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Looked Into
The Wavy Rule, a Daily Comic by Paul Morris: All That and a Side of Frey
Filed under: The Catbird Seat: Friends & Guests Tagged: books, cartoons, comics, fiction, James Frey, The Wavy Rule
In today's "Wavy Rule," Paul addresses the question: What does a James Frey novel smell like? Click to enlarge!
More by Paul Morris: Our very own upside-down question-mark naming contest! Plus, "The Wavy Rule" archive; a very funny webcomic, "Arnjuice"; a motley Flickr page; various beautifully off-kilter cartoon collections for sale and free download at Lulu.
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Emdashes, founded December 2004, is a place where keen and dedicated readers of The New Yorker, past and present, can find related news and commentary: about people, subjects, and ideas within the magazine, and events and conversations outside its pages. Learn more about us and our contributors.
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A few clips
- Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
- Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
- Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
- Review: The King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Review: Does The New Republic's recent redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Proposal: A more attractive MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands (for Print)
- Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
- Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
- Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)
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They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.
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Edited by Martin Schneider, designed by Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
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Comments
Do I understand from this that you are reading James Frey novels? What on earth for?
Or, put another way, Are they any good?
I tried, Martin. I came to it with an open mind –but I don’t feel that Frey treats Los Angeles with an open mind in his new novel, Bright Shiny Morning. But I didn’t read the whole thing or even past Chapter 1. I just couldn’t. It’s ridden with tired clichés about LA: all Angelenos want to become actors, the freeways are all clogged, Midwesterners come to the city to become famous actors, the virtuous Mexican-American housekeeper, etc. etc. As a lifelong Angeleno, I know the city is more than just that. I think Frey is a fairly good writer. He just needs better themes and to write honestly for once.