It's So Magic (Paperback)

by Lynda Barry (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
The latest book full of "Ernie Pook's Comeek" installments features fewer of the emotional storms of early adolescence than My Perfect Life (1992), arguably Barry's best collection. It's more about what impinges on late-1960s midteener Maybonne Mullen than what she initiates, and it's got much more of the stories Maybonne's irrepressible younger sister, Marlys, writes and draws as well as some by their brother, Freddie. The boy's arrival to live with his sisters at Grandma Mullen's (he'd been with an aunt since his mother's breakdown) is one of the momentous happenings these four-panel strips record. Others are the brief return of Uncle John, whom the sisters adore even though he's gay; the night Maybonne's friend Cindy loses her virginity to the "new boys from the Catholic school"; reading Cindy's letters from a former boyfriend, a high-school dropout now in the army in Vietnam; being called back to live with Mom again and getting there on the bus; and when Maybonne returns to her old school, finding her old friend Brenda has been telling wild stories about her. And they are all, thanks to Barry's mastery of her material, quite magical indeed. Ray Olson

Product Details

• Paperback: 127 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; Paperback Original edition (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060950463
• ISBN-13: 978-0060950460
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,359,832 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book and here's why..., September 30, 1997

By	"jgillot" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This super duper book is a compilation of Lynda Barry's comics about two weird sisters named Marlys and Maybonne. Some sections are told through older sister Maybonne's diary and they usually involve the dramas of junior high, like moving back to your old school and finding out that your best friend has told everyone that you've become a lesbian slut. My favorite sections are the ones told through Marlys' eyes. She writes book reports about bats, and draws her own comics about her sister's favorite things. Marlys' drawings of people and the caption bubbles coming out of their mouths are so creative and authentically first graderish.

Why oh why is this book out of print? I checked it out of my library, but maybe we can start a revolution and bring it back.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Love Lynda Barry!, January 12, 2000

By	Rebecca Beebe (Santa Cruz) - See all my reviews

This is an absolutely amazing work. If you can get your hands on it it is definately worth the effort. I first read it a few years ago and must have read it about six times since then.

It deals with love, friends, family, homosexuality, and life in general. I found it one of the most true and beautiful peices I've ever read.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lynda Barry is funk queen of the galaxy, December 4, 2001

By	Veronica Rusnak (Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lynda Barry saved my life with Ernie Pook's Comeek when I lived in Washington DC, and in return I feel obligated to purchase every book she's ever written. Not that that's an awful thing. The continuing saga of Marlys and Maybonne keeps me in tears, both from laughter and from sadness. The only reason this only gets four instead of five stars is that I'm starting to get a little burned out on them. Barry is so precise in tales of growing up, she's in a league with Groening, Judge, et al, in perfectly capturing, in a crude drawing, such common elements to our childhood as cereal boxes, bad haricuts, and boys who smoke. I highly recommend any Lynda Barry collection, and this chapter does not disappoint.