The Freddie Stories

Rating:
Summary: Not exactly a laugh-a-minute, but still wonderful!!
Review: I admit I bought this book expecting it to be along the same lines as Lynda Barry's (weekly?) work....quirky, funny, and occasionally bittersweet. Still, even though it's a bit different, I loved it immensely! How does she remember so well what it's like to be an oddball kid?? I'm 19, and already I catch myself trying to forget...my favorite was the one where Freddie talks about being half-awake, half-dreaming early in the morning......If anyone sees Lynda, tell her "right on" from Alyssa!

Rating:
Summary: I love Lynda Barry but this one is a sincere disppointment
Review: I am sad to say I did not enjoy this collection very much at all, mostly because it lacks Marlys and Maybonne! Freddie is very different from M & M--I can't believe he's related to them. There are lots of trippy skulls and bad kids who kill old ladies, and none of the pimply fun of M & M. I do not recommend this one unless you are trying to complete a collection.

Rating:
Summary: It grew on me....
Review: I couldn't wait for The Freddie Stories and as soon as I got my hands on a copy, read it from cover to cover. I have to admit that I was disappointed with the book- I found it very disjointed and it didn't ring within me the same sort of chord as Barry's earlier works. However, I read it a second time, and then a third, and found that each time I read it, the tales grew on me more and more and I started to appreciate it on its own terms. I still don't think it is as good as Come Over Come Over or It's So Magic, but it's not too bad and worth a try (or three!)

Rating:
Summary: Something of a revelation
Review: I grew up queer, gifted and --um-- white trash, in a brutal world with little hope and no heroes. In "The Freddie Stories" Lynda Barry creates a character as true to that experience as any I have read, and shows that kids without heroes must become heroes... and Freddie/Skreddie is a true hero. Just as Lynda Barry re-forms the arts of narrative and cartooning to the demands of her unique and eloquent talents, her queer, gifted, white-trash Freddie reshapes his own world -- through a harrowing series of agonies -- into a place where cast-away kids become creatures of miracles. Not since "Bastard out of Carolina" has a writer approached this shadow world with Barry's insight, brilliance and compassion. Just as Holden Caulfield still speaks for disaffected youth, Freddie deserves to endure as a spokesman-hero for this particular tribe of disenfranchised of children. Note: the back cover is worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Something of a revelation
Review: I grew up queer, gifted and --um-- white trash, in a brutal world with little hope and no heroes. In "The Freddie Stories" Lynda Barry creates a character as true to that experience as any I have read, and shows that kids without heroes must become heroes... and Freddie/Skreddie is a true hero. Just as Lynda Barry re-forms the arts of narrative and cartooning to the demands of her unique and eloquent talents, her queer, gifted, white-trash Freddie reshapes his own world -- through a harrowing series of agonies -- into a place where cast-away kids become creatures of miracles. Not since "Bastard out of Carolina" has a writer approached this shadow world with Barry's insight, brilliance and compassion. Just as Holden Caulfield still speaks for disaffected youth, Freddie deserves to endure as a spokesman-hero for this particular tribe of disenfranchised of children. Note: the back cover is worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Cruddy!
Review: I loved the previous books about Maybonne, Marlys, Freddie, Arna, and Arnold. My children and I have reread them many times and we often quote the books ("a personal tragedy for me", "the hills are alive", etc.). But I did not recognize this Freddie. He was not the same sensitive, bug-loving kid we met in the earlier stories, the one who was an "accident." I think Lynda went a little over the top with shock value here. I was extremely disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: SKREDDY!
Review: I really, really love Lynda Barry. Freddy is her greatest creation ever. Really, I just saw that this book only had 4 stars and I wanted to see if I could up it a bit, it deserves at least 4 and a half! : P So I'm a lazy reviewer... Just buy this and make sure you also pick up a copy of THE GreatTEST OF MARLYS!

Rating:
Summary: Tragic, Poetic
Review: I've been a big fan of Lynda Barry's cartoon-format books. This is certainly the darkest, most poignant one. It deals with the character Freddy,an odd child who tries to cope with his outcast status by boldly embracing his oddness and eccentricities. However, as is the case with all of Lynda Barry's cartoon books, the theme that people can be cruel and exploitative of weakness, particularly in childhood, takes over. The mother, who obviously suffers from an undiagnosed major depression, takes out her life's discontent on him; a sadistic classmate and an unsympathetic teacher further poor Freddie's descent into mental illness, which becomes fully manifest after recovery from a near-fatal illness (which, to drive home the point about the complete lack of love and attention this child so desperately needed, occurred because his babysitting sister was too busy getting stoned to realize he was falling into unconsciousness with fevers). The ending is painfully tragic, almost too difficult to read. What makes this book, like all of Ms. Barry's books, so fantastic is the recollection she has of how people of this age group talk. The choice of words, the cadence of speech, are written as if they are taken from a diary of a seventh grader. What I love about these books is we can all relate to some aspects of these stories to some extent through our own experiences, and other aspects vicariously (remebering a friend's mother or father who was neglectful or abusive), and the writing style makes it that much easier to get into that frame of mind/reference when reading the book. One takes away from these books (this one in particular) both a sense of nostalgia for childhood, as well as a realization that it wasn't always as wonderful as we remember; there were bad times too, and in many ways, we are lucky to not have had to endure what so many others like Freddie went through.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book of the Year
Review: In looking over other reviews, I see that a few readers expected this book to be cute cartoons and were disappointed when it wasn't. Rather, it is a coherent, disturbing, poignant story of childhood that rings very true. Poor Freddie is treated badly by family, friends, and teachers and goes through psychological disorders that he deals with the best he can. Barry's writing in this book is sheer poetry. Read it as a book and not as a series of comic strips, and you'll find your reading experience rewarded. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: What a great and scary place the world is...
Review: It is hard to write a review of a Lynda Barry novel that would do justice the greatness she puts in her books. All Barry's characters are full of life and life problems, some more optimistic than others. The Freddie Stories is a collection of comic strips in the same world as The! Greatest! Of! Marlys! It is much darker than the novel about Marlys and her shining personality. Although it made me cry at the end at the saddness of humanity (and all cheesy phrases like this), The Freddie Stories is an excellent read, once again dazzling with Barry's art, wit, and humor. A must read for Lynda Barry's fans.