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Long Story Short: Turning Famous Books into Cartoons
A collection of cartoons, illustrations, and paintings that condense the complicated narratives of famous books into one-page works of art.
The Catcher in the Rye. Lolita. Moby-Dick. Infinite Jest. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. A Room of One’s Own. Native Son. These are but a handful of classic works spectacularly distilled by Mr. Fish and a very talented group of painters, illustrators, graphic designers, and political cartoonists into succinct snapshots that are at times funny, sad, inspiring, rude, crude, beautiful, profound, stomach-turning, and mind-blowing.
Includes original artwork from: Mr. Fish, Ted Rall, Stephanie McMillan, Sarah Awad, Eli Valley, Wes Tyrell, Tamara Knoss, Keith Henry Brown, Sam Henderson, Lodi Marasescu, Surag Ramachandran, Tami Knight, Eric J. Garcia, Marissa Dougherty, Siri Dokken, John G., Andy Singer, Tara Seibel, Gary Dumm, Clare Kolat, Nate Ulsh, Benjamin Slyngstad, Ron Hill, JP Trostle, John Kovaleski, and Beth McCaskey.
The Catcher in the Rye. Lolita. Moby-Dick. Infinite Jest. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. A Room of One’s Own. Native Son. These are but a handful of classic works spectacularly distilled by Mr. Fish and a very talented group of painters, illustrators, graphic designers, and political cartoonists into succinct snapshots that are at times funny, sad, inspiring, rude, crude, beautiful, profound, stomach-turning, and mind-blowing.
Includes original artwork from: Mr. Fish, Ted Rall, Stephanie McMillan, Sarah Awad, Eli Valley, Wes Tyrell, Tamara Knoss, Keith Henry Brown, Sam Henderson, Lodi Marasescu, Surag Ramachandran, Tami Knight, Eric J. Garcia, Marissa Dougherty, Siri Dokken, John G., Andy Singer, Tara Seibel, Gary Dumm, Clare Kolat, Nate Ulsh, Benjamin Slyngstad, Ron Hill, JP Trostle, John Kovaleski, and Beth McCaskey.
- GenresGraphic Novels
140 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 2020
1 person is currently reading
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 21, 2020
Many thanks to Akashic Books for the free copy in exchange for an honest review
I am pretty disappointed. This wasn't fun to read. It was partly because most of the stories represented as cartoons are ones I hadn't read but the ones I had were represented by cartoons that didn't make sense. I felt like I had to put a ton of effort to even figure out what the heck the cartoon was supposed to be saying. It was not fun.
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January 21, 2021
Wow, this was awful. I know anthologies have their hits and misses, but geez, there were just so many bad entries in this collection.
The introduction's pompous as hell. Some funny descriptions, but the overall feeling is that of pretension. The opening paragraph claims that these illustrations might "perhaps even to reveal the deeper truths previously neglected by the keenest of readers". Is it that expectation that makes the rest of the book seem so juvenile? Perhaps.
Gah, it just pisses me off so much. The political cartoons are so blunt (I by-and-large hate political cartoons, so there's that bias) and the rest, if not obvious, either seem intentionally oblique, unrelated or crass for the sake of shock and provocation. The mode of this book is just so juvenile, it cheapens the illustrations that are actually, ya know, good.
And I get that art is subjective. Really. But I feel like there's got to be a bare minimum. My favorite one was probably the Slaughterhouse-Five illustration: playing not only with the symbols of war, but subtly addressing the novel's nonlinearity. By contrast, you got Moby Dick comparing Ahab to....corporate wage slavery in the United States? Is that....what are you trying to say with that? Is it a commentary on how the capitalist structure consumes our lives? Or are you saying that one's obsession with dismantling it is unhealthy and obsessive, the way Ahab obsesses over the white whale? I'm inclined to believe the latter, and I know I'm asking questions--which I think is the point--but it also feels like I'm asking the wrong questions. That this (and many other) illustrations are just so oblique or tangential that they're less insightful commentary and more an opportunity to see how much you can stretch your brain.
Yeesh. Massively disappointing.
The introduction's pompous as hell. Some funny descriptions, but the overall feeling is that of pretension. The opening paragraph claims that these illustrations might "perhaps even to reveal the deeper truths previously neglected by the keenest of readers". Is it that expectation that makes the rest of the book seem so juvenile? Perhaps.
Gah, it just pisses me off so much. The political cartoons are so blunt (I by-and-large hate political cartoons, so there's that bias) and the rest, if not obvious, either seem intentionally oblique, unrelated or crass for the sake of shock and provocation. The mode of this book is just so juvenile, it cheapens the illustrations that are actually, ya know, good.
And I get that art is subjective. Really. But I feel like there's got to be a bare minimum. My favorite one was probably the Slaughterhouse-Five illustration: playing not only with the symbols of war, but subtly addressing the novel's nonlinearity. By contrast, you got Moby Dick comparing Ahab to....corporate wage slavery in the United States? Is that....what are you trying to say with that? Is it a commentary on how the capitalist structure consumes our lives? Or are you saying that one's obsession with dismantling it is unhealthy and obsessive, the way Ahab obsesses over the white whale? I'm inclined to believe the latter, and I know I'm asking questions--which I think is the point--but it also feels like I'm asking the wrong questions. That this (and many other) illustrations are just so oblique or tangential that they're less insightful commentary and more an opportunity to see how much you can stretch your brain.
Yeesh. Massively disappointing.
August 22, 2021
The art was interesting and very unique. I didn't understand how the pictures were tied to particular books that were named but it was visually appealing!
January 9, 2020
Thanks to Edelweiss and Akashic Books for the chance to review this book.
I thought I would love this collection of classic books summed up in one page illustrations. Having read most of them I’m familiar with their stories.
30% are actually thoughtful or humorous. Unfortunately about 30% of the illustrations are rude, crude, and definitely not for children’s eyes. The rest are a mix - they seem to have nothing to do with the book they’re depicting, or maybe I just don’t get it? That’s a possibility.
My favorites are: Why I Am Not A Christian, Notes From Underground, 1984, Catch-22, Howl, Invisible Man, Roget’s Thesaurus, and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
If you don’t mind some crude representations then this book might be something you’ll like.
I thought I would love this collection of classic books summed up in one page illustrations. Having read most of them I’m familiar with their stories.
30% are actually thoughtful or humorous. Unfortunately about 30% of the illustrations are rude, crude, and definitely not for children’s eyes. The rest are a mix - they seem to have nothing to do with the book they’re depicting, or maybe I just don’t get it? That’s a possibility.
My favorites are: Why I Am Not A Christian, Notes From Underground, 1984, Catch-22, Howl, Invisible Man, Roget’s Thesaurus, and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
If you don’t mind some crude representations then this book might be something you’ll like.
March 3, 2020
Received via Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and unbiased review
I was REALLY excited for this book. The idea of a simple cartoon that accurately represents classic books was just too good to pass up.
But MAN, do I wish I had kept going.
The majority of this comics do not line up with their intended subject. Or if they do, they so grossly misrepresent the story that it hardly makes sense. I don't expect that the cartoon will literally give the book in a nutshell, but the fact is, most of these are complete non sequitors, and it's disappointing as hell.
Honestly, the only one that really tickled my fancy was 1984, which was awesome, but unsurprising. Very disappointing.
I was REALLY excited for this book. The idea of a simple cartoon that accurately represents classic books was just too good to pass up.
But MAN, do I wish I had kept going.
The majority of this comics do not line up with their intended subject. Or if they do, they so grossly misrepresent the story that it hardly makes sense. I don't expect that the cartoon will literally give the book in a nutshell, but the fact is, most of these are complete non sequitors, and it's disappointing as hell.
Honestly, the only one that really tickled my fancy was 1984, which was awesome, but unsurprising. Very disappointing.
June 16, 2023
It is supposed to be a collection of cartoon that turn famous books into cartoons, mostly one panel cartoons, but a few take up more panels, up to ten panels if I’m remembering it correctly. Let’s just say short cartoons. I thought it might be funny.
I thought wrong. It isn’t funny. A couple of them are okay, for example the one that condensed Don Quixote to a single image made me laugh. Most of the time I was just scratching my head trying to figure out what the connection was between the cartoon and the book in question. Baffling.
Perhaps I’m just not cleaver enough to understand the genius behind these cartoons, perhaps they are so cleaver that they just go right over my head. That’s quite possible. Doesn’t really matter to me though, because either way I just didn’t enjoy this collection, apart from a very few cartoons, that is.
I thought wrong. It isn’t funny. A couple of them are okay, for example the one that condensed Don Quixote to a single image made me laugh. Most of the time I was just scratching my head trying to figure out what the connection was between the cartoon and the book in question. Baffling.
Perhaps I’m just not cleaver enough to understand the genius behind these cartoons, perhaps they are so cleaver that they just go right over my head. That’s quite possible. Doesn’t really matter to me though, because either way I just didn’t enjoy this collection, apart from a very few cartoons, that is.
February 12, 2021
I had really high hopes for this. Perhaps I'm just not smart enough but I've read a LOT of the books featured here and often did not really "get" the cartoon. Perhaps it is only me, the art is interesting, I just didn't always see the connection.
September 2, 2025
incomprehensible ( ? )
Independent illustrations of ( ? ) that are supposed to be deep insights or revelations concerning these book or topics, are instead; just incomprehensible visual confusion ( ? )
Independent illustrations of ( ? ) that are supposed to be deep insights or revelations concerning these book or topics, are instead; just incomprehensible visual confusion ( ? )
December 15, 2021
Some of these are clever, but a lot are thoughtless junk.
April 23, 2023
The contributors to this collection are tasked with providing a cartonn that summarizes what happens in various famous books. Some do a better ob than others.
July 9, 2020
I can easily immagine that this book is supposed to be funny or with a really deep and hidden meaning, that I didn't catch because I am not enough intelligent....
Posso facilmente immaginare che questo dovrebbe essere un libro divertente e con un significato profondo, che peró io non ho colto perché non sono abbastanza intelligente.
THANKS EDELWEISS FOR THE PREVIEW!
Posso facilmente immaginare che questo dovrebbe essere un libro divertente e con un significato profondo, che peró io non ho colto perché non sono abbastanza intelligente.
THANKS EDELWEISS FOR THE PREVIEW!
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March 27, 2021Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews