Sleepwalk: And Other Stories

by Adrian Tomine

Book Overview

Collecting the first four issues of Adrian Tomine's acclaimed comic series optic nerve, this book offers sixteen concise, haunting tales of modern life. The characters here appear to be well-adjusted... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1896597122
• ISBN13: 9781896597126
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
• Length: 102 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.5" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

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Tomine captures social isolation and the pointless life so perfectly that this book is probably one of the most depressing things ever written. It's amazingly well-accomplished in being what it is, however. Just don't read this if the ability to create several days of melancholy is NOT one of the things you appreciate in a book... I'd also recommend Summer Blonde, though I personally think Sleepwalk is somewhat better. Tomine has a tendency to make stories that end abruptly without conclusions of any sort, so the shorter format is a little more suiting.

Disparate

"Disparate" is really the only word one could use to describe Tomine's writing style. His depictions of the inner pains that many of us know, especially from our late teens and early twenties, are almost painful to read with all of the insecurities that they bring flooding back. This angst ridden collection of stories is the collected works of his first eight editions of the comic book "Optic Nerve" which Tomine produces yearly. Sleepwalker is an excellent introduction to his work, where as his other trade paper back "32 stories" is a collection of his earliest work and while some of the stories are very amusing, it's also very raw, and out of the normal vein of work Tomine is known for.

Brilliantly Heartbreaking

The sixteen stories contained here are predominantly quiet angst-ridden portraits of young men and women who are experiencing some kind of loss. Several lurk in the disorienting and heartbreaking wake of breakups. "Six Day Cold" is perhaps the most touching of these, showing a young man with a severe cold encountering his ex-girlfriend on the street. She takes care of him, bringing him soup and whatnot-and the way Tomine captures the unseen wistful looks he gives her is shattering. It's an awkward emotional terrain he captures with equal precision in the title story.Indeed, awkward situations are Tomine's forte, from threatening teenagers on a bus in "Hostage Situation," to a family vacation in "Dylan & Donovan" to the realization of shifting friendships in "Hazel Eyes" or a supermarket worker encountering a blind customer out on the street in "Supermarket." Tomine's ability to rapidly capture the exact right emotional tone of each situation and character is amazing. The longest story, "Summer Job" is pitch-perfect in showing a slacker-punk middle class kid on summer vacation from UC Berkeley (A Berkeley resident, Tomine sets many of his stories in and around Bay Area.). The kid's arrogant disdain for the Kinko's-like job he takes and his complete obliviousness to the economic realities of his co-workers is dead on and enraging. Another common theme is loneliness, from the difficulty in long-distance relationships in "Long Distance" and "Layover" to an old widow remembering better days in "Lunch Break" or the creepy tale of a young woman who's stalked via the personal ads in "The Connecting Thread." Thus, it should come as no surprise that on the whole, the collection can be rather depressing (apparently Tomine's other collection, 32 Stories, is more upbeat). Of course it should be noted that the artistry is consistently graceful and real over the 102 pages, and the book's design and production is lovely and understated. This is the graphic novel to give people who would never consider picking one up.

how does he know what he knows?

this was easy enough to read in one sitting (for those of us lacking a lot of "free" time) but interesting and emotional enough to linger. i really truly loved it and was especially impressed by his ability to sooooo nail the feelings of some of his characters. i mean, they ARE his characters, his creation, so of course they are what he wants them to be, but outside of that fact, the characters in "sleepwalk" are very true to their situations. take a look at the story about dylan and donovan, the twin girls... this one most amazed me. as far as i know adrian tomine is not a twin and he is certainly not a high school girl yet the things dylan is feeling felt so genuine to me while i was reading. it was her speaking, not tomine. this is not exclusive to tomine, i know. of course writers create believable characters and of course these characters are often nothing like their creator, but tomine seems to go one further. he is able to create reality in only a few pages. realities that are maybe a little dark, or even outright depressing, but so human and so undoubtedly real.

good good good

there's only one word for adrian tomine-- good. he is so good. his comics are wonderful. the drawing is great, and the stories...well, the stories generally deal with relationships gone bad, in one way or another. although his comics can be very sad, they are also very very good. most of the stories in "sleepwalk" are pretty morose, check out "32 stories" for more funny, upbeat material. "sleepwalk" contains the first four issues of "optic nerve." overall: fantastic.