The Quitter [Paperback]

Harvey Pekar (Author), Dean Haspiel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2006

Harvey Pekar, the acclaimed creator and subject of the American Book Award-winning biopic American Splendor, tells the story of his troubled teen years when he would beat up other kids just to win the approval of his peers in this paperback edition of his virtuoso graphic novel. When he failed to impress, whether on the football team, in math class, in the Navy or on the job, he simply gave up. This true tour-de-force is the universal tale of a young man’s search for himself through the frustrations, redemptions and complexities of ordinary life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Pekar's work, memorialized in the movie American Splendor, is an ongoing chronicle of his life in all its quotidian glory. Until now, he's only written nonfiction vignettes of his life as a jazz-loving slacker. The strength of Pekar's work is in his depiction of moments, but you have to read a great deal of it to understand the overall arc. This autobiographical full-length comic amends that problem, providing the missing overview: a searingly honest memoir of a smart but troubled boy who depends on quitting any time he might fail—a strategy that eventually leads to a near-nervous breakdown after he joins the navy. But Pekar doesn't dwell on his anxiety with the look-at-me tantrums of Philip Roth or Woody Allen—he's not that indulgent. Pekar's frequent artistic collaborator Haspiel provides the square-jawed, nebbishy characters, drawn with a fat, '60s line, giving a sharp-edged sense of the frustration and tension of an immigrant midcentury boyhood. This book is full of the deeply flawed but sympathetic characters that populate Pekar's work: his hard-working but oblivious parents, an overrated tough guy Pekar beats up, the jazz writer who gives him an outlet away from being a street tough. Pekar's work dignifies the struggle of the average man, and this book shows how that dignity is earned. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–Ever since the release of the movie American Splendor, Pekar has become widely known and regarded as a writer of autobiographical graphic novels. What keeps his writing interesting is that he not only continues to take new approaches in examining his own life, but he also collaborates with different artists. Here, he focuses on his childhood and young adult years. Teens will find much to empathize with, from his sense of alienation as a young Jewish boy in an increasingly African-American neighborhood to his struggle to find his place in the world. Pekar is his own worst enemy, finding discouragement in anything less than stunning success, berating himself, and quitting when things dont go exactly as he plans. That he eventually does make a name for himself, though it is an uneasy success, is a realistic message of encouragement that teens may find comforting. The Quitter is suggested for mature audiences, but there is very little to offend. The book itself is well designed, with a bold, eye-catching jacket and excellent black-and-white illustrations.–Dawn Rutherford, King County Library System, Bellevue, WA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (September 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401204007
• ISBN-13: 978-1401204006
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.3 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #618,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harvey and Dean KO'd me with this..., October 12, 2005

By 

Benjamin Stone "benjamin sTone" (Urbana, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Quitter (Hardcover)

So here's the deal: The Quitter is easily one of the most solid graphic novels I've read, bar none.

Harvey Pekar, famous for his American Splendor comics, as well as the film about him that shares the same name, is not the everyman that most articles predictably and laboriously paint him as. How do you refer to somebody who's been writing jazz reviews for forty years as an everyman? Or how about a guy who doesn't get to be on Letterman anymore, since he turned the tables on the open mockery of him one too many times?

I've read most of American Splendor, and I've enjoyed it, but it's rarely knocked me out. Don't get me wrong, it's some impressive stuff-the impression varying greatly with each artist who illustrates Pekar's work-but it's never been the sort of thing that I'd go out of my way to pick up regularly. The slice-of-life dialogue can really be killer, but it always felt a bit disjointed to me.

Man, Quitter kicks the crap out of that little stereotype I've been nursing. The usual 90/10 dialogue/narration formula is flipped over as Pekar writes about his amazingly interesting early life, from the heady days of his being the best street fighter in his neighborhood, to his occasionally debilitating bouts of inadequacy and paranoia, to his countless jobs and week in the Navy. This is no longer "slice of life," this IS life, and an incredibly interesting one at that.

This is the kind of autobiographical stuff I can totally dig on; this is a guy going through and telling us his highs, his lows, and all with a detachment that's not totally unemotional. When I finished, I felt like I had a way better grasp on Harvey Pekar, and a far more vast respect for him and his life.

I feel bad enough that I've gone this far without mentioning that this is-near as I can tell-the best art I've ever seen out of Dean Haspiel, and that's saying a lot. Easily the most impressive to me about this is that each panel isn't just the usual "snapshot" art. Instead, each one threatens to keep moving if you take your eyes off of it. We're talking Jack-Kirby's-Captain-America-is-striding-towards-the-Red-Skull-and-somebody's-gonna-lose-an-eye kinda power here. His framing of movement is incredible, with some amazing three-panel-spreads that tug your eyes along with the text, the character, and the flow of the story.

Haspiel pulls nice camera angles without making them feel forced, and keeps the background as alive as the main character. One panel I really loved is where we see a young Pekar in class, watching the teacher, and a girl to the side looking away, but not at Pekar. It's like she's sneaking a glimpse at some off-panel crush, and Haspiel's letting us in on her secret.

And the fights. A lot of this book comes down to fighting, where Pekar excelled, and was finally able to feel that he had accomplished something. His narrations of the schoolings are full of awesome, and Dino's art...man, some of those punches made my jaw ache.

Listen to me, rambling away like a fanboy, or worse, an actual critic. Ignore my noise, and just get out there and buy The Quitter.

As for me, I think I'm gonna read it again.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Portrait of the artist as a young man, December 7, 2005

By 

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Quitter (Hardcover)

This is another autobiographical comic book by Harvey Pekar. This time, he writes about his childhood up to his young adulthood. He has written about this in the past, but never this extensively before. The title of the book refers to himself, because when he was a young man he would quit anything that didn't come easy to him. He had an inferiority complex, which he tried to compensate for by being "great" at things. If he didn't do as well as he hoped, he would lose confidence and give up. I could tell you more, but it's better to just read the book and find out for yourself. Oh, I mustn't neglect to mention the great black and white artwork by Dean Haspiel. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in comic books for adults.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Personal Best, February 11, 2007

By 

Bennet Pomerantz "Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD" (College Park, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Quitter (Paperback)

For every boy who feeled he failed his father..For Every man who lived in his father's shadow..For every son who craved his father approval and never recieved it..For those sons who felt the guilt of not living up to expectation of his parents... this book is your story

American Splendor's Harvey Pekar writes another autobiographical graphic novel about his childhood with his father and family. Labeled the Quitter, this brutual honest piece speaks volumes.

Its poignancy, as Pekar Splendor stories, are worth its weight in gold. With Dean Haspiel's art, thgis Pekar tale is given a new liveliness

all I need to say is that Vertigo books, who publishes this one, should do more of Pekar's work...and Harvey, when is another Splendor collection coming?

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD