Reviewed by annieb123 on
This is a collection of essays and illustrations and not-easily categorized oddities from Touchstone and author Julie Houts. They range from single page one-frame sight gag comics, to very bizarre, almost absurdist fables. There are also a number of puns and clever wordplay. Some of the entries are darkly humorous (Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse) and some are just sad with a little drizzle of sarcastic humor (Fiddle). I enjoyed quite a lot of this book, though I am in no way the target audience (fashion savvy young professional women).
The art is original and technically solid. There is a lot of technical expertise 'hidden' in the relatively simple drawings. I really enjoyed the odd little rat cartoons which serve as a kind of Greek chorus to the narrative.
It's not all that often that an artist is a capable wordsmith. Julie Houts is surprisingly competent at both tasks.
I did enjoy this book and can recommend it to anyone who enjoys and appreciates sarcasm aimed at modern life, including ridiculous health trends, high fashion, conspicuous consumption, entitlement and shallow/ridiculous people.
It's relatively short, 220 pages, and release date is 24 October, 2017.
Three stars
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 29 September, 2017: Finished reading
- 29 September, 2017: Reviewed