It's So Magic

OK, here's the deal, if you wanna get down with your bad self and figure out if your childhood really did suck, read any or all of Lynda Barry's books. Not only will she prove to you that it did suck, but she will also show you that everybody else's childhood sucked too! However, she will also demonstrate to you, in a very amusing way, that we were all, mostly, too dumb to let it get in the way or really bother us. In fact, many of us will relive the pain and pleasure through Lynda's therapy and will actually enjoy it.So, do yourself a favour and read all her stuff. And if you don't get her books, then, not only did your childhood suck but your adulthood is even worse! Yolo tendo! Namaste Leenda Namaste!!!!

Lynda Barry saved my life with Ernie Pook's Comeek when I lived in Washington DC, and in return I feel obligated to purchase every book she's ever written. Not that that's an awful thing. The continuing saga of Marlys and Maybonne keeps me in tears, both from laughter and from sadness. The only reason this only gets four instead of five stars is that I'm starting to get a little burned out on them. Barry is so precise in tales of growing up, she's in a league with Groening, Judge, et al, in perfectly capturing, in a crude drawing, such common elements to our childhood as cereal boxes, bad haricuts, and boys who smoke. I highly recommend any Lynda Barry collection, and this chapter does not disappoint.

This is an absolutely amazing work. If you can get your hands on it it is definately worth the effort. I first read it a few years ago and must have read it about six times since then. It deals with love, friends, family, homosexuality, and life in general. I found it one of the most true and beautiful peices I've ever read.

I completely agree with San Diego reviewer below. Why is it out of print? Lame!!! She (lynda B.) is so good and Marlys so wonderful. Joy and pathos, that is what is here.

This super duper book is a compilation of Lynda Barry's comics about two weird sisters named Marlys and Maybonne. Some sections are told through older sister Maybonne's diary and they usually involve the dramas of junior high, like moving back to your old school and finding out that your best friend has told everyone that you've become a lesbian slut. My favorite sections are the ones told through Marlys' eyes. She writes book reports about bats, and draws her own comics about her sister's favorite things. Marlys' drawings of people and the caption bubbles coming out of their mouths are so creative and authentically first graderish. Why oh why is this book out of print? I checked it out of my library, but maybe we can start a revolution and bring it back.