Customer Reviews

Jar of Fools

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not to be hyperbolic, but Jar of Fools is quite literally one of the best realistic graphic novels ever produced. Yet for some reason, very few people have heard of the work, which is quite a shame. Its creator, writer/artist Jason Lutes, has been brilliant in his recent series Berlin, in which he explores the characters of an ensemble cast in the historical setting of Germany between the two World Wars. Jar of Fools should be similarly noted and acclaimed for its fantastic characterization, albeit in a more modern setting.

Currently published through Drawn and Quarterly (as is Berlin), Jar of Fools revolves around failed stage magician Ernie Weiss. Ernie's life has been headed downhill since an unfortunate "accident" involving his brother's act as an escape artist. Now alcoholic and destitute, Ernie feels trapped by his past and is unable to overcome the demons that plague him. At the same time Ernie's former girlfriend Esther is stuck in a relationship that's going nowhere and in a dead-end job she hates, while Ernie's mentor Al Flosso tries desperately to escape both his nursing home and his memories of brighter days.

The revelations about each of these characters as the narrative unfolds are both heartbreaking and, paradoxically, uplifting. These characters have each metaphorically "lost the magic" in their lives and long to be free from the problems they face in their daily lives: their sexual dysfunctions, their inability to form relationships, their lack of self-worth. Yet the story focuses not on the endless tragedies they must endure but instead on how, by coming together, each of these people are able to conquer difficulties that overwhelmed them when alone. This is not a story about hitting rock bottom, but one about climbing back up again, about the hope that we draw from even the simplest contact with our fellow man.

These themes are explored with such power and subtlety through Lutes's inspired use of symbolism. For example, the ball and chain Ernie's brother wore as part of his escape act repeatedly appears and represents how Ernie is weighed down by his past, as does the top hat Al Flosso constantly wears. Dreams also play a large part of this narrative and reveal a great deal about the characters, especially Ernie's recurring dream remembrances of the day of his brother's death.

Rich in symbolic meaning, rife with very human characters, and permeated with thematic exploration, Jar of Fools is the epitome of what graphic narratives can offer. I have used the book in my classroom and would use it again, for it is not just a brilliant comic. It is a brilliant work of fiction, standing up to any work of literature in any other medium. It deserves to be studied alongside those other great works, to have a place not only in the classroom but on your bookshelf.

Jason Lutes, Jar of Fools (Drawn and Quarterly, 2003)

I've read some pretty good graphic novels in the past couple of months, but Jar of Fools was impressive on levels that a number of them never even thought to explore; it was definitely the best of the early-January batch. You have a burned-out magician, dangerously close to being homeless, pining over his lost girlfriend. You have the lost girlfriend, also pining. You have the mentor, stuck in a rest home. You have the con man, trying to get money to feed his kid, who shortchanges the lost girlfriend. And in weaving this tapestry, you have a wonderful little story about love, loss, and sacrifice.

Lutes' touch is spare when he's drawing, and light when he's writing. There's enough here for you to understand what's going on without having to go back and re-read anything, but you'll make a mental leap or two while you're going through it (this is a good thing). Everyone here is rather simple, though in no way does that mean they're two-dimensional; Lutes creates complex characters, but the timespan of the book is so short that we only get to see what he wants us to. It's a subtle, and impressive, move.

This is really a fantastic book; definitely one worth checking out, whether you're a fan of the graphic novel form or not. This might be the perfect book to show you that they do stand as literature; it's not quite on the level of something like Charles Burns' Black Hole, but you're not going to invest as much time, either. A perfect place to begin. ****

Since it's a comic people probably don't pay as much attention to it as they should, but those people would be wrong. What Lutes has created here is a neat little tale that is both poignant and beautiful, tragic and uplifting, all at the same time. The story of a failed magician, doubly haunted by both the death of his brother and the failure of his last relationship, watching his mentor slip into senility, Lutes weaves the themes of magic and loss into the stories of his characters. None of the characters, from the con-man trying to raise his daughter, to the ex-girlfriend trapped in a dull existance, seem to be where they want to be, but that seems to be as much their own fault as the fault of life itself. Lutes evokes a sense of sympathy for his characters, even when they fail to see what their actions do to themselves and the thrill of the story is seeing whether they'll realize it in time. Lutes uses the comic format to its fullest, creating a fine synthesis of words and pictures, letting the art speak for the story when necessary (the silent moments are perhaps the story's finest pages) without forcing it to labor under weighted prose. In the end he creates a tale as richly detailed as any prose story, made that much better by the comic (I'm sorry "graphic novel") format, a medium he does his part to prove it can be so much better than it is. Get this and maybe more comics like this possible.

The artistic influences of Jason Lutes' "picture novel," Jar of Fools, are fairly easy to spot. The drawing style is European, with the clean lines of Herge of Tintin fame, while the storyline is contemporary Americana of such short story writers as Raymond Carter. But Lutes is good enough, and his story strong enough, that it transcends being merely a reflection of his study, and the combination of the disparete pair make this graphic novel something unusual among the others on the shelf.

The story is about a troubled young man whose brother was an escape-artist who failed a straitjacket-river trick, whose romance has failed, and whose stage magician mentor is further slipping into Alzheimer's daily. At the same time, his ex-girlfriend is attempting to put her life together. When these lives intersect with a young girl and her con-artist father, magic happens--but not the fantastic type, just the magic of people finally connecting to life.

I hate to simply keep comparing it to other works, but sometimes the mind just works that way. With its magician characters and realistic depiction of street life, it recalled for me Nicholas Christopher's Veronica much more than any previous graphic novel. And while the story was interesting and the art entirely appropriate, the sum of it all still left me with a slightly vauge dissatisfaction, likely due to the somewhat downer ending with its open-ended quality (again, reminiscent of modern short stories, where the end is as much a beginning as anything). It's not going to appeal to action-adventure readers at all, but if you liked Clowes' Ghost World or Will Eisner's A Contract with God, you might enjoy this one.

I came to Jason Lutes' Jar of Fools after having my socks knocked off by the first volume of his Berlin trilogy. Jar isn't as masterful a work as Berlin--it's less structured, for example--but it displays the same kind of written sensitivity and visual subtlety that Berlin does. Especially noteworthy is the seamless flow between dreams and wakefulness (for example, pp. 13-18, 41-42, or 93-95) that Lutes achieves.

The story is ostensibly about a handful of people whose lives seem to be dead-ended: a young magician haunted by his brother's suicide and the end of a love affair; the young magician's ex, seething with anger and a sense of meaningless; an aged magician who teeters between lucidity and senility; a con man who lives in his car with his young daughter. Events in the novel bring them together for a short time, and then split them apart again. There are hints of salvation, and more than a hint in the con man's case. But as another reviewer observes, the story ends without (thankfully) a nice, antiseptic wrap-up in which all the loose strings get tied together.

On a different level, though, both the story line and the visuals suggest that an underlying theme is the unresolvable ambiguity of what it means to be a human. On the one hand, we sometimes want to live quietly, painlessly, anonymously--to live without making a ripple, as one of the characters says in a pivotal moment in the story (pp. 33-35). We want to be escape artists. But sooner or later, something in us rebels against this quietitude, and we long to make ripples--splashes, in fact--to live passionately, even if it means enduring great suffering.

The title Jar of Fools is, I suspect, an intentional gesture on Lutes' part at the 15th century Ship of Fools allegory whose point is that humans frequently sail through life rudderlessly. I wonder if this suggests another theme in the novel: that no matter how in control of our destiny we think we are, the ocean currents of life ultimately take us where they will.

All in all, a moving artwork. Highly recommended.

Jar of Fools by Jason Lutes tells the story of a magician and his mentor. Ernest, a magician in his 20s or 30s is out of a job and down on his luck when his old mentor, Al, arrives on his doorstep. Al has run away from a retirement home and doesn't have the sharpest mind anymore. When the two men get in a scuffle with some other men, a stranger named Nathan throws Ernest and Al into Nathan's car. With Nathan's daughter, Claire, the foursome decide to live out of Nathan's car. Parallel to this story is that of Ernest's ex-girlfriend who is still heart broken from their breakup and decides to start her own journey.

Yes, this graphic novel is as confusing and convoluted as it sounds. The entire book is very text-heavy which does not work for graphic novels. The majority of the pictures are close-ups of the character when they are speaking to each other. For a graphic novel that is uncharacteristically text-heavy, there is little actually said or developed. Out of the six characters, only Nathan develops.

In addition, there are as many plots as there are characters and in only 142 pages, none of the plots are rightfully resolved. There is the issue of an aging mentor revisiting his alcoholic and downtrodden aprentice; a heartbroken love story; the mysterious disappearance and possible reappearance of Ernest's brother; the repercussions of a messy divorce; and homelessness. Typically, graphic novels choose a theme or plot that is less complex than that of a full-length novel. That way, the story can be explored textually as well as visually. All of these themes could not be appropriately handled in a 142 pure-text novella. Therefore, it is no shock that it was unsuccessful in the same-length graphic novel.

Though this Jason Lutes graphic novel did not live up to its potential, do not let it deter you from his other works. The series Berlin, of which only two of the eight are out in America, is one of the best graphic novels I have ever read. The series takes place in Berlin right before WWII. The characters are beautifully portrayed and all give a different view of the city on the verge of disaster. Unlike Jar of Fools, Berlin is a must-read for all graphic novel and/or history lovers. It is everything that Jar of Fool isn't, and a lot more!

I greatly enjoyed Lutes' 'City of Stones', but this book was somewhat disappointing: the characters were less well developed, the plot was vague, and it was simply not as good. Still, it was about average for graphic novels I have read. I think 'City of Smoke' is likely to be a much better choice for those who have read 'City of Stones'.

Lutes' simplistic art and storylines full of stark reality is a breath of freash air in the graphic novel medium...that is when you give yourself a chance to take that breath!
Must read for everyone...the only downside is the book is very delicate.

Unfortunately the book fell apart before I finished reading it. As did a replacement copy. I hope I can rebind it because it will repay rereading.

Jar of Fools is exactly the sort of graphic novel I tend to avoid - vaguely emo, philosophically ambiguous story of real-world folks off on an existential crisis. Also, black and white artwork in which all the characters look identical.

Still, despite my worries, Jar of Fools turned out to be an absorbing read. Originally published in 1994, Lutes deserves credit for being a perceptive forerunner in the 'stage magicians = iconic and depressing' school of literature.

Nothing actually happens, the characters speak in self-absorbed monologues and the art really is a pity, but somehow, this 'Picture Story' still winds up being pretty gripping.