Well I am so glad that the first prompt makes a small link
to Lucky, because that is more or
less the connection I made in regards to this memoir as well. Many of her
struggles and difficulties seemed to me at least, very self-educed. I’m not
trying to place judgment on her character because I am sure we can all related
to this in some way or another, I just felt like if you are going to move to
New York on a whim (and even recognize the idiocy of the circumstances) you
don’t really have much room to complain. Though I do understand and give her
much respect for recognizing the trivialness of her complaints (as on page 31)
and realizing her place in privilege (page 12, “I indulged in one of the many
luxuries of the white middle class” and page 146, “Suck it, boring ass white
kids!” side note, arrow points to her, “boring ass white kid”). So in that
sense I didn’t feel so put off to her narrative. I think she not only knew the
reality of her privilege but she purposefully recognized it throughout the
telling of her memoir.
The only thing that I felt set this memoir apart from that
of Lucky was the weight of trauma
occurring in Wertz’ life. For example, these years were riddled with drug
abuse, near death experiences, overdosing, alcohol abuse and cancer. That’s
some deep shit and although this sort of trauma doesn’t pale in comparison to
that found in say, Persepolis, this
trauma, as I have argued before, seemed to help me become more invested in the
telling of her story as well as in the life of Julia. I did however find myself
being annoyed by her antics that often led to her being fired from her job. I
found myself wanting to yell at her life a disappointed parent, “Get your shit
together!” but again, I think she recognizes. She most definitely displays it
through the constant referring to her “growing up”, asking herself, “When will
I grow up?”, “Do I want to be a grown up?”, “Is this what it feels like to be a
grown up?”. The reality is, at the very least, she seems to be recognizing her
weaknesses and reports to us in the last pages of her book that in many ways,
she finally “grew up” a bit. It is of course, a life process.
A couple of things that stood out to me in regards to this
particular memoir were the things like the panels found on page 166. I was
like, “what the hell?” but then realized it said, “Drawn by Laura and Julia”. I
thought this was pretty cool and a nice way to introduce her friend’s
profession without even directly saying it. It did however strike me as odd and
a bit random. In regards to the illustrations as a whole, I had such a problem
with her, what seemed like flat and expressionless illustrations. I was a bit
disappointed to open the pages only to find black and white cartoons (the cover
was misleading). I was further irked by her illustrations and their inability
to emote any kind of emotion besides a damned squiggly eyebrow! Needless to
say, I didn’t care too much for her illustrative choices.
Lastly, as with the panels on page 166, Wertz’ insertion of
“surreal” panels like those found on pages 90, 91, and 183 were likable but
struck me as a bit disjointed and random. I enjoyed her shift from realism to surrealism
throughout the memoir. In fact, I wouldn’t even argue that the memoir is in a
format that suggests total realism (a lot of it is simply her projection of her
own perception onto “real life things” i.e. book names, “Some Dumb Book, by
Some Dumb Asshole” and movie titles on page 67, “Another shitty romantic comedy”
along with things like the “Freelance Factory”). So it was nice and dare I say a bit refreshing wrapped
together in some pretty funny comedic sentiments. These scenes oftentimes spoke
more to the reading that what could simply just be said. Her metaphors and
personifications packed more of a punch in terms of meaning (and also they
punch the crap out of her!). But
yet again, like I said, I found these “breaks from reality” a bit random,
especially the whole “Sherlock Holmes” piece. I found myself having to pause
simply to truly find the meaning within it and decode what the hell just
happened. I’m not sure if anyone else had the same sort of reaction but it
would be interesting to explore on Tuesday (and I hope we do!).
I have to agree, her self-perception was very telling. I'd love to flesh out the Holmes and Watson vignette, too. Still trying to mull out that one, unless Wertz just decided to use that vehicle just for the pure heck of it. She actually strikes me as the sort of author who would try something just because it seems like something different to do.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in this take on the NY experience as well. This narrator has a different kind of voice, that you pointed out. Does that make her more or less sympathetic as a character?
ReplyDeleteokay,
e
It's interesting to think about how Wertz conveys emotion in comparison to some of the other artists we've looked at this semester. Her drawing style may limit her...I'm even thinking about the fact that you can't tell her mother is older than her by looking at her. She does not really do anything to clarify age. She has some different expressions, like on page 91 when she cuts her finger. She looks pretty troubled, with her lower eyelids covering part of her eyes. Also, her pointed brow and mouth on page 136 definitely convey anger. Her eyelids at half-mast on the same page are also effective. But, I get what you're saying about the squiggly brow; she uses it a lot, and sometimes it seems like it's supposed to simply convey thinking.
ReplyDelete