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alanffm's review against another edition
1.0
I did NOT like this book. While it is true that there is a lot going on here -- subtle allusions to Freud's works, explorations of humour, trauma and mental illness ect-- this memoir is far too morbid, a-linear and dragged out to be enjoyable. I commend both Gotlieb and DiMassa on this joint effort, but it really falls flat. I think perhaps what hurts this book the most is that it feels like a cheaper version of Bechdel's Fun Home: A Tragic Comedy. Both books deal with gender dysphoria, mental illness, and patriarchal abuse, but Fun Home is infinitely more developed and not nearly as off-putting. The morbid imagery in Jokes and the Unconscious is really out of place. Disappointing read.
rosarachel's review against another edition
5.0
Every time I read this I end up crying. Every. Single. Time. It's totally cathartic.
braincabbage's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars - Not bad but not good.
The jokes weren't funny and I'm not sure if they were meant to be, because I don't really understand the appeal of black humour, I don't get black humour. In art-style this reminded me a little of Blue is the Warmest Color and the main character Sasha is bisexual (or maybe pansexual), so it included a similar theme.
All in all I wouldn't necessarily recommend this graphic novel. I liked the idea of it but it didn't fulfill its potential. Lemony Snicket was wrong (his enthused, creatively phrased recommendation on the front cover made it seem like a spectacular read -er, no).
The jokes weren't funny and I'm not sure if they were meant to be, because I don't really understand the appeal of black humour, I don't get black humour. In art-style this reminded me a little of Blue is the Warmest Color and the main character Sasha is bisexual (or maybe pansexual), so it included a similar theme.
All in all I wouldn't necessarily recommend this graphic novel. I liked the idea of it but it didn't fulfill its potential. Lemony Snicket was wrong (his enthused, creatively phrased recommendation on the front cover made it seem like a spectacular read -er, no).
morgandhu's review
4.0
Jokes and the Unconscious, a collaborative graphic novel written by performance poet Daphne Gottlieb and graphic artist Diane DiMassa (of Hothead Paisan fame) is a brilliant, sometimes savage, sometimes heartbreaking story about coming to terms with death, sexuality, and living in a horribly imperfect world filled with pain, cruelty, callousness, lack of understanding and empathy, ironic co-incidence, and sometimes love and tenderness and just enough transcendence to make it possible to keep on living.
The narrative is framed within one summer in the life of the protagonist, Sasha, during which she works as a billing clerk in the hospital where her oncologist father, now on his deathbed, formerly practiced. However, the time frame shifts through Sasha's life, telling her story, her family's story, and the story of her father's illness and death in a mostly non-linear fashion. Along the way, it also addresses misogyny, date rape, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, patients's rights, ablism, Holocaust survivor issues, and a host of other issues, some of which may be triggering.
It's not an easy book, especially for those who may be dealing with loss of a parent or some of the other situations dealt with, but it's honest and it's worth reading and thinking about.
The narrative is framed within one summer in the life of the protagonist, Sasha, during which she works as a billing clerk in the hospital where her oncologist father, now on his deathbed, formerly practiced. However, the time frame shifts through Sasha's life, telling her story, her family's story, and the story of her father's illness and death in a mostly non-linear fashion. Along the way, it also addresses misogyny, date rape, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, patients's rights, ablism, Holocaust survivor issues, and a host of other issues, some of which may be triggering.
It's not an easy book, especially for those who may be dealing with loss of a parent or some of the other situations dealt with, but it's honest and it's worth reading and thinking about.
revslick's review
1.0
A morbidly dark, dark, dark (did I mention dark) graphic novel centered around a young woman's search for meaning in her father's death as well as her sexuality. 19 year old Sasha spends her summer working as a clerk at the same hospital her father worked as a doctor. Along the way she encounters a motley cast both in the hospital and in her life. The vignettes get a few stars for creativity; however, the tale is so fragmented and disconnected as to leave the reader with a big MEH at the END. I'm curious what Gottlieb and DiMassa may put together next, if they collaborate again, because there were signs this could have been great.
jambery's review
4.0
I really love Daphne Gottlieb's poetry, so of course I snapped this up when I saw it on the sale shelf. Although most of the book is prose, she keeps that same gritty, hard hitting style I like so much. Diane DiMassa's illustrations are the perfect partner.
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