false 4070095 0307377326 9780307377326 562 175 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255736254m/4070095.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4070095.Asterios_Polyp 28995 David Mazzucchelli 4787 508 3 0 false Tue Jul 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 14:18:36 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 07:44:14 -0700 2009
In a scene-by-scene context, Mazzucchelli continues to be a master of comics storytelling; it's too bad the story here doesn't benefit from being told. Nor does the book satisfactorily gel as a complete work. You could cut off the beginning, the end, or any of the middle, and it wouldn't make much difference. (For some novels, that would be a non-issue or even a complement, but Asterios Polyp tries very consciously to matter as a whole).

The characters are intentionally "types", and I think there's an effort to contextualize these stock actors into something transcendent. But it doesn't work.

Even worse, the jokes are terrible--mostly unfunny, often stale.

It was a weird read for me. I was alternately gasping in awe/pleasure, and cringing.

I wonder if a better editor would have helped?

You should read it anyway, of course. It's masterful, and the best aspects should be considered required reading. But the flaws are significant.]]>