Clumsy

Clumsy is a glimpsed window to Brown's personal love life and his long-distance relationship with his girlfriend Theresa. A memoir structured in short episodes of his daily life that tell us about meeting, dating and falling in love with Theresa, but also the day to day elements that make a relationship grow despite how mundane: from hugging, to farting, sex tons of sex, condoms, insecurities, discussions, moments of indescribable happiness and others of tension. Life as you live it when you relate to somebody. A depiction of intimacy in its beauty and rawness.Brown is good at telling a story with honesty and in a way that appeals to the reader disregarding the gender. Being a woman, I especially appreciate how Brown tells his love story, so very different from any woman's way of telling it and living it. I am sure that if Theresa had written or drawn her version, the tone of the story, the elements and moments selected would have been very different. The book, for obvious reasons, is appealing to men, especially those who, like Brown, are a bit clumsy, weird, sensitive and a bit needy, the post-modern male if you want.However, what makes the book appealing is not only the approach to the memoir genre, and the way the story is built by decomposing it in micro-pieces, but the fact that Brown puts his heart in there. The result is a very charming naughty and tender love story.Regarding the style, the story is drawn very simply, "rudimentary" could be said, style. Like a comic strip in a newspaper. The pages are filled with few vignettes, drawn in a clear black and white, lots of wide space, very clear and right to the point, with little elements of distraction. Despite the simplicity and the lack of shadow work, the images are very well composed and framed, and Brown does a terrific job at creating complex expressive intimate images with very few strokes. I especially love his use of horizontal and vertical lines to create perspective and depth in images that, otherwise, would be flat. I love the way he draws nudity, the way he depicts body hair, and the facial expression of the characters.I like the economy of Brown's text. Very effective, and right to the point. They perfectly complement his drawing style and his graphic narrative.The book is for adults, adult themes, sex, nudity and all the goodies that we want to find in comic and graphic goods. If you don't, well, back off.I have to confess, that this book's cover is one of the most boring ugliest cover I have ever seen on any book. A major sin and put down, taking into account that the author is a graphic artist! Hellooooo.The book is OK for Kindle. The double tap on each vignette works with this sort of vignettes and large enough to read the text comfortably.

One of my favorite little comics. Bought it for my boyfriend and I to read (focusing on the cute parts and not the sad). A very truthful look at relationships.

I loved reading this book. It really resonated with me, and I couldn't stop thinking about it for the 48 hours after I'd finished it. Very real depiction of long distance relationships.Plus the seller I bought it from was great. Would recommend buying used, simply because I pretty much always recommend buying books used; help out some sellers and share the love.

looove thesea bunch of little stories anyone can relate to being in a relationshipthe good with the badit'll make your liittle heart feel warm

There's a lot of sex and sometimes the main character is a bit of a wimp. However, having been through a lot of these situations myself, it was very real and endearing. Charming book.

... seriously. One of the finest graphic novels ever. The artwork is raw and honest. What makes the story so affecting is how it is drawn and lettered. It makes you relate to Jeffrey Brown. And honestly, I don't know how you could not relate to this story. It's beautifully done and a must-read for anyone interested in comics and/or cartooning. A +++++++++!

Good story telling is about telling the story without the story teller getting in the way. Jeffrey Brown pulled it off even though he was the story.

A gift for my granddaughter. She had it on her Christmas list and loved it!

Wow, I really enjoyed this book.I was recommended it for a graphic novel module. I was an eye opener, to think that somebody could let themselves be the open and write so honestly. Lots of it made me laugh and some bits shocking, but mainly because it was information you would usually hide.I described the main character to my fellow students as a needy walking hard on.

Whilst I admire the work that went into the book I found the protagonist to be fairly irritating, In a sense that is a good thing because the character was effective and consistent enough to cause me to have a real emotional response but it also made me want to shake him out of his self-involvement. Worth a read if only to support someone with potential.

Der Inhalt ist banal. Und trotzdem gelingt es Brown, eine Allerweltsliebesprivatheit im Krakelstil, bestehend aus einem Repertoire von über 100 Situationen, Dialogen und Blicken (viele davon nur eine Seite lang) zu erzählen, oder besser gesagt: Nicht zu "erzählen", sondern auszubreiten, splitterhaft, und nicht zwangsläufig chronologisch. Jeff und Theresa dabei zuzuschauen, wie sie Sex haben, kuscheln, über Kleinigkeiten sprechen, fernsehen, Auto fahren, sich in die Augen schauen - das löst mit der Zeit eine unklare emotionale Bewegung in mir aus. Vieles davon kennt jeder, denn diese Mikroereignisse sind auf Millionen Paare übertragbar. Trotzdem hat das alles eine eigene Färbung, und später mischt sich auch Destruktives in diese zarte Jugendliebe. Denn Jeff klammert allzu sehr, zieht sich bereits zurück, wenn Theresa etwas mehr Platz im Bett braucht, versichert sich manchmal etwas zu angestrengt ihrer gemeinsamen Zuneigung. Undenkbar, daraus einen Film machen zu wollen. Mindestens genauso unmöglich, eine deutlich höhere Qualität der Zeichnungen einzufordern, wenngleich man von "craftmanship" wohl kaum sprechen kann bei Brown. Sein Stil ist streng genommen katastrophal. Man ist schnell versucht zu sagen: "Das kann ich aber nun wirklich auch." Ich unterstelle, dass er es besser könnte, hier aber gar nicht anders wollte. Die Panels sind schief und angekaut, der selbst geletterte Text manchmal fast unlesbar gequetscht. Wenn er angewinkelte Arme zeichnet, versagt er völlig. Körper geraten unförmig, Dunkelheit sind bei ihm vertikale Striche, die durchs Bild fasern. Es gibt nichts, was auf Talent hindeutet. Aber interessanterweise gibt das dem Ganzen die Aura von erfreulicher, lieblicher Naivität, die weder kalkuliert erscheint noch ganz zufällig ist. Das Lob von Chris Ware und James Kochalka kommt mir etwas "too much" vor, aber dieses Debüt ist mehr als nur die Summe seiner Kürzestimpressionen einer B-Ziehung, die sicherlich zu keinem Zeitpunkt eine A-Ziehung war. Das letzte Telefongespräch mit Theresa, die längste Szene, ist vielleicht nicht gerade erschütternd (weil vorhersehbar), aber es hat die gesamte Erzählung in ein neues Licht gerückt. Seitenweise kann man sich wundern, was Brown für erzählenswert hält. Sicherlich haben die beiden auch etwas zu viel Sex, doch weniger voyeuristisch kann man das eigentlich nicht zeigen. Man muss das Buch am Stück lesen, isoliert betrachtet sind die Minikapitel völlig nichtssagend. Von einer Meisterleistung würde ich aber nicht sprechen wollen. Auch im Nachfolger "Unlikely" hat Brown im Grunde nicht sehr viel mehr mitzuteilen, als dass die Liebe aus vielen kleinen Augenblicken besteht (und nicht zwangsläufig eine "Geschichte" ergibt).

This is a book about the realtionship between Jeff Brown and his girlfriend. It contains epiosodes from their daylilife. The dialogue is ordinary, naive girlfriend-boyfriend talk. At the end they break up. The drawings are simple. I did find Clumsy a bit dull.