Customer Reviews

Doris: An Anthology 1991-2001

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After reading one essay from an older issue of Doris in a zine anthology (called "A Girl's Guide to Taking Over the World", which is also good) I tried to find anything I could about Cindy Crabb (the author) or where to find more of her writing. In a response to a letter I sent Ms. Crabb, I learned that she was still writing Doris on a regular basis and that she had published this book.

If you're not familiar with zine culture, the informal style of this book might surprise you. But it might be a pleasant surprise; her homemade, handmade layout, typewritten text and scribbly cartoons are endearing and somehow really poignant and fit with the content. The book is a collection of ten years worth of Doris zines that chronicle Ms. Crabb's travels around the country with friends, encounters with strangers, her battles with depression, her relationship with family members, and anarcha-feminism, to name a few particulars. I think that might make it sound drier than it actually is, so let me try to explain what I think the themes are that come out:

--alienation from others vs. community

--political correctness vs. personal experience/truth

--reflections on punk culture

--the importance of creativity and imagination in daily life as a means of combating depression and feeling fulfilled

--gender questions

--connecting with people rather than ignoring them

--the importance of art in everyday life

--the importance of simplicity

Hopefully that gives you an idea. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. You just have to experience Ms. Crabb's prose and feel the way her words fit on the page to know why this is such an amazing book.

I started reading Doris 'zine in 1997. A girl I worked with told me it was amazing. I bought a copy a comic book shop. I was hooked with the first issue I read. Doris is Cindy Ovenrack Crabb's zine, and it's full of honest, open, and thoughtful observations on her life, friendship, love, abuse, depression, women's health, activism, and travel. I am re-reading this compilation for the second time, and it still holds up. I look forward to the next anthology, as she currently released Doris #26.