Baby Got Books

The Alcoholic

I read Jonathan Ames’ hilarious Wake Up, Sir! a few years back, and I’ve been meaning to read more of his work ever since. Rave reviews have been poring in for Ames’ new graphic novel, The Alcoholic, so naturally I had to check it out.

The Alcoholic is about a young writer named Jonathan A. and his alcohol (and other) troubles. The drawings of Jonathan A. look exactly like Jonathan Ames, and many of the situations portrayed in the book are similar to events in Ames’ life. Still, it is an open question regarding how much of the book is autobiography and how much is fiction. For the sake of Ames, I hope a lot of the low pints of Jonathan A.’s life are fictional. You can check out a humourous excerpt that depicts the surreal story of how Jonathan A. met Monica Lewinski on the heels of meeting Bill Clinton in lower Manhattan following 9/11. That story is keeper either way.

According to an Amazon interview with the Jonathan Ames (author) and Dean Haspiel (artist), they were inspired to put the graphic novel together by the collaboration of notorious gadfly/poet Charles Bukowski and comic book legend R. Crumb back in the day. The partnership between Ames and Haspiel works very well in this book. Jonathan Ames is a wonderful story teller, and Dean Haspiel’s art work brings Ames’ words to life without overpowering the story. They are a good fit. Check this out if you are a fan of Jonathan Ames or excellent graphic novels.

Update: In a cool coincidence, Largehearted Boy has a Book Notes post today featuring Dean Haspiel.