Every time I re-read a Lynda Barry book, I see new things, have a deeper understanding of her brilliant writing and drawing techniques and I become a better person. She speaks directly to my soul and reminds me that there are people out there that can weave the hurt in with the funny to make the best, truth-telling art around.
I've been aware of Lynda Barry's work for decades but this is only the first book of hers I read. Down the Street is beautiful little book, unpretentious, and full poignant and hilarious anecdotes about growing up. All of the moments are very well written, very vivid. I feel there is room for more ambition, maybe in a different format. In any case this one is full of little gems.
i shouldn't be allowed to write review of comics & graphic novels. they just don't stick with me unless they are really amazing. all of lynda barry's stuff is pretty good, & i'll read it when i stumble across it (this is another one i borrowed from the anchor archive library in halifax). but they take like half an hour to get through (because my brain just isn't wired to appreciate visual art & linger over the artistry of drawings) & then i forget about them. what's this one about? i don't know. more marlys stuff, i assume. i actually like marlys's neurotic older sister better than i like marlys, but maybe i am biased because i am an oldest child myself.
Lynda Barry is a master. Any writer can learn from her balance of humor, poetic moments, and creepy mysteriousness. This book and One Hundred Demons are more coherent than some of her other books because all the strips in them deal with the same group of kids. The drawings are grotesque, but after a few strips, the visual shock wears off and you can tell she's quite an artist.
I love Lynda Barry. Marlys, Arna and company's stories are full of humor and heartbreak. This small collection brought back a lot of memories of growing up in the 70's--making hand-shaped turkey drawings, embarrassing homemade school lunches, book reports, and insect diaramas. Love Lynda Barry!
I love Lynda Barry. Reading this book was like revisiting some of the best parts of my childhood in the 80s. That feeling is made even more significant and bittersweet by the fact that that world and way of growing up has largely vanished.
I first encountered Lynda Barry when I read "Cruddy" as a teen. At first, her Marlys comics did not speak to me but over time I've come to really love and relate to these characters.