The Playboy [Paperback]

Chester Brown (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brown has the ability to open a door that leads directly back into the very texture of childhood with all its darkness...an astonishing narrative."-The Vancouver Sun

"His best work yet. Brown has painted these embarrassing scenes with cathartic candor but also with a keen eye for detail and an understated tone...a landmark look at an artist's growth." --The Comics Journal

Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly; First Edition edition (December 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0969670117
• ISBN-13: 978-0969670117
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,213,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poignant, touching story of lonely adolescence, June 26, 2000

By 

Jonathan Adams (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Playboy (Paperback)

Chester Brown - one of the truly brilliant cartoonists in the world - has given us here a touching autobiographical confession of his addiction to pornography. Even if you have never had the exact same experience yourself, you will find yourself able to relate to this book in a very personal way. Brown captures the perpetual guilt and loneliness of adolescence perfectly. What makes the book especially interesting is the method Chester employs in juxtaposing his adult life with his teenage years - his adult "self" time-travels back to his pubescent life and not only narrates the story, but actually becomes a visible little "fairy"-type of creature and interacts with the story in a comforting comic voice. This book is as honest as you can possibly get and will be enjoyed by anyone who loves the nostalgia and sadness of coming-of-age stories. Chester Brown's comic books are a splendid change from the pointlessness of most superhero stories or the shallow shock value of most "underground" comics. His comic books are more like pieces of music - carrying the reader's emotions into places of heartbreak and beauty.

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Personal experience and serialization, December 25, 2001

By 

elitist_urine "baldaluccio brothers" (grand rapidss) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Playboy (Paperback)

For the man who complained of Chester's work being nothing more than a tool for the elite to further distance themselves, I tell him not to base his reaction to this fine work on the snide remarks of a few poseurs. If you were to tell me you did not understand Chester Brown's work, I would have tried to explain it to you because it is something that more people should experience and enjoy. Though he is fine at it, I don't think Chester Brown likes being poor. If more people began appreciating his work, I doubt he would try to make himself less accessible. As for claiming this to be better than his excellent comics, the Playboy was first serialized in Yummy Fur. I suggest you finish reading the entire thing before making such harsh and unfounded claims.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Here we go again, January 23, 2011

By 

GrimKeeper - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Playboy (Paperback)

I'm angry because I already wrote a review for this book, but I'm assuming Amazon thought it was inappropriate. I'm angry because I don't think it was. I used no bad language. I spoke about themes in the book which happen to be about sex, but I have no idea why I was censored.

Anyway, I gave it three stars, because it seems outdated. What he feels guilty about in the book seems odd to me, because I come from a generation where porn is so much more explicit than his generation. Feeling guilty about playboys or having girlfriends be disgusted with you because of a playboy collection is beyond my understanding. That's so tame!