Radiator Days

by Lucy Knisley

A collection of journal comics by popular cartoonist Lucy Knisley.

I used to live in a small apaertment in Chicago, where the radiator hummed noisily while i drew comics. The comics in this book were made over a two-year period that seems to consist of constant winter. They were drawn to the tune of the radiator's hum.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Memoir, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Biography Memoir, Adult

316 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2008

About the author

Beginning with an love for Archie comics and Calvin and Hobbes, Lucy Knisley (pronounced "nigh-zlee") has always thought of cartooning as the only profession she is suited for. A New York City kid raised by a family of foodies, Lucy is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago currently pursuing an MFA at the Center for Cartoon Studies. While completing her BFA at the School of the Art Institute, she was comics editor for the award-winning student publication F News Magazine.

Lucy currently resides in New York City where she makes comics. She likes books, sewing, bicycles, food you can eat with a spoon, manatees, nice pens, costumes, baking and Oscar Wilde. She occasionally has been known to wear amazing hats.

She can be reached via e-mail at lucylou@gmail.com.

(copied from http://www.lucyknisley.com/about on 12/31/08)

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Knisley's Relish best. I also have read French MilK and her other memoirs and travelogues and I am attracted to her artistic style. Sort of seduced by the color and flair.

This book is a collection of early black and white stuff from when she was living in Chicago, when it was too cold (for her! Hey, I am in Chicago and like it!) and she drew to the accompanying sound of the radiator. Her work is fresh and attractive at this point, even if rough sometimes. Of course she gets better at everything as she goes on, but this is good to see. I like the memoir stuff better than the fiction here, which is maybe why she mostly has done memoir since. This is journaling, a sketchbook, attempts to try stuff, and you can see the promise in it. Fun!

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning, there is full frontal male nudity. (Good for you, Knisley.)

A graphic novel / memoir from Knisley’s days as an art student. The book is a collection of non-fiction, creative non-fiction, and fiction short stories, some deeply personal, others just goofing around as she experiments with art and storytelling styles. Favorite part for me was to watch her seriously fangirl out when she met her hero, Lynda Barry, author of ‘One Hundred Demons.’

As a reader, picking up and reading Knisley’s works in opposite chronological order actually worked out for me as a way to know where she would end up, both professionally and personally, and be able to see from a big picture perspective how her art and life developed.

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love Lucy Knisley's illustrations, and for the most part - I really enjoyed this book. I only give 3 stars due to the haphazard nature in which these comic were put together. I know that's supposed to be the whole "sketchbook" feel, but I think the comics could have been arranged more cohesively. Also, 5 stars for all autobiographical comics, and the rest - eh.

Still recommend checking it out! And I would also like to give it a re-read. I repeat, her illustrations are totally awesome.

[David H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend recently read Lucy Knisley's newest books (Something New and Kid Gloves), and while I'd never heard of her, I liked what I could see of the art from those books, so I decided to see what my local library had. Turns out they're a very enthusiastic Knisley supporter, so I even found this self-published book, which is where I'm starting with Lucy. Parts of it seem to be written simultaneously with French Milk, which was vaguely confusing.

In any case, this book is a straight journal comic for the most part, with some fictional graphic stories thrown in (I really enjoyed the "Bookshop" story, about a woman who secretly gives books away, as well as her real-life stories of working at a cheese shop one summer). The journal comics themselves were a combination of nostalgic feels (Knisley and I are of an age) and just random thoughts and fears as a young 20-something (same, Lucy, same).

The art itself was usually pretty neat and clear, though sometimes the panels were really small (at one point she has a 24-panel page which was far too tiny for me), though not fully in Knisley's later style. There are some NSFW pages. All in all, an interesting book, but probably not a good starting point to Knisley's work.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are so crazy to read because she is like 22 or something!! I am so jealous of people whose work ethic and technical proficiency so cosmically outstrip my own and it is especially painful when you see that they were that good and hardworking even back then, when you yourself could not even sit upright at a table. Sheesh. I still sort of rudely am looking forward to Lucy-at-50 because I want her access to self-analysis to begin to exceed her lavish capacity for self-reporting, but these are fun to read and she is enormously skilled and driven.

[Vic S-F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very obviously a collection of college sketches and shorts, but since I 1) can't get enough of Knisley (especially her fACIAL EXPRESSIONS) and 2) made a bunch of comix in college that were true garbage, I loved this collection esp. the beautiful stuff about sea animals and what I could identify as early concepts for French Milk and Relish.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is amazing to me that Lucy Knisley had 2 published books before she was out of grad school. #Goalsthatpassedmeby

Radiator Days is an eclectic collection of stories and art that Knisley created in her last year of college and the early parts of grad school. She explores the anxiety and hopefulness of that time in her life.

There are pages of studies of faces and characters. There's a story about the shopgirl at an indie book store in its last days. There are glimpses of the author's time working as a cheese monger.

I enjoyed it, as I enjoy most (all?) of Lucy Knisley's work.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit rougher earlier work. But still an enjoyable read. Not sure it's a great starting point though. I think it helps to care about the artist and her life and her family. The embedded story of the friend with the book store closing doing anonymous random book gifts was my favorite part. The art is definitely less polished. And the sex a bit more open. And perhaps a bit less reflective.

[Margo Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong compilation of Knisley's early work. Having only read the author's graphic memoirs, it was surprising to see fiction-based work along with her autobiographical panels. Even with this early work, the author's voice that we see today is clearly evident.

[Elise · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am rating this 1 star, because according to GoodReads, that means "I did not like it". And I really did not.
I have read many graphic novel memoir type books, and enjoyed nearly all of them. So I understand the diary aspect, I get the genre. But I did not like this book. I think to enjoy any memoir, you must to some extent enjoy and appreciate the writer. I've read 2 other books by Lucy Knisley, and I guess I just don't like her. I did enjoy Relish, but that book is rather different than this or even French Milk. In the latter as well as Radiator Days, she comes off as extremely spoiled, selfish, lazy, and kind of out of touch with reality. The constant complaining about things that do not seem to deserve such complaints (read: "first world problems") is obnoxious to me. Knisley apparently hates working, but wants to buy a moped and go on vacations. If she said something to that tone to me in person, I would roll my eyes, at best. Ugh.
I honestly didn't even want to finish this book, but I did. Oh well. If you are someone who can tolerate complaining about not bad things and can tolerate gushing about the things she doesn't want to complain about... then go for it. For me, this book just didn't do it.

[Mireille Duval · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the personal journaling stuff but didn't like the fiction at all. In general it would have benefitted from more of a structure. It felt like she just dumped everything she drew in those years and put it in a book.

This is my third book by Lucy Knisley and I have to admit I only really loved one of them. But since it was the latest, I can only hope it means she's getting better and better? I do like her website stuff. Anyway, will probably give An Age of License: A Travelogue a try anyway. It helps that my husband is also a big fan of indie graphic novels.

[Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Is this about art school?" he asked with disdain, barely holding the book as if it would infect him with something nasty. "Well, she does go to art school, but I wouldn't say it's ABOUT art school. It's more 'slice of life' than that. Windows into her world. Some of those windows look in on school." He flipped it open to a random page. "This is about critiques." He looked at me pointedly, as if he had won something, caught me in a lie that indeed the book was nothing but art school nonsense. It's really not. He's just a twerp. It's a good book {not entirely about art school.}

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucy was at Quimby's last night and even though this book was published some years ago probably, I had this idea she was still in Vermont, so when she said, Hi I'm Lucy, I was like, oh, she's not in Vermont, and it took me a second to wonder if I should be like, Heyyy, I was just reading your book and I like it, etc. I don't think I communicated it well, but for the Goodreads record—I like it. I am adding it to my how-to-be-23 reading list.

[Niki Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early collection of her short comics accomplished while she was living in Chicago before heading to her Master's degree.

I liked her R-rates comics! V sexual, but she always talks about thinking about sex a lot, so it was great to see that realized in her art.

Very haphazard collection, though. Not a true narrative arc, though I think they were chronologically ordered? Not sure. She's figuring out her voice & style still, and it's a really cool journey to bring your reader on.

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read French Milk I already knew I liked how Lucy Knisley interpretated her life through comic style images, so this time to get a taste of her combining multiple styles, and a variety of short stories was really cool. She's a person I think most people could connect easily with on some level, I know I definitely have similarities to her, and how she thinks in particular.

[Jimmy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it.
This details her times in Chicago as an art student so I was excited to get the perspective of someone who grow up in NYC and now lives in Chicago. Unfortunately she rarely spoke about Chicago. It is a collection of random stories and diary entries. I still enjoy her inner monologues, but the sex parts in this book led me to just stop reading it.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit of a mish-mash. fortunately, i really like knisley art, which made the less-impressive vignettes tolerable.

[Jared Houston · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reminded a little bit of "Girls." In that it was a lot about millennial post graduate anxiety. Also being a girl can be tough. Also food service is the WORST!

[Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like all of Lucy's books. This one included.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I loved Lucy Knisley's memoir Relish. Knisley published Radiator Days five years prior to Relish, when she was only 23 and still an art (graduate) student. She was already an interesting and accomplished artist, and Radiator Days isn't a memoir so much as it is a compilation of bits and pieces, united by that thread of "I'm still in graduate school and feeling my way through it." It works better than my summary may lead you to believe. That said, it's still definitely written by someone who is 23 (I AM SO OLD), and if you've read Relish, you can appreciate how much Knisley grew in the intervening five years. Parts of what would grow into that later memoir poke through in Radiator Days, and it gave me a view into an artist's growth and process that I don't think I've ever had before. Some parts were--let's call it experimental. And they didn't always work (I'm a little conflicted about the X-rated ones) but they were a very small part of the book.

tl;dr Good, not great, but absolutely worth it if you're a Knisley fan, and/or if you enjoy observing a talented graphic novelist grow.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my least favorite graphic novel that I have read by Lucy Knisley. This is one of her earlier books and her drawing style is pretty different than her more recent books (which wasn't a bad thing, just different). This was a collection of comics rather than a start to finish story like I am used to with her newer graphic novels. For me, I had a hard time jumping from one comic to the next. One would be about her life and another would be completely different story that had nothing to do with her life. There were some parts that I found interesting, but I did a lot of skimming towards the end because I wasn't as interested in the story or there was just so much content crammed onto the page that the writing was hard to read. Love her other stuff, but I wasn't a fan of this one.

[Ziying · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy Knisley is my favourite comic book artist at the moment. This book is a collection of shorter comics and snippets from her earlier days. It's so fun to see how her style changes over the years. I love the variety and experimentation of different styles in this book. There's even some smutty comics that I've never seen her done. The words are often overlooked in comic books, with the emphasis often placed on the graphics, but her writing is so poetic and accurate, perfectly compliments her art.

[Max Loh · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a long-time reader and fan of Lucy Knisley's work like myself, it's very interesting to see the themes and evolution of her art style through the years. Radiator Days collects many of Lucy Knisley's early work (some from 2007 and before), and it's nice to see how some of the seeds for her currently published books (such as Displacement and Relish) have been planted so long ago, and how she has evolved as a storyteller and artist. Definitely a must-read for fans of her work!

[Eric John Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection of random comics and thoughts. Love the throw-back to lots of different similar experiences around the same time (I think 2008?)

Best joke in the entire book - the Wii Guitar Hero. One of the greatest things I've seen in a long time. (Yes I have almost exactly the same experience while a struggling student in Los Angeles and needing to save money rather than blow it on stupid games. But I needed it.)

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Lucy Knisley's work. To date, I think I have read everything she's done except three books (I'll get there!) This is a collection of some of her earlier comics and short stories, and it's great. A bit racier in places than her memoirs, but that's okay with me (luckily I wasn't reading this on the subway, thanks, pandemic!)

Knisley's work is always good for a laugh and a tug at the heartstrings.

[Sarah Guldenbrein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Lucy Knisley, but I didn't know this book existed until it appeared before me at my local library. It's so cool to see very early work by an artist I really admire.

This book is a bit of a hodge podge, and feels like the result of a lot of experimentation. It might not be as polished as her later work, but to me that's really cool.

[Jennybeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Student work, but really impressive student work, and I am very much enjoying following along with Lucy's stories of her own life. She has a real gift for capturing moments, candid self-portrayals, and entertaining storytelling.

[Rich Farrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a fan of Knisley’s work, and this collection of sometimes random comics were similarly interesting and entertaining. While I really like her newer, more fully developed work, I enjoy these early sketchings too.

[Jacob Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is thoroughly adorable. I didn’t realize until near the end that Knisley was also the author of French Milk - I wasn’t a huge fan of that one, but I’m glad I (accidentally) took another look at her work.

[Lisa Macklem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very different from the other Knisley I've read. Really a series of strips with some touchstones with the novels. More graphic and less developed than the later works.