It was they year of Desert Storm that Harvey Pekar and his wife, Joyce Brabner, discovered Harvey had cancer. Pekar, a man who has made a profession of chronicling the Kafkaesque absurdities of an ordinary life (if any life is ordinary) suddenly found himself incapacitated. But he had a better-than-average chance to beat cancer and he took it — kicking, screaming, and complaining all the way. Pekar and Brabner draw on this and other trials to paint a portrait of a man beset with fears real and imagined — who survives.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
"This is a story about a year when someone was sick, about a time when it seemed that the rest of the world was sick, too." So begins Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner's painful comic book autobiography centering on the year that they found out that Pekar had cancer; the year that also saw Operation Desert Shield turn into Operation Desert Storm. Drawing upon the many personal trials they faced, Pekar and Brabner create a portrait of a man beset with fears both real and imagined.
From Publishers Weekly
Joined by his wife and collaborator Brabner and illustrator Stack, Pekar's (The New American Splendor Anthology) first book-length comics narrative is by turns amusing, frightening, moving and quietly entertaining. As always, Pekar's work records his apparently ordinary life as a hospital clerk in Cleveland while simultaneously capturing the epiphanic combination of mundanity and awkward, sporadic nobility of everyday life. In 1990, Pekar was diagnosed with lymphoma and needed chemotherapy. By the time the disease was discovered, the couple was in the midst of buying a house (a tremendous worry to Pekar, who fretted about both the money and corruptions of bourgeois creature comforts). Brabner, a self-described "comic book journalist," had to oversee both the new house and a sick and very difficult husband. Pekar's cancer treatment and suffering will take your breath away, but there's a happy ending; and the book (and their marriage) is distinguished by Brabner's great tenderness and determination in the middle of Pekar's medical nightmare. Stack's brisk and elegantly gestural black-and-white drawings wonderfully delineate this captivating story of love, community, recuperation and international friendship.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A fine work of autobiography. Understand, however, that Harvey is critical of everything, himself included, and his unflinching eye depicts his personal agony alongside the state-of-the-world at the time. As in many of his extended works, Harvey uses his story to get up on a soap-box, but if you think of his comics as an extension of his life, you might be begining to appreciate what he really is. Harvey IS his stories.
I was struck by the relationship between Harvey and his wife Joyce: if there is a better depiction of the difficulty in love in the midst of illness, I don't know it. Their relationship is loving and it touched me deeply.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By "brooks_e"
Format:Paperback
I found this book interesting since I'm a fan of Pekar's American Splendor series and his appearances on David Letterman's shows (apparently at an end, unfortunately for Pekar, even more unfortunately for Letterman). This book's an in depth look at Pekar's struggle with lymphoma. Given the subject matter, it's probably no surprise that this isn't as amusing as the American Splendor anthologies. But for fans, or for people struggling with illness, it's probably a worthwhile read.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Milo Miles
Format:Paperback
It's very important to emphasize here that Frank Stack's artwork is not "sloppy" or "crude" in any sense. He and Bill Griffith probably have the strongest straight-art chops of anybody doing comics now. But Stack isn't just technically accomplished. Once you learn to follow his deceptively simple lines, he's profoundly expressive in his impressionist manner. Especially dealing with the tough stuff in this story, he finds the exact unsentimental tone. If he was a more prolific storyteller (or had just a bit more vivid sense of humor) his work would be mentioned right with Griffith, Crumb, Sheldon, Williams, Woodring -- the likes of those. Barbner and Pekar's single finest stroke may have been choose Stack to do the art for "Our Cancer Year."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Both Our Cancer Years
I have been neck-high into the medical establishment since my leukemia diagnosis in November 2009. Consequently, while I do not consider myself an expert of the establishment by... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kurt Brindley
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing
Unfortunately, I didn't like this book. I thought the parts about Joyce's work were pedantic, and I didn't like any of the characters. Read more
Published 12 months ago by S. Person
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too much Joyce, not enough Harvey
I got this book under the mistaken impression that it was written solely by Harvey. In fact, it was co-written with his wife Joyce. Read more
Published 16 months ago by John Clayton
1.0 out of 5 stars
Whatever
When I read Harvey Pekar's stories I feel like I'm watching the Olsen Twins. My reason? Harvey Pekar is just as shallow, superficial, and untalented as the Olsen Twins. Read more
Published 17 months ago by B. Wolinsky
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a fan
This was a quick read, and interesting I will give it that. The characters are written realistically and you can really get into the characters. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Katie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most remarkable for its utter normalcy
Harvey Pekar is probably most well known for his work on American Splendor, a movie of which was made starring Paul Giamatti. Read more
Published on January 15, 2009 by GraphicNovelReporter.com
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very good book, and not just for fan's of his work
The first time I read this, it was because I wanted to read more about Harvey and his bout with cancer. Read more
Published on November 11, 2008 by Mike Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Picking up the pieces
I've always admired Joyce Brabner (I've even, truth to tell, had a bit of a crush on her). I like her writing talent, her passion for justice, her activism, her wit, her... Read more
Published on April 14, 2008 by Kerry Walters
2.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't feel anything after I finished reading it
I know there are some fans out there of Harvey, Joyce, etc. I liked the movies "American Splendor" (big fan of Paul G.) and "Crumb" and took a chance on this book. Read more
Published on June 2, 2007 by Qaan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absorbing and Intriguing book - couldn't put it down
If you can't love Harvey Pekar, you can't love anyone. He is a lovely man, with as many neuroses as the rest of us, who listens and watches and reports on the people and world... Read more
Published on May 14, 2007 by Terry Weiss
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