Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
A few weeks back, I read Christopher Ware’s graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. This had been sitting on my shelf for years, after I’d heard so many people rave about it, and it receive some notice for awards generally reserved for those without, you know…pictures. I thought I’d started and stopped it, but I must have been remembering another thing by Ware, because this was brand new to me.
Like most graphic novels and comic type stories, Jimmy Corrigan was an exceptionally quick read – even for a story as layered and complex as this. The title character is an adult male, painfully awkward and the product of an overbearing mother (now in a care facility) and a father who left when he was just a child. The story has Jimmy being contacted by his father and going out to visit him during Thanksgiving. At the same time, we see his father’s history unfold in flashbacks that show us just how unhappy HIS life has been.
It’s not too much of a stretch to say that this was one of the saddest books I’ve read in a while, highlighted by the drawings of a child weeping, or cowering in fear of being beaten by his abusive father. It’s simply awful – but not in an exploitative way.
I saw Chris Ware at a lecture with Ira Glass, and he might be the shyest adult I’ve ever seen, though he takes pains in the endnotes of this book to make it clear that it is not an autobiography – completely. That being said, he acknowledged that his father did leave when he was a child, and that he reached out to Ware while this book was being published – and died before Ware ever made contact with him. It’s a sad story, and one that undoubtedly fueled what is an impressive book. This is unlike most graphic novels I’ve seen (which, admittedly, is not many) – the artwork is insanely precise, the story delicate as well. Ware is a true craftsman, and I really recommend this book to anyone who is willing to give it a chance.
Rating: 8.5/10.0