What It Is
by Lynda Barry
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Book Reviews of What It Is
Book Review: IT is versitle!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is not simply for fun. I plan to use it as a tool to teach composition to high-school students. On the surface, it might seem quite chaotic, with its scattered and bewildering illustrations and text. Upon further examination, the method behind the madness is revealed. Barry takes a very creative approach to exploring metacognative concepts and applies the product to a sequential and orderly system for composition. Through the zany imagery of this book, the reader is eventually lead to a deeper connection with personal thoughts, memories, imagination and creativity. Finally, detailed steps are presented for turning those thoughts into flowing composition. Barry takes a typically dry, boring topic (composition) and presents it in a fascinating style. The text and graphics are bold and intriguing. IT breaks the mold in (a)typical Lynda Barry style.Book Review: Couldn't stand it!
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this book shortly after getting into alternative graphic novels, and.. To be honest it is just not my cup of tea. I attempted to read it on several different occasions and got about half-way through, but couldn't make myself go any further. the whole book just seems so random and bizarre. With newspaper cut outs and writings from what I only assume are her childhood. I started off thinking it was really cool, and I do appreciate the amount of work it must have taken her to make all of those pages, it is very unique. However, aside from the presentation.. The content , I found very weak and all over the place. It had no track that it stuck to (that I could find).
This is the only book that I have ever returned
And I have to honestly give it 1 star because honest to god, I hated this book.
Book Review: Unlike Any Other "How To" Book Out There!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this book. I love the stories in it (pretending to be turned to stone by the Gorgon), though many are heartbreaking; I love the questions ("What happens when we put words together? What happens when we keep words apart?"); and I love the method ("Look! a Clue! Thinking up stories is hard. Getting them to come to you is easier"). The last half of the book presents in detail the method she uses to help the stories, the Images, come to her. It works for me, too. The book in its entirety is an urgent call to pay respects to that story-making part of ourselves that we've ignored since childhood, and to start making stories again. And to write them down. Write now!
If you have a chance to attend one of her "Writing the Unthinkable" workshops, do it! She is great.
Book Review: A guide on remembering
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the most important aspects of writing anything-- memoir, fiction, poetry--is the ability to remember. Sounds simple, but we forget so much naturally and are actively encouraged to forget what doesn't suit the needs of any particular group, usually family. Lynda Barry's wonderful primer on how to being to probe the images of your life is just grand
and will doubtless serve many artists and writers as they explore their lives and the lives of others. An exercise as simple as try to recall the earliest phone number you had and try to picture that phone seem so simple, but take you to places that you'd long forgotten.
Like everything by Barry, it's humane and masterful and compassionate and smart. A wonderful addition to any artist's desk.
Book Review: Amazing Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I am an artist-teacher, and I wish someone had presented this information to me sooner.
The book has a front section that is sort of an artistic, stream of consciousness, diaristic account of Lynda Barry's own creative life. Followed by a workbook, which I didn't have any specific expectations about, but I was sitting there following the steps, and it was pretty amazing how effective the method Barry advocates is. It took me off guard, and I think I am going to use it next week in the class I teach.
Overall this book ranks somewhere around the best books I have ever read because it sort of snuck up on me, and made realize some stuff about myself and my creative process that I may have resisted in a less charismatic presentation.