Ghost World [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dan Clowes described the story in Ghost World as the examination of "the lives of two recent high school graduates from the advantaged perch of a constant and (mostly) undetectable eavesdropper, with the shaky detachment of a scientist who has grown fond of the prize microbes in his petri dish." From this perch comes a revelation about adolescence that is both subtle and coolly beautiful. Critics have pointed out Clowes's cynicism and vicious social commentary, but if you concentrate on those aspects, you'll miss the exquisite whole that Clowes has captured. Each chapter ends with melancholia that builds towards the amazing, detached, ghostlike ending. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA?Eight interconnected stories about two teens. Enid and Rebecca have been friends for so long that it's difficult for either of them to let the other grow or change. Now Enid will probably leave their working-class neighborhood and go away to college and Rebecca cannot accept this change in their relationship. Enid is the more radical and dramatic of the two, the one who talks a male friend into escorting her into an X-rated "adult" store. Rebecca is not so much a follower as simply more circumspect. She's the one who reasons that Josh, a friend they're both guilty of provoking sexually, really deserves to sleep with one of them after all the teasing he's weathered. While the vocabulary here is raunchy, it is accurate for the characters. These realistic 18-year-olds don't always talk nice and don't always act nice but they do have moral fiber underneath their tough-girl exteriors. It's just that they're at a point in life and a place in society where exteriors are a lot more important than nice. This is a book with distinct appeal to urban high school students, but it's certainly not for their younger brothers and sisters. Depending on where your comics are shelved, add this one where the age-appropriate audience is most likely to find it. The artwork is evocative and tasteful and the book can serve as a bridge to more literary stories of friendships.?Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; illustrated edition edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560972998
• ISBN-13: 978-1560972990
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,236,598 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting little masterpiece, June 14, 2001

By	Joel R. Bryan (Athens, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Ghost World (Paperback)

Dan Clowes' graphic novel, "Ghost World" tells the story of Enid Coleslaw and her best friend Rebecca during the months between their high school graduation and the following October. The girls curse a lot, obsess over freaks and strange events in their lives and eventually come to realize their childhood friendship may not survive their transition into adulthood.

Clowes has an amazing ability to zero in on life's smallest moments and find in them a fragile poetry. He's also not afraid to make his characters fallible, and sometimes, in the manner of callous youth, even cruel. Enid and Rebecca dub a waiter "Weird Al" because of his curly hair, and play a rude prank on a poor boob whose only crime was to gain their notice by placing a pathetic personal ad. And yet you won't hate the characters. They're vulnerable and honest in a very believable way, and their emotional journey through their final months together accurately depicts longing and unease, their nostalgia for things the way they were, and their need for different lives. For Rebecca, it's to hold onto things as they are, and for Enid, it's to go someplace else not to find herself, but to become someone different.

The story's also full of humor and mystery. Enid and Rebecca inhabit a world of strange grafitti, of diners and run-down apartments where things tend to happen just outside the frame, or within windows. And Clowes' two-toned, semi-realistic, sometimes cartoony depiction of the various geeks, pervos and schmoes who inhabit "Ghost World" is dead on... the dopey expressions, the sudden crises, the need to feel something and the fear that accompanies that desire... it's all there in his characters' faces.

Reminiscent of Will Eisner's work (and just a touch of Charles Burns'), and with a hip, modern feel, "Ghost World" provides a truly amazing and unique reading experience.

42 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enid and Rebecca's Ghost World is fun reading!, May 19, 2002

By	Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Ghost World (Paperback)

Seeing what was one of 2001's refreshing alternatives to the cinema, i.e. Terry Zwigoff's adaptation of Daniel Clowes' Ghost World, was what prompted me to get the graphic novel that inspired the movie, and I was NOT disappointed, believe you me.

Most of the scenarios seen in the movie are in the book. The garage sale, the lame comedian, the "Satanists," the 50's diner with "Weird Al," the prank call leading to the fake date, the note on Josh's door, etc. Two of them involve different characters. Enid's visit to the adult shop has Josh as her unwilling escort, while the recipient of the fake date was an unnamed character. Seymour was the subsitute in the movie for both occasions.

The interactions between Enid and Rebecca are realistic and human, as the bored duo spend days looking for excitement. Towards the end, their friendship gets frayed, as both have different visions of where they want to be, and the differences between them become pronounced and explored. Rebecca wants to belong somewhere, but Enid isn't sure.

The humor here is more human and natural while being profane at times. Certain characters add to the laughs, such as the obnoxious John Ellis, a right-leaning WASP who endorses controversial views and people, such as a ex-priest into child porn. He might as well be a refined Eminem. He constantly taunts Enid whenever they meet. In one conversation, we learn poor Enid's last name--Coleslaw. Enid: "My Dad has his name changed legally!" To which Ellis replies, "From what... three-bean salad?" Now that's funny! Another bit: Enid: "Look how hot we are... How come no boys ask us out on dates?" In the next frame, she says "Maybe we should be lesbos!" to which Rebecca says "Get away from me!"

Josh may be awkward and shy, but he is, as Enid tells him, "the last decent person on Earth." Both want to go out with him, but he is put off by Enid's sarcasm and he isn't sure about Rebecca. When pressed on his political views, he says he endorses "policies opposed to stupidity and violence,... cruelty in any form, censorship..." That makes two of us.

I've wondered this since I saw the movie, but does the bus stop where Norman finally gets his bus and where Enid goes, symbolizes hope? There's no interaction with Norman in the book, but it's revealed that the bus line has been reopened, while there's no such information provided in the movie. The novel doesn't change the symbolism of the bus stop.

Compare the book to the movie, which is different in some ways, but still explores the themes of alienation and growing up; see how perfect Thora Birch and Scarlet Johansson were in playing Enid and Rebecca. Both are stunning. Truly a rare gem of a comic.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clowes' masterpiece., August 11, 1997

By	[e-mail] (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost World (Hardcover)

Clowes has only done a few stories of any length (I barely want to call Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron a story, it's far too surreal and detatched -- and then that would leave what, the amateurish Lloyd Llewellyn stories -- and what else? ), but of them Ghost World is his best. Two teenage girls who do everything together make fun of everyone else and occasionally deal with some more substantial personal troubles. Like all of his work, it's mostly a vehicle for Clowes' own views and criticisms, but there's a tenderness to these connected stories that's absent from his more ferocious shorter pieces, which makes his violent opinions a bit easier to swallow. If you find that most of what's in Eightball (his serial comic, which is always recommendable and of an inhumanly consistent quality) to be maybe too spiteful or harsh, (personally, I don't) Ghost World might be more to your liking. The best overview of his short strips is probably Lout Rampage, but any issue of Eightball would do