Caricature Books

R. Crumb and Charles Bukowski, now Crumb and Kafka. The drawings illuminate the text in a way that Kafka would have loved. I will never see Kafka again, except through Crumb's vision.

If you like Crumb, or if you like Kafka, find this book.

Kafka was a complex man whose genius is inseparable from his huge neuroses. So is Robert Crumb. Put the two together, as this book does, and the upshot is a book in which the distinction between author Crumb and subject Kafka tends to dissolve. The book is just as much about the one as the other. It's no mistake that Crumb is drawn (sorry for the bad pun) to Kafka.

At one level, the book is a primer on the life and work of Franz Kafka, with Crumb lavishly illustrating David Zane Mairowitz's text (warning: the text is strangely loaded with typos). The highlights of Kafka's life, including his stormy relationship with his father, his alienation from Prague, the city in which he spent most of his life, his difficulties with sexual intimacy, his self-loathing, his work at an insurance agency, and his struggle with tuberculosis, are all chronicled. Moreover, synapses of some of his best work--"The Judgment," "The Metamorphosis," "The Burrow," "In the Penal Colony," "A Hunger Artist," "Letter to His Father," The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika--are provided. Someone who knows nothing or little about Kafka will get a good orientation from reading this book.

But it's Crumb's pen-and-ink illustrations that make the book. They're eerie, dark, and at times actually frightening: perfect glimpses of Kafka's demons as well as Crumb's. In fact, Crumb and Kafka share many of the same demons: an intense need for comfort by women, but a deep-seated hostility to them; an equally intense need for public approval, coupled with an intense contempt for the crowd; a fascination with the usually unnoticed weirdness of the ordinary; a competing attraction and repulsion to the artistic, bohemian crowd; seething but repressed sexuality; a periodic yearning to disappear, to be punished, to be redeemed and reborn through suffering; an alternately bewildered and enraged dislike of Nietzschean proportions of the way in which popular culture cheapens existence (Crumb & Mairowitz's take on touristy Prague, pp. 174-75, is priceless); and a need to confess some of their darkest secrets, through their art, to the very public they disdain. In many ways, both Crumb and Kafka are hunger artists: they refuse to partake of the status quo not necessarily because they're ascetics, but simply because they don't find anything in it that whets their appetites. In gazing at Crumb's brilliant illustrations of Kafka, one can't help but think that this work, like so much of what Crumb does, is autobiographical.

Is it intentionally so? Does Crumb understand the deep connection between himself and Kafka? Is the book intended, at least on one level, as a gag: a book about Crumbka? I dunno, although I suspect that Crumb knows exactly what he's doing. But what I do know is that Kafka is about more than just Kafka. And that's what makes doubly intriguing.

Michael Sidlofsky

Kafka scholar David Mairowitz and underground comics artist Robert Crumb team up to provide a fascinating window into Franz Kafka's brilliantly troubled mind. Mairowitz's text provides historical context and biographical information, including valuable insight into the Jewish folkloric roots of Kafka's fiction. Crumb's characteristically graphic illustrations highlight the horrific and humorous elements within Kafka's work. Together, the author and illustrator provide summaries of K's best-known short stories and novels, encouraging the reader to delve into the originals. The book's only flaw lies in Mairowitz's unfortunately condescending attitude towards Kafka scholars and fans.

I bought this for my husband and hoped he would not take it the wrong way. I had read several great reviews of this book. My husband loved it and wants to buy it for a friend who is retiring. He loved the humor.

This book is smart, sophisticated and hilarious!
I bought it for a family member and they loved it. It makes the perfect gift for someone retiring!!

An unlikely topic for humor - hence - very fresh, clever, and funny cartoons. I almost died laughing and am very pleased that each contributing cartoonist was able to rise to the occasion.

Great laughs for the holiday season.

This book doesn't take itself seriously, and it has a lot of whimsy, but it is also packed with little-known facts about left-handedness that will save you from feeling like a klutz or an idiot. Lots of things you don't do well have nothing to do with your dexterity (itself a right-handed word), but rather with the right-hand only design of many products, even gum wrappers! This is a light-hearted, but ultimately very useful and informative book that will help you as a left-handed person to see your true value and your true place in the world. It also includes a useful list of items and activities that are left-hand friendly (like baseball!). Buy it! The price is right (I mean "correct"), and so are the contents.

I bought this book for my left-handed son when he was about 3. He enjoyed reading with me the interesting and humorous anecdotes and facts depicted in it. It is fully illustrated with great drawings on every page to make it easier for kids to follow. I passed the book around to my left-handed adult friends and every single one of them enjoyed it. There are relatively few left-handed books in the market. Though this is not a seriously scientific one, it is definitely worth having in support of the left-handed people in this world. My son is now 7 and he still enjoys reading it from time to time.

James T. deKay's delightful book is a wonderful read for both left-handers and those who live with them. It contains amusing facts and anecdotes about the joys and troubles of living left-handedly in a right-handed world, with amusing illustrations on nearly every page. This is the perfect book for a smile or two, but it is far from substantial. Left-handers will love finding out just how unique - and wonderful - they are, and right-handers will enjoy the insight into a backwards world. James T. deKay has also written "The Natural Superiority of the Left-Hander", "The World's Greatest Left-Handers", and "Left-Handed Kids", if you are interested in further reading.

This is a wonderful collection of the kind of single panel cartoons one finds in the best of periodicals.The humor is precise and each cartoon conveys a statement of truth through humor. If you are a school principal, get this book and stop and smell the humor. Laughing and smiling is good for you. It's a stress buster, a sort of Western style yoga. These cartoons make great ice breakers for staff meetings. If you know a school administrator, this is a great gift to give. Take a peek at the funny side of running a school.

If you run a school or a school district you can do it better if you have a sense of humor. The cartoons in this book provide that.
As one who has a leadership role in education, I can see myself reflected in many of the cartoons in this book. If you have a role in educational leadership the cartoons in this book will prompt knowing snickers and laughs along with the proverbial 'grain of salt' that must be taken with many leadership experiences.

This is a delightful collection of well drawn cartoons, each of which shows a behind-the-scene knowledge of the Principal's role in our educational system. These cartoons are funny and truthful at the same time and would be so useful in adding a much needed light touch to educational meetings. This book belongs on every principal's bookshelf.

I bought this item as gift for my fiance. He currently lives in FL & often ask me about Love Is which is printed daily in the Chicago Suntimes.
I saw this book and I knew I had to buy it for him for Valentines Day. He Loves it and says it is a treasure.

Product arrived as advertised - very good quality.
Larger than previous Love Is books - Very Satisfied.

This is a cute paperback version of the hardcover cartoon collection that is also sold on Amazon. Amazon has done a lousy job with thier item descriptions and you never know what you are ordering anymore.

I bought this book because I have "met" Donna Barstow; well, sort of. Anyway, that's not the point...she's a great cartoonist, so when I found out she was one of the authors to this funny book, I bought it! You should buy it too. Really, you should...go ahead, it's really easy. With the click of your mouse, voila!! See? Now wasn't that easy?

I really enjoyed this book of cartoons on the trials and tribulations of finding love. It makes no difference if you are male or female, you'll find something in it that you can relate to!

This book contains 200 cartoons created by five phenomenally talented women cartoonists: Donna Barstow, Liza Donnelly, Anne Gibbons, Stephanie Piro & Lynn Williams. Each cartoonist brings her own unique perspective on the subject, and each has an impressive list of cartooning credits behind her name.

I own several books of cartoons, but this one has quickly become one of my favorites. I appreciate that it is small enough to fit inside a purse, making it perfect for pulling out to enjoy during spare moments throughout the day. Whether you're already in a relationship or perhaps in the pursuit of one, this book will likely find you laughing aloud and nodding along in agreement as you peruse its pages.

This book is nothing but pure slander. Mr. Hutchins should be ashamed to calll the good character of our Vice President into question! I urge everyone to avoid this book!

Brimming with sarcasm, LOVING THE CHENEY WITHIN is a wry and twisted cartoon commentary on politics, psychology and popular culture. Hutchins really seems to have his finger on the pulse of today's disaffected voters and this book will be well-thumbed on any coffee table, bathroom reading table, or waiting room during the upcoming election season. Recommended!!!

Loving the Cheney Within is so hysterically funny, it is impossible for the reader to avoid laughing out loud. It may be inadvisable to read it in a public place like on a bus, or in a waiting room, unless you don't mind the stares that your involuntary chuckling may foster.

It is a rare book that gets the social commentary message across, while simultaneously amusing and engaging.

Bendib's wit and humor say more in one image and a few words than most of us could in a full dissertation. Stunning!

Award-winning cartoonist Khalil Bendib, whose work is seen in over 1,700 newspapers across North America, presents Mission Accomplished, a collection of his sharp-edged political cartoons lampooning greed, hypocrisy, arrogance, moral ineptitude, and worse, both in America and abroad. An American Muslim, Khalil Bendib does not shy away from tackling issues ranging from terrorism to globalization to militarism, genocide, underfunded infrastructure at home, and much more. Especially harsh criticism is leveled at the ruthless excesses of Zionism, America's ill-planned Iraq occupation and the chaos in its wake, and corporate welfare heaped upon thieving institutions such as Haliburton. Most cartoons are in black-and-white; a few are in color. One particularly telling cartoon shows an empty gasoline pump labeled "Uncle Sam Gas, $2.85 per Gallon" and cars lined up for miles to fuel at a gasoline pump labeled "Death to America Osama Gas Only, $2 a Gallon". At once both sidesplittingly funny and bitterly insightful into the paradox of human greed that keeps America stymied in failure, Mission Accomplished is highly recommended.

As much as people like to talk about politics, there's nothing like a satyrical comic. One frame, maybe 2 and this image can evoke such responses. I've shown Khalil's work to my family, coworkers and friends. The reactions I got were from pure love and admiration, all the way to confusion and anger. That's how you know someone is doing their job and Khalil does his job in this book. Well.

The artist / cartoonist / illustrator J.J. Sempe may not be familiar to many here in the US, but he is beloved in France. Here, however, he should be well known as a contributor to New Yorker magazine... having done dozens of covers over the years. This is one of his best book collections, with charming, insightful illustrations of the world of musicians. He gracefully peers into a moment in life and captures it with a few perfect lines. Subtle, beautiful, sweet. The color pages add a lot... worth every penny in either hardback, if you can find it, or paper.

When you read Sempe, you hear music.
That's how good he is. Don't miss the small details here and there. It's like finding a gem among his pencil strokes. I would highly recommend this beautiful book to anybody.

I'm not sure that is the book I'm looking for. But I do know one thing about Sempe's relationship with music. I'd like to see his picture with simple line and deeply reflection from his mind. I can find that he is good in playing music than his paint. That's what I think about Sempe.

The Neighborhood in Color is another example of how talented Jerry Van Amerongen is, VERY. The comic panels are so very bizarre and the captions can be such an understatement that they can deliver most of the laughs.

You are under orders to get all of Jerry Van Amerongen's
"The Neighborhood" and "Ballard Street" books!
Here are some examples from this selection:

(1) We see a fellow flying off his bicycle in the
direction of a truck which has written on the side
"Another shipment of Warrior Farms attack dogs" with
numerous snouts sticking up the top of the truck with
lots of teeth waiting to greet him. The caption is
"The Saga of Harold (Hard Luck Hadley) continues.

(2) A barn is full of people wearing goofy
costumes, all of them holding candles along with
signs with single
letters of the alphabet written on them.
The caption is "A secret society called 'The
formation of the vowels'".

(3) An annual stockholders' meeting of a corporation
is being held, but instead of the executives sitting
by the podium, there are dummies instead with the
real people hiding behind them making faces in the
direction of the audience and carousing in other
ways. The caption is "Top Management acutally looks
forward to the Annual Sharholders' Meeting".

(4) We see a lounge with a lot of empty chairs
and a single customer wearing a Texas-style
10-gallon hat. At the front is an iguana tied
to a chair with a microphone in front of him.
The caption is "Another low moment in lounge
entertainment near Midland, Texas" (BTW-that
is where President W Bush is from!)

I am sure after reading these samples you are
all rushing out to buy this book. One at
a time, please!

You may know van Amerongen's current strip, "Ballard Street" from current funny papers. "The Neighborhood" is in exactly the same spirit... the art of understatement and sublimely funny drawings of hapless older folks desperate for a clue. My favorite FAVORITE strip has an older gentleman looking out his upstairs window, down onto the lawn, where the neighborhood dogs have amiably arranged themselves to spell out the word "Hi." The man is saying to his wife, "Helen, could you come here a minute?" OH MY GOD I can't even think about this strip without falling over. This book is fun for the guest room, or the coffee table, and is enjoyable over and over and over.