Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Review of "Wilson," by Daniel Clowes



Review of
Wilson, by Daniel Clowes ISBN 9781770460072

Four out of five stars
Self-absorption on steroids
 Some losers are lovable in their antics, others annoying and a few you want to give a hard slap to. Wilson is in the last category, his self-absorbed thoughts and actions turn off fellow passengers on mass transit, people that he meets on the street, his ex-wife and the daughter that he did not know existed. When those characters are introduced, they are not much more than animated mannequins, providing little in the way of meaningful responsive dialog.
 Wilson is one of those people that will ask you a standard opening line question and then complain about the response. The character is summed up very well by a single caption of the short strip on the back cover. Wilson is browsing in a bookstore and he says, “All these books and not a single one about me!”
 Clowes is to be commended for going where other cartoonists fear to tread, having Wilson making nasty comments to his father in his deathbed during his last hours of life. That is indicative of most of the humor in the book, dark, gloomy and offensive to many. If there is a theme to the book it is petty self-absorption to the point of being a person you would like to kick hard in the privates.

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