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Powell's Q&A | February 2, 2012

Emily Winfield Martin: IMG Powell’s Q&A: Emily Winfield Martin

2 comments By Emily Winfield Martin

Describe your new book. Oddfellow's Orphanage is a series of stories/vignettes that tell the tale of the newest arrival to a curious orphanage, a... Continue »
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1 Hawthorne Graphic Novels- General

This title in other editions

The Alcoholic

by Jonathan Ames

The Alcoholic Cover

 

Staff Pick

While I'd heard that these "graphic novels" were all the rage, I didn't quite know where to start. However, being a Jonathan Ames fan, I figured that The Alcoholic would be a good introduction to the genre. Ames's (autobiographical?) novel is as laugh-out-loud funny as the rest of his work, but also surprisingly touching and poignant. Illustrator Dean Haspiel's gritty style perfectly complements Ames's heartbreakingly hilarious story.
Recommended by Shawn D., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Acclaimed novelist Jonathan Ames writes his first comics work with the original graphic novel THE ALCOHOLIC, illustrated by THE QUITTER artist Dean Haspiel.

This touching, compassionate, ultimately humorous story explores the heart of a failing writer who's coming off a doomed romance and searching for hope. Unfortunately, the first place his search takes him is the bottom of a bottle as he careens from one off-kilter encounter to another in search of himself.

Review:

"Long before he was a novelist of some repute, Ames was a teenage drunk of fearsome abilities. As Ames relates in this autobiographical graphic novel, he got drunk for the first time at the age of 15 in 1979 and found he loved it. The years that followed might have been a vomit-soaked mess, but that didn't stop Ames from keeping on with it. Even later, once Ames gets sober and becomes a writer, he continues his romance with alcohol by having the hero of his mystery novels be a serious drinker. Told in flashback fashion (with occasional sardonic asides) from a particularly horrendous postdrinking blackout, Ames's novel is primarily, and admittedly, a self-obsessed narrative of self-destructive behavior, with a particular emphasis on bad breakups and sexual misbehavior. The insular narrative is given drive by Haspiel's characteristic slash and jab illustrating style. But with the exception of the hauntingly unresolved story of Ames's painfully fraught childhood friendship with Sal, his original drinking partner, this is standard-issue graphic confessional, enlivened by the occasional bit of debauchery. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

Acclaimed novelist Ames writes his first graphic novel in this touching, poignant, ultimately humorous story that explores the heart of a failing writer who's coming off a doomed romance and searching for hope. Unfortunately, the first place his search takes him is the bottom of a bottle.DC Comics
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781401210564
Author:
Ames, Jonathan
Publisher:
Vertigo
Illustrator:
Haspiel, Dean
Author:
Haspiel, Dean
Subject:
General
Subject:
Comic books, strips, etc.
Subject:
Alcoholics
Subject:
Graphic Novels
Subject:
Graphic Novels - General
Copyright:
2008
Publication Date:
20080931
Binding:
Hardcover
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
136
Dimensions:
9.22x7.36x.63 in. 1.13 lbs.
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Related Aisles

The Alcoholic Used Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$10.50 In Stock
Product details 136 pages Vertigo - English 9781401210564 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

While I'd heard that these "graphic novels" were all the rage, I didn't quite know where to start. However, being a Jonathan Ames fan, I figured that The Alcoholic would be a good introduction to the genre. Ames's (autobiographical?) novel is as laugh-out-loud funny as the rest of his work, but also surprisingly touching and poignant. Illustrator Dean Haspiel's gritty style perfectly complements Ames's heartbreakingly hilarious story.

by Shawn D.
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Long before he was a novelist of some repute, Ames was a teenage drunk of fearsome abilities. As Ames relates in this autobiographical graphic novel, he got drunk for the first time at the age of 15 in 1979 and found he loved it. The years that followed might have been a vomit-soaked mess, but that didn't stop Ames from keeping on with it. Even later, once Ames gets sober and becomes a writer, he continues his romance with alcohol by having the hero of his mystery novels be a serious drinker. Told in flashback fashion (with occasional sardonic asides) from a particularly horrendous postdrinking blackout, Ames's novel is primarily, and admittedly, a self-obsessed narrative of self-destructive behavior, with a particular emphasis on bad breakups and sexual misbehavior. The insular narrative is given drive by Haspiel's characteristic slash and jab illustrating style. But with the exception of the hauntingly unresolved story of Ames's painfully fraught childhood friendship with Sal, his original drinking partner, this is standard-issue graphic confessional, enlivened by the occasional bit of debauchery. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Synopsis" by , Acclaimed novelist Ames writes his first graphic novel in this touching, poignant, ultimately humorous story that explores the heart of a failing writer who's coming off a doomed romance and searching for hope. Unfortunately, the first place his search takes him is the bottom of a bottle.DC Comics
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