House of Java - Hardcover

Murphy, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1561633283 ISBN 13: 9781561633289

Publisher: NBM Publishing, 2002

Synopsis

A collection of short slice-of-life stories quietly but strongly etching various facets of our lives, without the cynicism. The House of Java is a coffee house where little flashes on all sorts of people that happen in for a cup. Reminiscent of the insightful work of Adrian Tomine.

About this title

About the Author

Burne Hogarth (Author) :

Reviews

In his second volume of short stories, Murphy (House of Java: Vol. 1) joins Jaime Hernandez and Adrienne Tomine as a comics writer who refuses to shy away from complex female characters. Murphy's talent lies in his ability to highlight the complexities and weaknesses of men and women. Interspersing comic short stories with longer, more introspective narratives, his work is like a mini-film festival, offering a series of well-told tales that readers will savor to the last detail. "Tide Pools" is a heartbreaking story about a college student's encounter with a local smalltown girl who yearns for something more but lacks the courage to leave. In the poignant story "Steven," the female narrator asks, "Why does it have to be such a dis to like a guy but not love him?" when she's forced to decline the affections of a friend who confesses his love for her. "The Burial" is a haunting story of a man returning home to find solace during a divorce only to uncover a terrible secret and perhaps the key to his own redemption. Murphy varies the stories' visual tone, using the thin lines and white background of a daily comic strip for the funny stories, and heavily inked lines and black shadows for the more dramatic stories. He also includes two stories from "The Paper Route," a comic about a boy and his neighborhood adventures along the route. Geared toward a younger audience, the strip reminds readers of the pure and innocent fun that comics can provide.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Realism isn't common in graphic novels. Even autobiographical ones indulge in caricature (see Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, 1986), and even documentary examples wax impressionistic (see Jim Ottaviani's Fallout [BKL Ja 1&15 02]). Murphy may be the medium's only creator of rigorously realistic fiction--he won't even show a character's dreams. What happens in a Murphy story could be seen pretty much as he draws it. We and those we know could live a Murphy story. The 12-year-old newspaper boy scrimping to buy a rock 'n' roll album, the college-age protagonists of "May 27th" and "Steven," the slightly older ones worried about settling down too soon in "Tide Pools," and the mid-twenties divorce returning to his hometown in "The Burial" are as recognizable as the characters of resolutely realistic prose fiction, and so are their predicaments--ordinary matters of the heart, home, and appetites. And if Murphy's black-and-white artwork and bang-on dialogue were any more mannered than they are, his stuff would be boring. But they aren't, and it isn't. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

This collection of true-to-life short stories rendered in black and white explores the complexities of human emotion, imperfection, and relationships with sympathy and deft storytelling. The title of the book comes from a series of vignettes set in a coffee shop, and much of the rest of the book has a coffee motif running through it as well. The book's darkest story, "The Burial," is saved for last. Here, a man whose wife has filed for divorce attends his cousin's wedding and finds himself investigating a decade-old town scandal. Though not inappropriate for teens, this work will most interest readers of college age and above. This is part of NBM's "ComicsLit" line, and though its literary aspirations are slightly undercut by a few spelling and punctuation errors, the book definitely delivers. Recommended for all collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: NBM Publishing
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1561633283
• ISBN 13: 9781561633289
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96