I love autobio comics so have been following Alex Graudins’ work for a few years and seeing her work on this book, so it was exciting that it is finally available in the world. I pre-ordered it but it got returned to B&N for some reason by USPS, so I bought it at an indie bookstore randomly yesterday and read it on the train home. I think since I really like her work, the idea of writing this review was hard because this book didn’t live up to the idea I had in my head for it. I don’t want to come off as mean or attacking the book, because it’s not a bad book. Personally I just felt like it had too much information about improv games and too little about Alex’s internal experiences and life. There is definitely a lot of memoir in here, but I felt like I was having to push through the improv bits to get there.
I also felt like the subtitle wasn’t 100% true. She makes great strides with her social anxiety and is more able to be herself, but I don’t think she conquered it and that felt like false advertising to me. I guess I wanted more of her life and less of improv. There was one panel where she listed one of her stressors as a strained relationship with her parents, which isn’t really explored in the book. That might be for personal reasons, which I get, but it might have added more depth to the narrative.
All this is not to say that I hated it or that I don’t like her work — I am still a big fan and will continue to buy any new work. I think she is a great cartoonist and artist, and this was an interesting book. Just too much practical information about improv and not enough of the emotional, personal narrative for me.
