Customer Reviews

I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead

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Sam Gross has contributed his offbeat cartoons for years to such publications as The New Yorker, Esquire, and Good Housekeeping. This collection, "I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead," dates back to 1977 and it is laugh-out-loud funny.

Gross looks at the world obliquely and this book reflects his unique vision. He is cheerfully tactless and politically incorrect: Three women sit in church while one of them is accidentally being strangled with her rosary beads; two researchers observe a group of blind men being dragged to and fro by high-jumping "seeing-eye kangaroos." He makes us see the world in a new way: An alien dog-like creature from another planet bays at the earth; a grumpy cleaning lady sweeps away severed heads that have collected near a guillotine. He defies our expectations: A woman beats her mattress outside her window and money flies out; two people visit the cemetery--a grieving widow leaves flowers for her dear departed, while a grumpy man throws worms on the grave of (presumably) his despised ex-wife.

These beautifully shaded black and white drawings, some of which have no captions, are expressive, imaginative, and original. As a librarian, I particularly liked the one of a studious toddler reading in a playpen with built-in bookshelves (what a great baby gift!). Some of the cartoons are subtle; others rely on screamingly obvious sight gags. With a few exceptions, they are entertaining and sometimes even thought-provoking. Although not everyone will appreciate "I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead," it is bound to amuse cartoon-lovers who enjoy comedy with a wry twist.

It hardly needs to be said how wonderful Gross' cartoons are. Fabulously absurd, and so refreshingly undiplomatic in taste. And beautifully drawn. No-one ever bettered him at The New Yorker. But pleeeeeese ... what is this idiotic description of this edition as a "lavish" production?! The binding is the usual non-hardcover hardcover, i.e. wretched glue, the paper is not much better than cheap blotting paper, and the reproduction is scandalously poor. Blurred lines and washed out grey. Wonderful art, deplorable production. I'm just waiting for a monograph on Gross that covers all his work. Along with Addams, Steig, Arno and Steinberg, this guy is at the top of the tree. However all this being said, I'd rather have a dodgy copy of Gross than none at all.

Sam Gross had me with the title and cover cartoon - it perfectly captures the essence of this collection. Some of these are simply humorous, most of them carry a sharp edge to the simple looking but marvelous drawings.

Fans of more recent cartoonists such as Gary Larson's Far Side would be well served to read this collection that predates Larson by several decades. While sadly lacking in Cows, plenty of other animals (cats, slothes, snails and kangaroos) appear in similar off beat ways, and there is a disturbingly large number of ginger bread men!

My only quibble with this is the format - with the relatively few number of pages, some of the drawings were a little lost in the hardcover inner fold. I think a larger layout would have given the drawings a better presentation.

Wonderful collection.

I was just looking through all my fathers books that were given to him by my great grandmother and my grandmother, I saw the title of this book and HAD to see what it was, I read it and looked and I laughed so hard, even at my age it was funny, I think everyone should read this book!