Review: Daniel Clowes’ Ghost World
A sparkling graphic novel softly lit by acerbic observational comedy and a deep love for graphic art
“Nothing odd will do long,” declared Dr. Johnson in 1776, conveying his opinion on Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy.
Daniel Clowes’ Ghost World is probably the closest the real world of regular God-fearing normal people (like Dr. Johnson) skates dangerously close to the mad and bad world of indie comics. This is because, I am reliably informed, there exists an Academy nominated adaptation of the book for lamestream cinema. I know nothing about the movie for I have not watched it (so I cannot say for certain that the book was better than the movie). I did enjoy the graphic novel tremendously.
“Daniel Clowes” is a name, I’ve mentioned before, that carries much weight and respect. Before I read Ghost World, my favourite Daniel Clowes’ novel was Like a Velvet Fist Cast in Iron. These days, the ever-present mindless and gratuitous violence in American art has stopped being amusing or entertaining. I’m not offended, I’m just bored by what seems like the repeated enactment of trauma on loop. Like A Velvet Fist Cast in Iron is extremely gory and violent, though it does seem to question the central place violence has in American culture and politics.
