Customer Reviews

The New Yorker Book of True Love Cartoons

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There are many sides to the love polygon and many of them are examined in this collection of cartoons. By far, my favorite is on page 86, where an aged man has a young woman on his lap and looking at an aged woman who is giving him a stern look. All are angels and the man is saying, "Buzz off Louise! That was only till death us did part." On page 45, an unhappy couple are in the office of a marriage counselor and the man says, "No heroic measures." This is very funny stuff. I loved them all, love songs fill the airways, but the real world is much more like the messages in these cartoons.

"The New Yorker Book of True Love Cartoons" brings together 102 pages of cartoons from 46 different artists. Each cartoonist is represented by 1 to 6 examples of his/her work. The artists include Charles Addams, Lee Lorenz, Victoria Roberts, William Steig, and others; because of this diversity of artists, the book has a good variety of drawing styles.

Under the general topic of love, these cartoons cover such areas as sex, marriage, infidelity, jealousy, conflict, sexual politics, and miscommunication.

A few of my favorites: A woman at a bar tells a man, "If you quote Rilke again, I'm just going to have to take my bra off" (p. 26). Wife to husband, at home: "You may be from Mars, but the children and I are still from Westchester" (27). Categories in a Valentine's Day cards rack: "SWM TO SF," "GBF TO SWF," "DWM TO SGF" (61). And finally, a man, fully dressed with a coat and tie, and a woman, stark naked, sit in chairs at home facing away from each other. He says, "Any plans for this evening, hon?" (100).

The book gave me a few smiles and chuckles, but not much more than that. If you like some relatively tame humor about love, I recommend this book.

The book makes a perfect little gift for those just married who WILL evolve into the couples depicted in the New Yorker cartoons. Hopefully the book offers them a sense of humor for the inevitible and thus helps them.
In brief...a great marital aid for the nieve.

I was disappointed in this book. The title led me to expect heart-warming humor about love. Instead, what I got was mostly a series of cynical perspectives on infatuation gone wrong. As in some other New Yorker cartoon collections, this one also lacks an integrating essay. The drawings are often good, but the lines make these cartoons. I have included some to give you a flavor of the volume. If you are getting over a soured relationship, this book may help you to brighten up a bit.

Older man, asleep in front of television set. Wife calls. "Yoo-hoo. Time to climb the stairway to paradise."

Woman holding hands with Count Dracula look-alike, addressing an older couple (presumably her parents). "I know. But I think I can change him."

Young man to girl friend's parents in their living room. "Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman, I'll come to the point. I'm deeply in love . . . and I'd like to move in . . . ."

Couple reading sedately in bed. "Why, you're right. Tonigh isn't reading night, tonight is sex night."

Man on telephone. ". . . I'm . . . madly in love with you . . . can't eat . . . can't sleep . . . can't live without you. But that's not why I called."

Unhappy older couple in marriage counsellor's office. Man says. "No heroic measures."

Woman to female friend about man in next room. "I've got him right where I want him, not that I don't want him."

Is there someone else, Narcissus?"

Couple in living room. "Well, who made the magic go out of our marriage -- you or me?"

You get the idea.

The best advice I ever got about love was to plan to give far more than I planned to receive after marrying. That would mean that each of us would receive a sense of being appreciated that would allow our love to build. And it worked.

When you are falling in love, I suggest that you both go through Relationship Rescue and The Relationship Rescue Workbook together. If you do that, you probably won't ever need them later on because your relationship won't need rescuing.

Give and look for the best!

Relationships. Who wouldn't want to try to understand a whole lot more about the opposite sex, either through through dating, marriage, divorce and yes, just plain sexual parody pictures that this funny collection is full of. I think this should be a mandatory gift to any couple tying the knot, they would maybe then try to see and learn what the other one is thinking a whole lot better. Get this book!