Customer Reviews

Portrait of the Walrus by a Young Artist (Harvest Book)

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While "Portrait of the Walrus by a Young Artist" certainly contains some humerous passages, a likeable heroine and enough surreality to keep the reader engaged, the book lacks the depth nessisary to sustain the themes presented in its opening chapter. Really, reading the synopsis of the book and the first few pages is enough, as what follows reverts to cliche and cartoonish symbolism. Foos uses 175 pages to essentially state that normal life is a boring escape from the arduous personal experience nessisary to truely be an "artist." It's a theme present in countless other books, many of which take the subject on with some sort of insight or depth of perception lacking in this book. Chip Kidd's "THe Cheese Monkeys" for one contains many of the same ideas as this book, but his writing is consistent, his characters believable, etc.
This is not to say that this is a bad book, exactly, merely not the powerful testimate of an artist's coming of age as some reviewers suggest. It's recommended for anyone looking for something slightly off-kilter and entertaining. For more satisfying fare, you may want to check out "the cheese monkeys" or robert irwin's "exquisite corpse," both of which cover the same material foos does, but with more pleasing results.

This is a disturbing novel. It's unsettling. It has sharp corners, shadows. It explores the seamy underside of the unconscious. The young artist has to go on vision quest through the valley of her inner and outer demons in order to emerge whole and empowered, a heroine and artist in the end. The story functions as a vision quest. A young girl in American suburbia with a bouffant mother, an assinine (and threatening) stepfather, tries to use her art to reconstruct and resurrect her lost and damned sculptor father, and doing so, finds herself. The surreal symbolism is effective with its many references to the underwater world, mating walruses, sharks, drowning. The bathtub where the sculptor father drowns becomes the sea from which the reborn heroine emerges. Brilliant, cerebral, risk-taking writing from the most innovative young writers of our time. After you read this novel, you will never look at pizza or bowling balls the same way again.

This is a disturbing novel. It's unsettling. It has sharp corners, shadows. It explores the seamy underside of the unconscious. The young artist has to go on vision quest through the valley of her inner and outer demons in order to emerge whole and empowered, a heroine and artist in the end. The story functions as a vision quest. A young girl in American suburbia with a bouffant mother, an assinine (and threatening) stepfather, tries to use her art to reconstruct and resurrect her lost and damned sculptor father, and doing so, finds herself. The surreal symbolism is effective with its many references to the underwater world, mating walruses, sharks, drowning. The bathtub where the sculptor father drowns becomes the sea from which the reborn heroine emerges. Brilliant, cerebral, risk-taking writing from the most innovative young writers of our time. After you read this novel, you will never look at pizza or bowling balls the same way again.

This book demonstrates how a true artist takes their work. It shows how her father couldn't really love her in the way she needs but her mother tries to make up for it and tries to clear away all the bad stuff from Frances's life. I related to this book in a way that made me feel that the book was written just for me, but backwards. Foos has a great perspective on an artists way of life. It's almost as if she is one herself. Although I am praising this book, it can be hard to follow at times. I found myself having to read some of the lines over again so I could understand. Other than that, I love this book.

This book demonstrates how a true artist takes their work. It shows how her father couldn't really love her in the way she needs but her mother tries to make up for it and tries to clear away all the bad stuff from Frances's life. I related to this book in a way that made me feel that the book was written just for me, but backwards. Foos has a great perspective on an artists way of life. It's almost as if she is one herself. Although I am praising this book, it can be hard to follow at times. I found myself having to read some of the lines over again so I could understand. Other than that, I love this book.