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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.
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Summary: Lynda Barry is the Total God of All Geniuses
Review: Lynda Barry is always wonderful. Even when I begin to think that Fred Milton, Beat Poodle, is starting to become tiresome, I realize I'm mistaken if I pause for a moment to consider it again...So buy a copy of The Freddie Stories. This is one of her best works, along with Cruddy and 100 Demons. Beautiful, sad, hilarious, touching, filled with truth and love and pain and Barry's amazingly funny magic.
Rating:
Summary: Recognize greatness in whatever form it takes
Review: Lynda Barry is one of this nation's great writers. Many readers won't see her dazzling brilliance because they are distracted by her cluttered, sometimes messy cartooning. The pictures and words work together though, as does her unbreaking four-panel format, to create not just a fine comic, or a good book, but high literature and great art. Freddie is a boy to whom, to put it bluntly, terrible things happen. In this wrenching novel he is beaten, abused, humiliated and ignored. At the depth of his wretched misery he drifts from his own body, and spends some time watching people watching the boy who looks just like him. Only his sister, Marlys sees that something is not right, and with the help of love, an amazing entity and a secret language, struggles to bring him back. This amazing story is filled with monsters and gods, magic, dreams, and nightmarish horrors. It's villians are horrible; psychotic teens, mad, bullying classmates and emotionally twisted Moms. It's heroes -- Marlys, Spaz-Eyes Gigi, and Freddie himself -- are incredible. Don't be put off by scribbled, cluttered panels, or the cartoon nature itself: This is one of the greatest novels I have read, and look forward to reading it again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Recognize greatness in whatever form it takes
Review: Lynda Barry is one of this nation's great writers. Many readers won't see her dazzling brilliance because they are distracted by her cluttered, sometimes messy cartooning. The pictures and words work together though, as does her unbreaking four-panel format, to create not just a fine comic, or a good book, but high literature and great art. Freddie is a boy to whom, to put it bluntly, terrible things happen. In this wrenching novel he is beaten, abused, humiliated and ignored. At the depth of his wretched misery he drifts from his own body, and spends some time watching people watching the boy who looks just like him. Only his sister, Marlys sees that something is not right, and with the help of love, an amazing entity and a secret language, struggles to bring him back. This amazing story is filled with monsters and gods, magic, dreams, and nightmarish horrors. It's villians are horrible; psychotic teens, mad, bullying classmates and emotionally twisted Moms. It's heroes -- Marlys, Spaz-Eyes Gigi, and Freddie himself -- are incredible. Don't be put off by scribbled, cluttered panels, or the cartoon nature itself: This is one of the greatest novels I have read, and look forward to reading it again and again.
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Summary: AT LAST! More great comix from the great Lynda Barry!
Review: Lynda Barry's comics never fail to bring the pain and magic of childhood vividly to life and The Freddie Stories continues that tradition. Life as a child is not always pretty and Lynda captures that beautifully in the collection. You will be richly rewarded with stories that will touch your heart instead of merely going for a cheap and easy laugh.
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Summary: Move over, Esther Greenwood! Here comes Freddie.
Review: Lynda Barry's latest collection of comics is about a character we've met only briefly in her past books. Freddie is a gay (or, in his own words, El Fagatastico) adolescent who lives through a couple of truly unspeakable horrors. He witnesses death and abandonment, surrounded by hateful cousins, controlling friends, his drugged-out sister Maybonne (who, with any luck, will be the star of another book of her own sometime soon) and an unloving mother. His only ally is one of my favorite Lynda Barry characters, his gifted sister Marlys. These stories are as engaging and moving as any I've ever read. It's a cliche, but I have to say it: I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me. I first picked up a Lynda Barry book back in 1988, when I was a senior in high school. I didn't quite understand the comics, but they fascinated me. As I grew older I started to understand her more and more, and now I can honestly say that nobody else can write characters with whom I can identify quite like Ms. Barry. Keep churning them out, Lynda!
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Summary: Marlys sez Hi, Freddie sez Right on!
Review: Remember how the tv show 'the wonder years' would always give you that feeling that your heart was about to break into a million pieces and make you die of sadness? This book has that same amazingly beautiful feel to it. Lynda Barry is my punk rock dream come true, she should have her own national holiday...hmmmm. Ok, this book makes me think so much of my younger years, as Freddie makes his way thru this confusing world. He's shy and arty, and has a pencant for calling himself 'Fag'. It makes you wish that he'd burst thru his cartoon world pannel and liberate Peppermint Patty and Velma from their str8 boy dominated confines (and who knows, he may do just that...). Anyway, this book isn't a book for kids per sey but details how I remember feeling growing up. Freddies only true friend being his sister Marlys, His mother who is a...i cant even think of a nice word...and his older sister Maybonne who is hooked on drugs and depressed...and that only scrapes the trauma that is delt with in this book of genius. I can't possibly tell you how amazing this book is...You really have to see it for yourself...
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Summary: Lynda "why-not-just-call-her-Shakespeare?" Barry
Review: Thank you, Lynda, for this whole book just about Freddie. Ever since I read about him in Ernie Pook's Comeek, spazzing out by the monkey bars with Spaz Eyes Gigi, I wished I could read more. As much as I love Marlys and Maybonne, I was glad that Freddie was such a wonderfully different character. The bits of light that appear in his frightening univers only serve to show how awful the rest of everything is. The exception to this--the burning stroke of genius in all of Barry's books about this family--is his relationship with Marlys. When he comes out of his burning-head phase, hers is the first normal face he sees. There's a reason for this: she keeps him not (too) crazy, and alive. Read this book. Lynda Barry is awesome. No one is better at putting you directly inside a character. She isn't going for quick laughs. She's going for real life. And she hits it, dead on, time and time again.
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Summary: my favorite of the lynda barry canon
Review: The Freddie Stories is my favorite of all The Funk Queen of the U.S.A.'s work, and that INCLUDES 100 Demons--no small feat. Barry's masterful handling of some very dark subject matter floored me.
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Summary: A departure from Lynda Barry's normal style...
Review: The latest Lynda Barry chronicles the life of Freddie. It is a disturbing departure from Ms. Barry's normally whimsical, funny, sad, and insightful style. Freddie is plagued by horrible events, including several emotionally disturbing times in his life. There is a semi-bitter-sweet conclusion, and I still recommend this for the Lynda Barry fan.
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