The Funnies

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, having finally picked it up after years of it being on my wishlist! Tim Mix is not an instantly likeable character, but as he grows throughout the novel, he becomes so. The relationship between Tim and his schizophrenic brother Pierce is reminiscent of Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True--both young men seem to have been awfully damaged by their father but build a beautiful relationship in the aftermath of his death when lack of finances on Tim's part throw them together for the first time in years. Descriptions of New Jersey, specifically travel around auto-packed central Jersey, were right on. The humor throughout the novel was sly. It was fun to figure out at just whom Lennon was poking fun at the cartoonists' convention. A worthwhile read!

I read The Funnies a couple of months ago and have been meaning to submit my opinion, which is this: This is a terrific piece of work. Lennon is a superb storyteller, has an endearing sense of humor, and creates characters that are lovable and fun. This novel also works on a deeper level as well, but when I read it I felt like reading a old fashioned well told story and I was not dissapointed. I wouldn't hesitate to put this novel on my "Favorite's List" and would recommend it to anyone who loves reading good books.

I picked this book up at Powell's last week expecting to be amused but not really expecting to be startled; the book is funny, but it's beyond funny, it's underneath funny. The Pierce character, the brother left out of the family strip, is sheer genius. As the rest of the book fades into my memory, Pierce is really standing out as a representative of the contemporary misfit. I really enjoyed this book, and will check out the other one (is there only one other one) by the author. I also liked that the author photograph is a cartoon, drawn by the guy who does "Tom the Dancing Bug."

I tell you, I could not put this book down. As a casual reader of the comics pages, I always suspected there was a wide disconnect between syrupy, idealized comic strip lives and the actual lives behind them. Here in Hollywood, we call it "high concept." Lennon's treatment of the Family Funnies (read Circus) is severely hilarious, but the roundness of the characters transcends the premise, especially the melancholy brother who is the sole family member left out of his father's comic strip. It's a surprisingly tender story, a true gem of fiction.

I just got this book, and it seemed like such an unlikely second book from the guy who wrote "The Light of Falling Stars," a brilliant, melancholy novel about the aftermath of a plane crash. But it fits just right, with the kinds of nuanced characters he created in the first book, this time planted in old family traumas and some hilarious scenes in the town. As you get into it, you start to see how all our parents draw extreme versions of us which we then have to live up to.