Brendan's review
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine
This is unashamedly a comic book, but the subject matter is life as it is lived -- by overly political, overly self-conscious, melancholic, neo-bohemian 20- and 30-somethings in Berkeley and New York. They’re all, to some degree, insufferable, but the worst is Ben Tanaka. He lords his taste in movies over everyone while punching the clock at a crappy theater job. He treats his girlfriend poorly and is obsessed by his own Asian-ness, his girlfriend’s Asian-ness, and the socio-political ramifications of his love life. He also really digs white chicks.
The story of Ben’s breakup, his experimentation with punky blondes who photograph their own pee, and his faltering attempt at some kind of self-knowledge is told in a style that is, to quote The New York Times, “pitch-perfect and succinct.” (The ending, in particular, is satisfyingly ambiguous. Find an excerpt here.) The Times goes way overboard, however, when it suggests that “a Philip Roth vibe reverberates th...more
The story of Ben’s breakup, his experimentation with punky blondes who photograph their own pee, and his faltering attempt at some kind of self-knowledge is told in a style that is, to quote The New York Times, “pitch-perfect and succinct.” (The ending, in particular, is satisfyingly ambiguous. Find an excerpt here.) The Times goes way overboard, however, when it suggests that “a Philip Roth vibe reverberates th...more
