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Lynda Barry

What It Is Hardcover – Illustrated, May 13, 2008

by Lynda Barry (Author)

4.6 670 ratings

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"Deliciously drawn (with fragments of collage worked into each page), insightful and bubbling with delight in the process of artistic creation. A+" -Salon

How do objects summon memories? What do real images feel like? For decades, these types of questions have permeated the pages of Lynda Barry's compositions, with words attracting pictures and conjuring places through a pen that first and foremost keeps on moving. What It Is demonstrates a tried-and-true creative method that is playful, powerful, and accessible to anyone with an inquisitive wish to write or to remember. Composed of completely new material, each page of Barry's first Drawn & Quarterly book is a full-color collage that is not only a gentle guide to this process but an invigorating example of exactly what it is: "The ordinary is extraordinary."

Part of: What It Is

What It Is
Print length

209 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Drawn and Quarterly
Publication date

May 13, 2008
Dimensions

8.64 x 0.98 x 10.99 inches
ISBN-10

9781897299357
ISBN-13

978-1897299357
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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–Every so often a book comes along that surpasses expectations, taking readers on an inspirational voyage that they don't want to leave. This is one such book. Each page is a feast for the eyes with beautiful full-page collages of photographs, watercolors, ink drawings, and text, resulting in a gorgeous volume that explores and encourages writing in a combination of ways. The author challenges readers with philosophical questions to ponder, such as What is an image? Where are they found? Can we remember something we can't imagine? The volume also acts as a workbook that successfully encourages teens to explore their own creativity through writing. In addition, autobiographical glimpses of Barry's journey from childhood to adulthood appear throughout the book. The struggles and obstacles she faces while following her path of becoming an artist and writer allow readers to believe in the possibility of writing themselves. This stunning book will appeal to those teens who are interested in delving into their creativity through words and art. The questions posed and valuable exercises that exist within its pages, along with the illustrations, could also make this book a valuable tool for English and art teachers in the classroom.–Lara McAllister, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Praise for Lynda Barry:
“Barry is, underneath the wonky handwriting and the quirky, naïve drawings, a great memoirist . . . Like [Tobias] Wolff and [Dave] Eggers, she finds a tone that accommodates self-criticism and self-irony without tipping over into self-loathing . . . but what she is particularly good at is resonance.” —"The New York Times
" “Barry is not just a storyteller, she’s an evangelist who urges people to pick up a pen—or a brush . . . and look at their own lives with fresh, forgiving eyes.” —"San Francisco Chronicle
" “America’s leading cartoon artist of childhood angst . . . The precise rightness of Barry’s smallest observation puts TV’s "The Wonder Years" to shame.” —"Entertainment Weekly
"

Praise for Lynda Barry:
"Barry is, underneath the wonky handwriting and the quirky, naive drawings, a great memoirist . . . Like [Tobias] Wolff and [Dave] Eggers, she finds a tone that accommodates self-criticism and self-irony without tipping over into self-loathing . . . but what she is particularly good at is resonance." --"The New York Times
" "Barry is not just a storyteller, she's an evangelist who urges people to pick up a pen--or a brush . . . and look at their own lives with fresh, forgiving eyes." --"San Francisco Chronicle
" "America's leading cartoon artist of childhood angst . . . The precise rightness of Barry's smallest observation puts TV's "The Wonder Years" to shame." --"Entertainment Weekly
"

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1897299354
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Drawn and Quarterly; Illustrated edition (May 13, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 209 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781897299357
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1897299357
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.64 x 0.98 x 10.99 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #45,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Drawn & Quarterly Comic & Graphic Novels
- #37 in Literary Graphic Novels (Books)
- #2,650 in Arts & Photography (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 670 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

670 global ratings

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Mardell J Milligan

Great reference book for those seeking inspiration to write their own creative book!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 1, 2023

Verified Purchase

I ordered this book as a reference for an online creative writing notebook class. The book is a top quality "hard copy" book and is full of many different styles and techniques. I really enjoyed it, and it will always be kept on my bookshelf to explore and inspire different ways to creatively write.

Helpful

RG

Incredible book and manual for accessing our individual creativity

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 10, 2015

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I bought this book because I was fortunate enough to see Lynda Barry speak, and her message was so powerful and inspiring. This book is amazing, complex, and very nuanced as she guides the reader through her creative process through the lens of imagination and memory. Barry has spent the last 40 years of her career pondering the question, "What is an image?" and this book is a fabulous journey through her own creative process and how she accesses her own creativity.

This book is particularly meaningful to me because I haven't drawn anything since I dropped out of graduate school about fifteen years ago; a sad death of my own creativity that was once integral to my self-image, and I haven't been able to reclaim. I feel like a cherished part of myself is still stuck somewhere in time, preserved like a fly in resin that has fossilized into amber, an artifact of an earlier self that still feels alive in some respects. Barry's work explores these artifacts and how images and memory offer insight into our experience.

When I was young, I loved art and images so much that I had dreams of becoming an artist. I discovered Barry's comics when I was 13 years old, and I found her work to be fascinating and something that I identified with very strongly. Barry's work, "What It Is", courageous and at times confessional in nature and raw, shows us that self-expression and creativity are fundamental to the human experience, and that it's accessible by ordinary people, too. At Barry's urging, I am drawing in the margins, during meetings at work, and reconnecting with the story that is mine alone to tell. With clarity and loving-kindness, she took her hand in mine and said, "Don't let the architecture bastards win." Her courage to connect with her own experience and earlier selves and memories, is a formidable example to others how our shared humanity can be accessed through images and the arts.

Thank you, Lynda Barry.

42 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bethany

1 of a kind book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 17, 2022

Verified Purchase

I absolutely loved this book! I literally read it in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down! Every single page is thought provoking in what is written but also about the artwork. I only included 1 photo of a small portion of one of the pages to show just how much detail was put into one corner of a page. Now imagine what the rest of this book contains 👀

4 people found this helpful

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KT, Dallas

Beautiful visual puzzle full of “make-your-own-meaning”!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 14, 2021

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This book was recommended by one of my favorite podcast hosts (Georgia from MFM). It has created a bridge between art & writing for my 11 year old that is incredible to see. I personally LOVE and am deeply obsessed with finding different meaning each time I read through and look at the art. I highly recommend if you’re a visual learner who loves images, words, & creativity. It may underwhelm an analytical mind who can’t appreciate a visual puzzle. If you just want to “read” something, it’s not for you. If you want to be inspired & create your own meanings, this book is for you! It’s beautiful.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

derwood

Lynda Barry gives your the tools to find out "What It Is" to channel your creative energy.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 6, 2015

Verified Purchase

The brilliant Lynda Barry, artist and author and my favorite as both, helps the reader to find (well rediscover actually) "what it is" that induces creativity and creation in us and how to recapture that process which came so easily to us as children but seemed to disappear as we aged.
The book is subtitled "Do you wish you could write" and it was created to help HER students where she teaches in finding that magical space that allows one to write from unhindered, unedited and bountiful space BUT the process can be applied to any type of artistic or creative work you want to do but don't know how to channel your muse. Its the cure for those blank page/blank canvas/blank stage blues.
Although her art is brilliant it can be a bit overwhelming with all of the tiny details so I do recommend getting the workbook "Syllabus" (recently published by Barry as well) to help guide you through the process. Its such an enjoyable way to reconnect with ones creative side and if for some reason her process is not for you well then, if nothing else comes of it, it is one hell of a coffee table art book.

21 people found this helpful

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Chris bct

I wanna love all her work but this goes deep into whatever she wants to do

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 31, 2013

Verified Purchase

It's a journey that I can't quite follow on. I'm glad I bought it. What I really want tho is the brilliant collections of cartoons of her various child characters, self, sister, brother, parents. I could read that stuff forever. This book takes you into a place that she enjoys being, I'm assuming, and it is done in a very unorthodox manner, utilizing pictures of post it notes and many hand written little notes, like that she took them in a writing class which I think she tells us she did. I'm not sure I'm ever going to plunge back into it again. The collections of small comic strips of hers I can go back to any year and still laugh out loud and smile and point to whoever's around and tell 'em, "Look at this!" Memorable. This book, well, I'm trying to give you a warning, it ain't those comic strip collections by a long shot. ciao bella and God bless cuz life is like a mist, gone quickly and then...then what? eternity apparently!

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

melanie strong

Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 4, 2013

Verified Purchase

This was totally and utterly brilliant! While I was reading it I was thinking of all the people I know who should read this. It was part memoir and part non-fiction. It was looking at ideas, memories, and imagination. How our memories are just as real as our imagination. How imagination works, how memory works, how we learn to distrust ourselves and worry about "being good" at something rather than just doing the things we enjoy. There was so much to the first part of this. SO many interesting ideas floating around and so much strength and empowerment from those ideas.

The second two sections were practical workbooks for getting writing. I'm not sure how much I would personally benefit from the methods she suggested. There were a couple things I disagreed with, one the idea that writing things by hand is by nature better than writing with a pen or pencil (something I find particularly difficult because of my dyslexia). Also her topics for choice for writing, cars, phone numbers weren't really that inspiring for me.

But the book itself was really lovely and one I think I will go back and read many times. The art in it is GORGEOUS. I'm definitely going to have to get other books by Lynda Barry.

12 people found this helpful

So Super Awesome

My favourite

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 27, 2014

Verified Purchase

I love this book, and have bought several copies for friends who have found it unique and inspiring. I especially love the beautiful art collage pages musing on life's questions. The comic pages in between telling the history of Lynda Barry's own experience and as a teacher are also very inspiring.

6 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Lovely stuff!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 14, 2021

Verified Purchase

Another fantastic book by Lynda Barry. I highly recommended every thing she has ever done.

One person found this helpful

Sara Hughes

brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 10, 2014

Verified Purchase

Fantastic creative work and storybook

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

great.

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