Bibliofreakblog

Ghost World by Daniel Clowes

This is…an unhappy book with an unhappy ending, full of laugh out loud moments.  Oh how fun it is to see ourselves in others’ ennui, however over-the-top it may be.

It’s funny, because some of the blurbs on the back include Vogue’s “No one has their eye–or ear–focused on youth as acutely as Daniel Clowes” and The Washington Post’s “For once in a comic story, people are portrayed as they really act and talk.”  Le sigh.  Perhaps I am too old and out of touch with my teenaged self.  Believe me, I had my fair share of angst, depression, enuui, etc., but these girls are a bit much.

The summer after high school graduation, Enid’s and Rebbecca’s lives are stagnant.  And nothing could make them happier.  They revel in their boredom, amusing themselves by torturing boys, liking things ironically, and recalling stories from high school, such as the loss of their virginity.

And that, in and of itself, is fairly realistic.  But these girls are cruel.  They stalk strangers.  They set up a date for someone, by pretending to respond to his “missed you” ad in newspaper.  It’s in this way that I found them unrelatable.  

Also, Enid might be going to Strathmore, which I gather is some made up college that makes you take a specific test to get in.  And if she doesn’t get in?  Then she’s not going.  Which is fine with Rebecca, who plans to stay in their town.  In fact, for having gone to prep school, nobody seems to be going to college, but neither do they seem like trust fund kids.  If it had been a question of Enid going to the local state college with Rebecca or this fictional Strathmore, I would have found the storyline fitting.  As it was, it was a distraction clearly used as a plot device.

But this little graphic novel certainly had it’s moments.  It got its meta-on when Enid says her ideal guy is Daniel Clowes, a comic book artist.  She then discovers he’ll be doing a book signing, but is freaked out when she goes and sees that he’s old.  I couldn’t stop laughing for minutes during this part.

And many elements did seem realistic of suburban life.  I guess it just ultimately came down to the fact that I found Enid and Rebecca too mean.

 
Buy Ghost World on Amazon

If you like this book/author, you might like:

(my reviews in blue)

Girl by Blake Nelson
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Epileptic by David B.
Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Blankets by Craig Thompson
Black Hole by Charles Burns 
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Everything Sucks by Hannah Friedman
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield
I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
Prep by Curtis Simmons
Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life by John Sellers
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros 
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine 

Other works by Daniel Clowes:

Wilson
Pussey!
David Boring
Daniel Clowes: Conversations (Conversations With Comics Artists Series) by Ken Parille
Ice Haven
Caricature
Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron
Twentieth Century Eightball (20th Century Eightball)
Art School Confidential: A Screenplay
#$@&! The Official Lloyd Llewellyn Collection
Manly World of Lloyd Llewellyn

With Mary Shelley and Maurice Hindle:

Frankenstein

With Stephen Dixon:

I.