Shortcomings, by Adrian Tomine
I've got a confession to make. From about 2000 until early 2004 I was, to one extent or another, a Japanophile. I took Japanese lessons and learned to identify what tense, what parts of speech, and the structure of written Japanese sentences without learning enough kanji or vocabulary to function in the least capacity as a Japanese speaker. I watched a moderate amount of anime, and wrote in my blog about how awesome it would be to live in Japan. I pretty much put everything from this archipelago on a huge pedestal. After a while I took a more restrained view and realized that a lot of crap comes from this nation too, and treated Japan as just another source of culture, some good, some bad, like any culture.
Getting to the matter at hand, in late 2003, I would have crapped my pants over Shortcomings, the new graphic novelby Adrian Tomine. Thoroughly Japanese in subject matter, with none of the fluff of the anime/manga subculture. In 2007, the reason I got it was to get Super Saver shipping on my pre-order of Acme Novelty Library No. 18. (Turns out, I impulsively bought a bunch of other stuff and, ever American in my impatience, went for separate shipments, which are $5 extra an ineligible for super-saver.) Going in, I had little idea of the subject matter besides Amazon's assurances of Tomine's publish-ability. So when I got the book, the back cover didn't exactly set my bowels alight; while I love boring, quotidian stories of relationships (read Charles Baxter), this work seemed a bit too trendy.
Things did not get off on a good start with this book. The two main characters are less than likable. Ben Tanaka, the manager of a Berkeley movie theatre, is abrasively sarcastic and pompous. His girlfriend, Miko Hayashi, organizer of an Asian-American film festival, is politically minded to a point where it interferes with her personal life. Ben, it seems, fancies the Occidental, and takes little interest in Miko. The first chapter of the book consists of arguments between the two and post-game analysis by Ben's friend and confidante, Alice Kim. Alice is a promiscuous grad student, and it's apparent a lot of her lines are played for laughs. Most fall flat, but they connect later on in the book. Anyway, Miko eventually gets a fellowship at New York University and leaves at the end of the chapter. After a few misadventures as Ben courts those aforementioned Occidental women, Alice also leaves for New York, and compels Ben to go with her. There he discovers Alice and we get a semblance of resolution to our overarching conflict.
After the first chapter, I was not enjoying the book. However, I pressed on. I grew connected to the characters, and the writing got sharper in the last chapter. The examinations of race and Asian identity were in the forefront of the narrative without being too polemic. Ben develops nicely and overall, I liked the book. Tomine's spare, clean style is very good, the graphic bit of this novel is very nicely done. Tomine has certainly added himself to my watchlist with this acceptable novel.
I've got a confession to make. From about 2000 until early 2004 I was, to one extent or another, a Japanophile. I took Japanese lessons and learned to identify what tense, what parts of speech, and the structure of written Japanese sentences without learning enough kanji or vocabulary to function in the least capacity as a Japanese speaker. I watched a moderate amount of anime, and wrote in my blog about how awesome it would be to live in Japan. I pretty much put everything from this archipelago on a huge pedestal. After a while I took a more restrained view and realized that a lot of crap comes from this nation too, and treated Japan as just another source of culture, some good, some bad, like any culture.
Getting to the matter at hand, in late 2003, I would have crapped my pants over Shortcomings, the new graphic novelby Adrian Tomine. Thoroughly Japanese in subject matter, with none of the fluff of the anime/manga subculture. In 2007, the reason I got it was to get Super Saver shipping on my pre-order of Acme Novelty Library No. 18. (Turns out, I impulsively bought a bunch of other stuff and, ever American in my impatience, went for separate shipments, which are $5 extra an ineligible for super-saver.) Going in, I had little idea of the subject matter besides Amazon's assurances of Tomine's publish-ability. So when I got the book, the back cover didn't exactly set my bowels alight; while I love boring, quotidian stories of relationships (read Charles Baxter), this work seemed a bit too trendy.
Things did not get off on a good start with this book. The two main characters are less than likable. Ben Tanaka, the manager of a Berkeley movie theatre, is abrasively sarcastic and pompous. His girlfriend, Miko Hayashi, organizer of an Asian-American film festival, is politically minded to a point where it interferes with her personal life. Ben, it seems, fancies the Occidental, and takes little interest in Miko. The first chapter of the book consists of arguments between the two and post-game analysis by Ben's friend and confidante, Alice Kim. Alice is a promiscuous grad student, and it's apparent a lot of her lines are played for laughs. Most fall flat, but they connect later on in the book. Anyway, Miko eventually gets a fellowship at New York University and leaves at the end of the chapter. After a few misadventures as Ben courts those aforementioned Occidental women, Alice also leaves for New York, and compels Ben to go with her. There he discovers Alice and we get a semblance of resolution to our overarching conflict.
After the first chapter, I was not enjoying the book. However, I pressed on. I grew connected to the characters, and the writing got sharper in the last chapter. The examinations of race and Asian identity were in the forefront of the narrative without being too polemic. Ben develops nicely and overall, I liked the book. Tomine's spare, clean style is very good, the graphic bit of this novel is very nicely done. Tomine has certainly added himself to my watchlist with this acceptable novel.