius... although I do think I grew up reading Peanuts the strip's lesser days. The acidity that distinguished Peanuts in its heyday was all but gone from the strip. I remember joking with my comic friends in high school that it seemed like Peanuts was, for weeks on end, a kid talking to a basketball. Literally, Schultz did a half month of Rerun talking to a basketball.

That's one of the great things about Schultz and Peanuts- it puts those strips in context. Hell, the biography puts every strip in context, which is absolutely fascinating considering ol' Sparky was pretty staunchly opposed to people reading his comics as proxys for his own life... but Michaelis presents a really good argument for the way certain storylines were shaped by Schultz's life and times. Certainly this is a great, gripping read with exhaustive documentation and interviews from just about every person that could speak with knowledge on Charles Schultz and his life.

If I had to pick one thing that slightly bothered me about the book, I'd have to go with Michaelis' constant use of quotes from interviews that the cartoonist did over his forty-plus years producing the strip. Michaelis uses these quotes to underscore a lot of Schultz's inner turmoil and anguish... the very things that drive his artistic ability. I buy that completely but at the same time... I don't know. I would imagine that Charles Schultz is probably the most interviewed cartoonist in the history of comics. More, he seems like he genuinely didn't like to be interviewed. Putting that together, it seemed strange to me to hold so much stock in what Schultz said in these numerous interviews, especially since there was so much contradictory material there. Again, it's a virtue that Michaelis doesn't shy away from this fact but at the same time... I don't know. I just didn't enjoy that aspect of the book.

Small quibble, great book.
...less

Like this review? yes flag

comments (showing 0-0 of 0)

newest »

date

all Chris's books »