Customer Reviews

AEIOU: Any Easy Intimacy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is so beautiful. It's simple yet complex because it describes a relationship between two people that is so real it's almost scary. Jeffrey manages to make this relationship seem just like the ones you've been in with his witty, funny, little comedic drawings. I related to this book so well and I read it right after I broke up with my boyfriend of over a year. It made me cry, and it made me smile. It did lots of things to me. I've read several of Jeffrey's books and each and every one is like a piece of gold. He is my favorite author because no book in the entire world except for the perks of being a wallflower has made me so overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings. :) I don't understand how anyone could find this book to be boring. Even my 27 year old brother who practically never reads for enjoyment loved this book!

I wonder what this book would read like if it was the first Jeffrey Brown book that I read, and I wonder if I would give him another chance. Fortunately, I started with "Clumsy," undoubtedly his masterpiece, and fell in love with his work. "Unlikely" was good, but not as good as "Clumsy," which had an immediacy to it that was so endearing. "Unlikely" was more or less a continuation, except the girl he was in love with was unlikable.

"AEIOU" was painful for me to read, and I think it is because it is showing me absolutely NOTHING new. It's silly things that are played off as "cute" and "spontaneous" that just read as dull and contrived. Where the stories in "Clumsy" were drawn shortly after they happened, the stories in "AEIOU" feel like they were drawn in a lump when it was time for Jeffrey to write a new book. So he returned to the old formula and finally wore it out. It's a drag not being able to empathize with a character that you've empathized with a few times before. In this book, Jeffrey Brown does nothing but be abused by some new girl. It's almost embarassing that he just didn't keep this story to himself, and the fact that he thought it warranted an entire book is frustrating. Or maybe Top Shelf was breathing down his neck and he just churned it out to make them happy.

Fortunately, I think he said this was the last in his trilogy of break-up stories which is a relief. Jeffrey Brown was the one who got me into comics, and I honestly think that "Clumsy" should be read by anyone and everyone. Also check out "Unlikely," his superhero homage/parody "Bighead," and his mini comics, which are pretty great too.

I guess much like some relationships, I felt like this book ended a bit abruptly.
It is definitely a book that everyone can relate to, although I couldn't help but feel like it could've been more finished.
I enjoyed it. It was a quick read. It will make you feel like you and those close to you are a little closer to "normal."
Nothing stands out as "WOW" "Oh my" "Boom" or I learned ...this from the book, but it was an entertaining peek into the window of two other peoples lives and their relationship.

I'm not exactly sure why I decided to give Jeffrey Brown another chance. I've tried some of his other Top Shelf publications and couldn't get into them. I'll admit, I'm a bit of a snob, and I like clean cartooning with a well-defined style. Brown draws in an extremely rough manner that looks unfinished, from the shaky panel borders all the way in to the pinched, sloppy lettering. My predisposition was to dislike Brown's work on a shallow glance, despite all the people who told me his writing was excellent.

So, it's with no small surprise that I will now saw I really enjoyed ANY EASY INTIMACY. The emotion of this book clicked with me in ways I would have never expected. Brown tells a disjointed, autobiographical story of his relationship with Sophie, a somewhat neurotic graduate student. It's a warts-and-all confession, chronicling their ups and downs as a couple. With no substantial outside narration, there is no blame dropped at anyone's feet, only the reader's reaction to the characters' actions. One feels for Brown as he is repeatedly jerked around, but we also grow frustrated with his often inappropriate responses. Which isn't to say ANY EASY INTIMACY is some kind of downer. Things are good for the bulk of the book as Brown lovingly details the pair's idiosyncrasies and how their relationship is defined by the way those quirks fit together. It's romantic in its own odd way.

There were still hurdles to my enjoying this graphic novel. The art is just as woefully inadequate as I remembered, and it took me about a quarter of the book to get past the "sketchbook diaries" style. Even after I did, I groaned at some of the cloying sweetness of the moments Brown chose to show, which reminded me of cartoon diary pioneer James Kochalka's hamfisted strips about love. Yet, I kept feeling compelled to turn the page, and as the story grew more honest, I grew consistently more involved. There's a real heart that any quibbles about craft can't cover up.

Regardless of whether or not you liked Jeffrey Brown before--and let's be honest, those of us who didn't may never click with any of his future work, either--ANY EASY INTIMACY is a book that deserves your attention. While its rawness may initially be this comic book's biggest stumbling block, it will ultimately prove to be its greatest reward.

Jeffrey Brown is not the most talented artist around. I'm sure he'd probably be the first to admit that fact. His art is simplistic and unrefined. Brown's true talent is as a writer and in conveying those painful, real-life emotions and experiences that we all go through. Brown has always allowed readers to get a glimpse into his life to see the good, the bad, and the painful.

Sometimes sweet, sometimes insightful, and sometimes agonizing in it's sheer emotion, his latest work, "An Easy Intimacy" is a book-length tale of an up and down, and then really down, relationship between Jeffrey and Sophia. Jeffrey is a video store clerk, in his twenties who is introduced to Sophia, a younger, bohemian type. Their relationship progresses from playful petting to their first night of sex where Sophia admits to it being her first time...with a man. Over the course of the 200 plus page book, the story unfolds in an episodic format with one no more than two or three pages devoted to a single segment. These segments can be wildly disjointed in their tone and one makes the assumption that this was also the case between Jeffrey and Sophia. Still, if I can find one thing to nitpick with it would be rapid fire scene changes which seem to leave some issues unresolved.

Sophia suffers from bouts of depression and threatens to hurt herself as she had in the past. She at once seems to be deeply depressed every time they have sex, and yet she often is the one who initiates it with Jeffrey, leading to ever growing frustration on his part. She further frustrates Jeffrey by having coffee with another guy claiming it's just as friends. Men know full well it's rarely just as friends. It's truly excruciating watching their relationship's highs and lows because it is so very true to life. There are certainly aspects that all of us can identify with.

Crude art aside, Brown is certainly skilled at drawing on life's experiences to put the reader on an emotional rollercoaster. Another fine effort from Brown.

Part of his "Girlfriend Trilogy", Jeffrey Brown's "AEIOU" explores the subtleties of relationships with emphasis on the differences between knowing someone and loving them. The collaboration of Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, "The Surrogates" is the first issue of a five part science fiction action/adventure miniseries for mature readers. Set in 2054, life has been reduced to a data feed. There has been a fusion of virtual reality and cybernetics. It's a perfect world where it's no longer necessary to leave home. But it's also a world of techno-terrorists and detectives Harvey Greer and Pete Ford of the Metro Police Department must stop them before they ruin a "perfect world".

I feel bad for the ex-girlfriends of Jeffrey Brown. These books are awful and boring at the same time.