The Four Elements

by Roz Chast

Roz Chast's very funny cartoons appear in The New Yorker Magazine. Her offbeat humor can be very appealing. Her style is hard to describe satirical and sometimes edgy. She pokes fun at situations both ordinary and average. Chast's quirky take on childhood and its traumas are absolutely priceless. Her sense of humor, writing, and drawings are distinctive.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Cartoon, Graphic Novels Comics

92 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

Rosalind "Roz" Chast is an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker. She grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, the only child of an assistant principal and a high school teacher. Her earliest cartoons were published in Christopher Street and The Village Voice. In 1978 The New Yorker accepted one of her cartoons and has since published more than 800. She also publishes cartoons in Scientific American and the Harvard Business Review.

Chast is a graduate of Midwood High School in Brooklyn. She first attended Kirkland College (which later merged with Hamilton College) and then studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and received a BFA in painting in 1977. She also holds honorary doctorates from Pratt Institute and Dartmouth College, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is represented by the Danese/Corey gallery in Chelsea, New York City.

Reviews

[Elizabeth Sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chast is a savagely gentle genius.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a lot of Roz Chast's work, the cartoons in this volume mostly revolve around the theme of re-casting other places, works, or ideas in the frame of mind of a New Yorker, and when that theme clicks, there are some great laughs -- the "Central Park County Fair" is one of my favorites. Some of the others are just absurd ("Rogue Salad Bar"), but everything in this collection is at least mildly entertaining.

[emily gielshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a long time Roz Chast lover, imagine my delight as I worked from Maggie’s couch this morning only to look up and see a stack of Roz’s books!!!!! Read this in one fell swoop between emails and can continue to attest that Roz rocks. Chuckled aloud several times.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry, subtle, quirky. Observations that are so seemingly straightforward at times that it takes a minute for the humor to hit. 3 1/2 stars

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roz Chast's books have a strange sense of humor - there aren't any punchlines - but she ha a strange charm and wittiness to her cartoons that provides plenty of enjoyment. This book's no exception, and it's a pretty good one.

Oops, wait. According to the how to be a critic cartoon, that should have been "This book made for a ROLLICKING GOOD READ" instead of "it's a pretty good one". Sorry about that.

[elstaffe]

"Telling your child about aspic" is a great pamphlet

[Douglass Barre · Rating 5 out of 5]

For several years I was unable to read this book aloud without literally passing out laughing.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Roy Chast’s skewed view of the world, although I think she’s more effective when you see her cartoons one at a time rather than in book form where some of the same topics/characters/ideas seem similar.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love Roz Chast.

Reading her comics in the New Yorker is great.
This is like binge-reading those.

[R J Royer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the funniest comic collections I have seen in a long time. I hope the next person that reads it has as much fun reading it as I did.

[Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love Roz Chast, mostly her auto biographical work about her parents. This was too early in her career and read more like individual newspaper comics compiled. I prefer graphic novels.

[Susana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laughing like a 🧺💼

[Christina Saarinen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two laughs, two stars. This particular one didn’t do it for me.