This first book from Chicago author Chris Ware is a pleasantly-decorated view at a lonely and emotionally-impaired "everyman" (Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth), who is provided, at age 36, the opportunity to meet his father for the first time. An improvisatory romance which gingerly deports itself between 1890's Chicago and 1980's small town Michigan, the reader is helped along by thousands of colored illustrations and diagrams, which, when read rapidly in sequence, provide a convincing illusion of life and movement. The bulk of the work is supported by fold-out instructions, an index, paper cut-outs, and a brief apology, all of which concrete to form a rich portrait of a man stunted by a paralyzing fear of being disliked.
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From Publishers Weekly
Ware's graphically inventive, wonderfully realized novel-in-comics follows the sad fortunes of four generations of phlegmatic, defeated men while touching on themes of abandonment, social isolation and despair within the sweeping depiction of Chicago's urban transformation over the course of a century. Ware uses Chicago's World's Colombian Exposition of 1893, the great world's fair that signaled America's march into 20th-century modernity, as a symbolic anchor to the city's development and to the narrative arc of a melancholic family as haplessly connected as are Chicago's random sprawl of streets and neighborhoods. In 1893, nine-year-old Jimmy Corrigan is abandoned atop a magnificent fair building by his sullen, brutish father ("I just stood there, watching the sky and the people below, waiting for him to return. Of course he never did"). Nearly a century later, another Jimmy CorriganDthe absurdly ineffectual, friendless grandson of that abandoned childDreceives a letter from his own long-absent, feckless father, blithely and inexplicably requesting him to come and visit. Ware's surprisingly touching story recounts their strange and pathetically funny reunion, invoking the emotional legacy of the great-grandfather's original act of desertion while presenting a succession of Corrigan men far more comfortable fantasizing about life than living it. The book is wonderfully illustrated in full color, and Ware's spare, iconic drawing style can render vivid architectural complexity or movingly capture the stark despondency of an unloved child. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Ware's hero is a doughy, middle-aged loser who retreats into fantasies that he is "The Smartest Kid on Earth." The minimal plot involves Jimmy's tragicomic reunion with the father who abandoned him in childhood. In abruptly juxtaposed flashbacks, Ware depicts previous generations of Corrigan males, revealing how their similar histories of rejection and abandonment culminated in Jimmy's hapless state. What makes the slight story remarkable is Ware's command of the comics medium. His crisp, painstaking draftsmanship, which sets cartoonish figures in meticulously detailed architectural settings, is matched by his formal brilliance. Ware effectively uses tiny, repetitive panels to convey Jimmy's limited existence, then suddenly bursts a page open with expansive, breathtaking vistas. His complex, postmodern approach incorporates such antiquated influences as Windsor McCay's pioneering Little Nemo strips and turn-of-the-century advertising, transforming them into something new, evocative, and affecting. His daunting skill transforms a simple tale into a pocket epic and makes Jimmy's melancholy story the stuff of cartoon tragedy. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By thirteen
Format:Hardcover
I'll start off by saying that I read about 40 pages of this book before getting slightly confused and even bored at times. I have read many graphic novels, but this style in particular was just not something that I was used to. I think many people would be in the same boat.
To quote another reviewer, the story is very "unilaterally single-minded - about the pathology and sadness of being a Corrigan." So that tends to get tiring sometimes when you're reading the book and you may want more depth about a different character in the story.
After visiting this site and reading other reviews, I decided that this story wasn't something I should miss. So I gave it another go and continued where I had left off. What I discovered is that each panel should be taken in slowly. Most are profound in their message, whether you are making it up in your head or not. even if you read it quickly the first time, go back and really look at some of those images over again. I'm not even sure I would read this over again for a while, since the sadness seems to seep into every part of the book and reader, but I imagine it's just as thoughtful the second time around. The characters are tragic, yet fascinating. I can't say it's the most uplifting or revolutionary story ever, but it's definitely worth sticking with.
Whether or not one enjoys the story, it's nearly indisputable that the illustrations are some of the best from a novel of this nature. The information graphics are beautifully drawn and laid out. They can be very complex, so re-reading and re-visualizing them helps. I would recommend this book solely for that even if the story wasn't great as well (luckily for us, it is).
To quote another reviewer, the story is very "unilaterally single-minded - about the pathology and sadness of being a Corrigan." So that tends to get tiring sometimes when you're reading the book and you may want more depth about a different character in the story.
After visiting this site and reading other reviews, I decided that this story wasn't something I should miss. So I gave it another go and continued where I had left off. What I discovered is that each panel should be taken in slowly. Most are profound in their message, whether you are making it up in your head or not. even if you read it quickly the first time, go back and really look at some of those images over again. I'm not even sure I would read this over again for a while, since the sadness seems to seep into every part of the book and reader, but I imagine it's just as thoughtful the second time around. The characters are tragic, yet fascinating. I can't say it's the most uplifting or revolutionary story ever, but it's definitely worth sticking with.
Whether or not one enjoys the story, it's nearly indisputable that the illustrations are some of the best from a novel of this nature. The information graphics are beautifully drawn and laid out. They can be very complex, so re-reading and re-visualizing them helps. I would recommend this book solely for that even if the story wasn't great as well (luckily for us, it is).
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Pumpkin King
Format:Hardcover
In the first few pages of JIMMY CORRIGAN, the reader is introduced to the Super-Man, dressed in a red and yellow suit and wearing a cheap costume mask. He tells bad jokes and ends up seducing Jimmy's mother. The stage is set for a comic without heroes (or with only pathetic ones), confused children with lonely parents, and a humor that fails to conceal the underlying sadness.
There's a strange two dimensionality to the images, which makes it more illustration than drawing. Buildings tend to be drawn in elevation, interiors are in orthographic views, and simple shapes predominate. The effect is an abstraction of the environment that crosses temporal bounds, enters fantasies and nightmares, and recollects cruel memories.
Like Spiegelman and Clowes, Chris Ware takes his comic into areas that are usually considered to be the territory of literature, but it would require immense effort to imagine JIMMY CORRIGAN in novel form. The content and the form are inseparable. The story may be a downer, but ultimately it isn't depressing because it is well-told, well-illustrated, and somewhere within it is an awful truth about misogyny, race, childhood trauma, and isolation that we'd just rather not face.
By S. Lavigne
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Jimmy Corrigan is an awkward and drab character in his mid-thirties, who's social circle is limited to his mother. His life changes when he receive an invitation from his father - who he has never met - to join him for Thanksgiving. The novel uses numerous flashback scenes, mostly related to the childhood of Jimmy's paternal grandfather.
The recurrent theme of this graphic novel is flawed fatherhood. The author portrays it with his linear yet complex drawing style, which is very efficient. I could really feel Jimmy's sadness and weirdness. I highly recommend it; this is the kind of book you will never forget.
The recurrent theme of this graphic novel is flawed fatherhood. The author portrays it with his linear yet complex drawing style, which is very efficient. I could really feel Jimmy's sadness and weirdness. I highly recommend it; this is the kind of book you will never forget.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sad!
Very strangely, there are similarities between this book's storyline and Barak Obama's «Dreams of my Father»: a short, not particularly fruitful meeting between a son and the... Read more
Published on Aug 3 2009 by Pierre Gauthier
1.0 out of 5 stars
Reading this book will leave you emotionally impaired...
This has to be just about the worst book I have ever read -- and it takes a lot for me to say that.
I am certainly no stranger to the world of graphic novels, having... Read more
I am certainly no stranger to the world of graphic novels, having... Read more
Published on Mar 21 2008 by B. Leung
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wowie Zowie
I had seen a bit of Chris Ware's Artwork in newyork and was impressed with his graphic skills. I decided to pick up this book, just to see some more of his drawings. Read more
Published on Oct 7 2004 by Christopher Magowan
5.0 out of 5 stars
the loneliest man on earth
quite simply put: buy this book. This is one of the most beautiful and heart breaking books i have ever read. This book will change your life if you open up and listen.
Published on May 10 2004 by "motivationboy"
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Landmark Achievement
Years from now, people won't remember that the graphic novel was once a marginal format, consigned to hobby shops and newsstands. Read more
Published on April 29 2004 by C M Magee
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing, lifting, and magnificent
Ware does an amazing job of creating one of the most moving graphic novels I have ever read. The painstakingly detailed drawings add an unparalleled scope to this novel following... Read more
Published on Mar 12 2004 by Naive Pegasus
1.0 out of 5 stars
Cold and unpleasant
There are just no characters you can relate to here. Jimmy is a cypher. His father is a crudely-drawn caricature of a working class man.
Published on Mar 10 2004
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mediocre
This is not high art. What Ware does have however (and for some, myself included, this makes it worth the 20 bucks) is a great style, visually. This book looks great. Read more
Published on Feb 22 2004 by J. Russell
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mediocre
This is not high art. What Ware does have however (and for some, myself included, this makes it worth the 20 bucks) is a great style, visually. This book looks great. Read more
Published on Feb 22 2004 by J. Russell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sadly beautiful
Chris Ware deserves a lot of admiration for writing and illustrating this graphic novel. It took him years to finish this 400-page tale of an unhappy, withdrawn man. Read more
Published on Jan 16 2004 by SPM
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