The mixture continues
as before -- take one acutely-observed slice of life, garnish with some
tart satire that spares no-one and takes no prisoners, and serve on wry.
Though it is primarily a comic about, by and for gay women, DTWOF has
some lessons and some rather pointed humour that anyone, of any and all
genders and inclinations can profit from.
I suppose that a reference point, for those who recall it, would be Gil
Shelton's "Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" strip -- while drawn by a
member of the counterculture, and featuring members of that
counterculture as protagonists, it was as likely to zap the hippies as
the straights -- often times both in the same strip.
Bechdel seems to proceed under similar intentions. She sees both sides
of many issues, and, while making her own positions clear, does not
necessarily demonise those who hold other views. Pity them, sometimes,
but not demonise them.
(I say "not
necessarily". There are {mostly richly-deserved} exceptions.)
This book picks up immediately after virtually the entire cast have
moved to the suburbs, bought houses, or acquired new roommates. (In the
case of Ginger and Lois, it's "Bought a house and acquired a new
roommate" -- and a guy at that.)
Mo and Sydney are trying to fit as housemates as well as lovers; a
situation not helped by indications that Sydney may already be cheating
on her. The reality and the resolution of *that* situation are
hilarious.
Clarice and Toni are having troubles of their own -- partly in their
relationship and partly trying to fit themselves and their son Raffi
into the suburban lifestyle. Their interactions with their
corporate-attorney neighbour, his uptight wife -- and their son, who is
Raffi's age and curious, make for some amusing and frustrating
moments...
And so on.
In this collection, the author deals with jealousy, unfaithfulness, a
daughter's hurt that her widowed father is beginning to date, a
formerly all-female, all-lesbian household's difficult adjustment to
one of its members having a live-in boyfriend(!), financial
irresponsibility, many social issues, crabgrass and many many more
topics. And the looming need to decide whether a faithful, loved and
loving
but Very Old canine companion should be kept going by heroic means, or
helped
gracefully and quietly onward on the wheel of life. And every story
point is
investigated and portrayed with both precision and sympathy.
As usual, Bechdel continues the storyline beyond the end of the
collected weekly strips here, going on to give us about another sixty
pages of story material that carries us onward and ties up some loose
ends while leaving others dangling for future exploration.
This is a great book about what it means to be human -- not just female
and/or gay, no matter what the author intended, and also a very funny
and at times very touching visit with a cast of characters we've come
to know well over the course of the strip and the series of book-length
collections like this one.
I devoured this book within an hour of opening the package; i'm already
looking forward to the next.
A wonderful book. You should buy it.
((On
the right hand side of this review's header box, i have inserted the
intended back cover for the original edition of this book, which was
not used for some reason.))
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