Product Description

Acclaimed novelist Jonathan Ames writes his first comics work with the original graphic novel THE ALCOHOLIC, illustrated by THE QUITTER artist Dean Haspiel.

This touching, compassionate, ultimately humorous story explores the heart of a failing writer who's coming off a doomed romance and searching for hope. Unfortunately, the first place his search takes him is the bottom of a bottle as he careens from one off-kilter encounter to another in search of himself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #316452 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-30
• Released on: 2008-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 136 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781401210564
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Booklist
With stints as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter under his belt, Ames tries his hand for the first time at the graphic novel. Beautifully illustrated in moody, expressionist panels by Haspiel, The Alcoholic tells the story of Ames’ alter ego, Jonathan A., and his self-destructive love affair with the bottle. Jonathan’s taste for liquor begins, as for many with his affliction, during illicit high-school parties. From there, his binges follow their own unique trajectory, keeping pace with an undistinguished college career and following him into an oddly successful livelihood as writer of hard-boiled detective fiction. Ames lends a quirky flavor to Jonathan’s occasionally nightmarish narrative by eavesdropping on his relationship with his aging great-aunt; the perplexing estrangement of his best friend, Sal; a heartbreaking romance with a woman he refers to as “San Francisco”; and a drunken midlife tryst with an octogenarian dwarf. Yet Jonathan’s tale is ultimately a universal one, reflecting the struggles all of us have in navigating the tributaries of career and relationships while keeping personal demons at bay. --Carl Hays

Review
Rarely does a collaboration produce a graphic novel of such literary and artistic merit. -- Kirkus Reviews June 16, 2008

THE ALCOHOLIC is gonna be hard to top as my favorite original graphic novel of the year. -- Brian K. Vaughan, writer Y: THE LAST MAN

this hilarious, wrenching story gorgeously illustrated in a graphic novel is a flat-out thrill. -- Bret Easton Ellis, author LESS THAN ZERO, AMERICAN PSYCHO

Review
From Booklist
With stints as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter under his belt, Ames tries his hand for the first time at the graphic novel. Beautifully illustrated in moody, expressionist panels by Haspiel, The Alcoholic tells the story of Ames' alter ego, Jonathan A., and his self-destructive love affair with the bottle. Jonathan's taste for liquor begins, as for many with his affliction, during illicit high-school parties. From there, his binges follow their own unique trajectory, keeping pace with an undistinguished college career and following him into an oddly successful livelihood as writer of hard-boiled detective fiction. Ames lends a quirky flavor to Jonathan's occasionally nightmarish narrative by eavesdropping on his relationship with his aging great-aunt; the perplexing estrangement of his best friend, Sal; a heartbreaking romance with a woman he refers to as "San Francisco"; and a drunken midlife tryst with an octogenarian dwarf. Yet Jonathan's tale is ultimately a universal one, reflecting the struggles all of us have in navigating the tributaries of career and relationships while keeping personal demons at bay. --Carl Hays

Rarely does a collaboration produce a graphic novel of such literary and artistic merit. -- Kirkus Reviews June 16, 2008

THE ALCOHOLIC is gonna be hard to top as my favorite original graphic novel of the year. -- Brian K. Vaughan, writer Y: THE LAST MAN

this hilarious, wrenching story gorgeously illustrated in a graphic novel is a flat-out thrill. -- Bret Easton Ellis, author LESS THAN ZERO, AMERICAN PSYCHO

Customer Reviews

Great artwork. Story requires reflection.
Alcoholic is the story of Jonathan A.'s introduction to drinking and the life he leads thereafter. While he starts with alcohol, he eventually ends up with a drug addiction as well. Aside from this, he is also emotionally dependent; he finds himself particularly obsessed with certain relationships that he cannot seem to escape. Perhaps this emotional disturbance, coupled with what seems to be poor self-confidence as a teen, create the void he desperately tries to fill with his addictions.

Throughout the story, he deals with many things that other people deal with i.e., same-sex experimentation, failed relationships, death, disease, 9/11. However, Jonathan chooses to deal with stress and emotions by drowning them in alcohol or drugs. He seeks help from time to time, but it seems inevitable that he will fall back into his old ways at the first sign of stress. The saddest part of the story, to me, is that Jonathan A. manages to be successful in many aspects of his life despite his emotional and chemical dependencies. I can only imagine what he could have accomplished if not for the addictions.

Given the name of the main character and the resemblance in the artwork, I have entertained the idea this may be a semi-autobiographical work. At the very least, it would seem to be intended to make a reader consider the possibility. Such a work would fit somewhat with some of the 12 Steps - making a moral inventory, admitting the nature of wrong deeds, making amends, and carrying the message to other addicts. In the story Jonathan A. (a nod to anonymity in meetings?) says that he goes to a couple of AA Meetings at the urging of his rehab therapist, but does not find it to be something he thinks will help him. Maybe these steps are something he took away with him that he thought could help.

By far, the most wonderful part of the experience for me was the artwork. I feel the visuals and storyline are woven together well, each making the most out of using the other. I think the choice to keep it in black and white was a great one because it adds a certain seriousness and gravity that can sometimes be destroyed by the addition of color. It may also speak to the fact that the narrator sees his life as occurring in two parts - sober and not - which have great contrast. The faces of the characters convey a great deal of emotion; much more than would be present in a simply textual description. In some instances, such as Jonathan waking up inside a trashcan with his own vomit, having the visual depiction makes it both more comical and more sad at the same time.

When I read a book, I always try to wait a couple of days before I decide how I feel about it. Sometimes you cannot adequately judge the experience right away. My initial reaction to this book was that I did not find the story to be that compelling. However, once I took the time to really think about it and look at it from some different angles, I found that there was much more to the story than I originally believed. There were layers that I did not see at first, and once I realized the depth, I found that I had a better understanding of what the book had brought to me. In a sense, I feel like I have an increased understanding of what it is to be an addict and a better appreciation of the hopelessness and pain involved. I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to understand the addiction of a friend or loved one.

Brutally honest, frequently funny.
I just sat down and read The Alcoholic from cover to cover. I think I put it down once to check on the kids. Other than that, I immersed myself in it. Ames takes you right inside his world, the highs, the lows, the humiliating moments, and those rare moments of insight that each of us get in small doses from time to time. Best of all, he avoids the temptation to slap a happily-ever-after ending on it, leaving things open and ambiguous, but hopeful. A great read, and the drawings by Haspiel add a lot. The book reminded me of Legal Tilt, which I also recommend.

Generally engaging graphic novel
In this (memoir? autobiographical novella?) in the form of a graphic novel, author Jonathan Ames has chosen to tell us about his struggles through life as an alcoholic (and addictions to other drugs). While the story is engaging enough for an entertaining read, I felt there was nothing new here that hasn't been told a hundred times before by other alcoholics in other memoirs and bios (one is never a "recovering" alcoholic). More interesting are the milieu in which our hero ("Jonathan A.") resides. We have some 9/11 scenes, we have some sex scenes, we have some author-reading-in-public scenes, and some "lost weekend" scenes. All in all, a fair graphic novel--not bad at all, but not great either.