Novel about a guy from a small town who goes to art school in a big city. Based on some of the author’s own experiences, but a lot of it is fiction. Honestly I was not sure about reading this book, because the cover looks so dark to me- the main character appears so threatened or super stressed. And there were moments in the book when the protagonist, Dan, did seem to feel that way, but a lot of it was just- slice of life as an art student. All the strange and unique characters around you. The instructors that were vague, or pretentious, or jealous of their own students’ talent. The awkwardness of life drawing class. The frustrations and pressure of critique days. Some of it just like any other college experience- having to get along with roommates, going to parties, dating, etc. I think the part I found most interesting was when Dan started drawing comics based on what happened around him in art school. Quoting word-for-word what other students had said- or at least how he remembered it. When his fellow students saw his work, they were upset, angered, ashamed, horrified, annoyed- you name it. They all thought he had misrepresented them, except the one person who was hurt at not being featured in his comic! And he felt really bad about it, but didn’t know what to draw, if he wasn’t drawing from life. Well, he did comics that were just supposed to be funny gags, too. For the New Yorker. I appreciated a lot of this, but through the whole book couldn’t quite get away from a feeling that it had an overall grim mood. Just from the dark colors and texture in the artwork. I liked that it was different, though.
Borrowed from the public library.
