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outcolder's review against another edition
4.0
The first part, a broad history of Cleveland from its founding to the present, was just a little dry. The heart of the book, Pekar's autobiographical history of Cleveland, is as delightful as anything from American Splendor and succeeds with the message that Cleveland, and cities like it, are worth saving.
sarahrheawerner's review against another edition
4.0
This just made me homesick. Nowhere is life more genuine than Cleveland, and nowhere is (was) there a more honest, salt-of-the-earth writer than Pekar. This is the life I grew up with, and Pekar's voice is the voice of so many of my relatives who have passed on.
There's no Kohl's door buster sales, no fresh-from-the-microwave Applebee's cuisine. Nothing that so purely deprives life of its meaning. There's just Pekar's relationship with the city & people he loves. Brilliant.
There's no Kohl's door buster sales, no fresh-from-the-microwave Applebee's cuisine. Nothing that so purely deprives life of its meaning. There's just Pekar's relationship with the city & people he loves. Brilliant.
riotsquirrrl's review against another edition
3.0
As a somewhat curmudgeonly autodidact who has lived in a lot of rust belt cities, I feel like I should have liked this better but the only real sentiment I can dredge up is, "OK, Boomer."
The art is great and I appreciate the history. I wish there had been more of the history and less of the autobiography. In part I think it's because of Pekar's attitudes towards women, especially his second wife Helen Lark Hall. It's a certain kind of thinly veiled contempt and I'm not a fan.
The art is great and I appreciate the history. I wish there had been more of the history and less of the autobiography. In part I think it's because of Pekar's attitudes towards women, especially his second wife Helen Lark Hall. It's a certain kind of thinly veiled contempt and I'm not a fan.
libraryrobin's review against another edition
2.0
Skillful pen-and-ink illustrations accompany the boring historical review of Cleveland and dull life of a crabby old man. Not a fan.
meghan111's review against another edition
4.0
The story of Cleveland is the story of most large American cities, especially those that were once prosperous because of manufacturing and factories. So this is specifically about the rise and fall of one city but also universal, and it makes me feel a little bad and guilty about enjoying that 'Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video' on YouTube and that hilarious 30 Rock episode where Liz and Floyd dream the dream of moving from New York City to Cleveland. Cleveland really does have some noteworthy urban attractions like a great public library and citywide parks system.
Pekar highlights these attractions in a wistful way, and the story gradually changes from the history of the decline of the city to more about Pekar's life and his exploration of its meaning and what it means to be happy. It's similar to some of his other comics, but still a rarity: the overall question he contemplates is what it means to have a good life, and his answer is so mundane but at the same time so real. His life was being a file clerk, really being enmeshed in the city where he lived, and being totally engaged in obscure artistic pursuits (comics and jazz record reviewing) in his spare time. At the end of this graphic novel, he seems so grateful for the little things, like the fans who knock on his door, and his wife's newfound gardening hobby, that it made me feel better about some of the other darker-toned pieces he'd written elsewhere about his depression. For lack of a better term, it made me feel some 'closure' about his death from an accidental overdose in 2010.
Pekar highlights these attractions in a wistful way, and the story gradually changes from the history of the decline of the city to more about Pekar's life and his exploration of its meaning and what it means to be happy. It's similar to some of his other comics, but still a rarity: the overall question he contemplates is what it means to have a good life, and his answer is so mundane but at the same time so real. His life was being a file clerk, really being enmeshed in the city where he lived, and being totally engaged in obscure artistic pursuits (comics and jazz record reviewing) in his spare time. At the end of this graphic novel, he seems so grateful for the little things, like the fans who knock on his door, and his wife's newfound gardening hobby, that it made me feel better about some of the other darker-toned pieces he'd written elsewhere about his depression. For lack of a better term, it made me feel some 'closure' about his death from an accidental overdose in 2010.
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
3.0
Celebrity deaths don't hit me that hard usually, with a couple exceptions:
1. Harvey Pekar: I think because I liked his stuff so much, but also because it felt like he never really got as much credit as he deserved in his lifetime. Like knowing a famous painter was fuckin' awesome, but nobody recognized it until after he was dead, and as he was dying, you were just like, "How is this fair?"
2. Amy Winehouse: I don't know why exactly. I wasn't like a megafan or anything. Maybe just because she was so young. She was born the same year I was, so maybe it was a little like, "Damn, that seems early."
3. George Perez: He just seemed like a super nice guy. I always thought his shirts, made by his wife, were really adorable. That's #CouplesGoals right there.
4. Kevin Conroy: I always loved Batman The Animated Series, and he was one of those dudes that nobody had a single bad thing to say about. Of people who played Batman for an entire feature, he's definitely the most underrated and underappreciated.
5. Stan Lee: I was on vacation with friends when I found out. Actually, THEY found out, and one of my friends was like, "Don't tell him, he'll just be sad." Weirdly, I'd just purchased a Spider-Man comic that same day, Spectacular Spider-Man #310 by Chip Zdarsky, which is a wonderful standalone comic, and it kind of gained this added meaning for me. I still have it, even though I'd folded it in half to read on the train.
6. My Grandma: Hey, fuck you, not my fault you don't know the greats.
1. Harvey Pekar: I think because I liked his stuff so much, but also because it felt like he never really got as much credit as he deserved in his lifetime. Like knowing a famous painter was fuckin' awesome, but nobody recognized it until after he was dead, and as he was dying, you were just like, "How is this fair?"
2. Amy Winehouse: I don't know why exactly. I wasn't like a megafan or anything. Maybe just because she was so young. She was born the same year I was, so maybe it was a little like, "Damn, that seems early."
3. George Perez: He just seemed like a super nice guy. I always thought his shirts, made by his wife, were really adorable. That's #CouplesGoals right there.
4. Kevin Conroy: I always loved Batman The Animated Series, and he was one of those dudes that nobody had a single bad thing to say about. Of people who played Batman for an entire feature, he's definitely the most underrated and underappreciated.
5. Stan Lee: I was on vacation with friends when I found out. Actually, THEY found out, and one of my friends was like, "Don't tell him, he'll just be sad." Weirdly, I'd just purchased a Spider-Man comic that same day, Spectacular Spider-Man #310 by Chip Zdarsky, which is a wonderful standalone comic, and it kind of gained this added meaning for me. I still have it, even though I'd folded it in half to read on the train.
6. My Grandma: Hey, fuck you, not my fault you don't know the greats.
nick_jenkins's review against another edition
3.0
Some interesting local history, but less insight than I expected. Kind of thrown off, although the artwork is very good.
mschlat's review against another edition
3.0
As far as I know, this was Harvey Pekar's last work. It's an interesting coda --- both a history of Cleveland (the city he lived in and loved) and a history of himself. The former has its good bits, but is sometimes disjointed and repetitive. Pekar tends to rely on facts (e.g., population statistics) to get across the rise and fall of Cleveland, so you get the gist, but not necessarily the spirit. The history of Pekar himself is much more interesting --- I haven't seen one of his works before where he gives such a wide sweep of his life (although he does skip over much of the material found in [b:Our Cancer Year|201792|Our Cancer Year|Harvey Pekar|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327934491s/201792.jpg|195239]). There's a lot of attention paid to his collecting (both books and LPs), the criticism he wrote, and the fans who visited him in his home. Illustrator Joseph Remnant echoes the detail of [a:R. Crumb|5866191|R. Crumb|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1341429856p2/5866191.jpg] with beautiful cityscapes. If you haven't read Pekar before, I wouldn't start here, but if you have, seek this out to see the author looking over his life's work.
chadstep's review against another edition
5.0
Took a side trip to HP land and loved every minute of it--dry wit, self-deprication, righteousness and so much better than any Bukowski sad sack stuff. And I learned about Cleveland--nice!