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Shortcomings
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9781897299166
Edition: 1st
ISBN: 1897299168
Label: Drawn and Quarterly
Manufacturer: Drawn and Quarterly
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 104
Publication Date: October 02, 2007
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Release Date: October 02, 2007
Studio: Drawn and Quarterly
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Editorial Review:
Amazon Significant Seven, November 2007: Adrian Tomine draws his mid-twenties slackers with an impeccable, exact line for every slumpy gesture and cultivated rumple. In Shortcomings, this ex-wunderkind tackles a book-length comic for the first time after three collections of stories, and his maturity shows not so much in the ages of his characters, who are still slackly wandering, dropping out of grad school or managing a movie theater, but in his calm and masterful handling of his story, in which vividly individual characters wander through the maze of imposed and self-generated stereotypes of Asian and American identities (the title is a wry allusion to one of the most enduring of those assumptions). Never has that old commonplace that the personal is the political seemed more paralyzing, and more true. --Tom Nissley
FROM THE PREEMINENT CARTOONIST OF HIS GENERATION, THE MOST ANTICIPATED GRAPHIC NOVEL OF 2007
Shortcomings, Adrian Tomine’s first long-form graphic novel, is the story of Ben Tanaka, a confused, obsessive Japanese American male in his late twenties, and his cross-country search for contentment (or at least the perfect girl). Along the way, Tomine tackles modern culture, sexual mores, and racial politics with brutal honesty and lacerating, irreverent humor, while deftly bringing to life a cast of painfully real antihero characters. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, Tomine has acquired a cultlike fan following and has earned status as one of the most widely acclaimed cartoonists of our time.
Shortcomings was serialized in Tomine’s iconic comic book series Optic Nerve and was excerpted in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #13.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Graphic novel with depressing look at singlehood
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine is a new entry in the quickly growing genre of graphic novels for adults. No costumed superheroes, no fantasy, just a powerful story told through pictures and words. Ben is a self-absorbed twenty-something living in San Francisco and going nowhere fast. His best friend is a promiscuous lesbian, and his girlfriend is frustrated with his lack of commitment to anything. When she moves to New York for her career, Ben is left rudderless and quickly sinks into a relationship ... Read More
Rating: - More of the same...
This book is great and it still has Tomine's signature understated style (both visually and narratively), but he's not treading any new ground here.
Rating:  - Tomine in Top Form
Tomine has always been a great storyteller. His writing is wry and laugh-out-loud funny at times, but it's his drawings that really shine in this collected volume. His panels are wonderfully art directed and his renderings are beautifully nuanced and evocative. It's just a matter of time before someone offers this guy a shot at directing. Treat yourself and pick it up.
Rating: - Yes, it does come up short...
A good read, with great art, but not enough to justify the cover price.
What's missing in this story is a sense of urgency that non-Asians should be able to connect with. Without the urgency, the non-Asian reader becomes the uninvolved observer, and this "shortcoming" alone diminishes the universal quality that I think the story ought to possess. Since, after all, this book isn't just meant to be read by the Asian-American community.
Spoiler: It also doesn't help that the lead, ... Read More
Rating: - This book's title is self descriptive
It's not so much that I did'nt enjoy the book, but was disappointed by it it does have, after all, shortcomings...a semi-interesting story.
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