SATA
ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: Andy Warner’s Oddball Histories
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://andywarnercomics.com/
CITY: Berkeley
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME:
http://us.macmillan.com/briefhistoriesofeverydayobjects/andywarner/9781250078650/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married.
EDUCATION:Center for Cartoon Studies, M.F.A., 2012.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, editor, and educator. Worked as a graphic designer; has taught cartooning at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA, and Animation Workshop, Viborg, Denmark; The Nib, contributing editor. Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park artist-in-residence, 2019, 2021.
AWARDS:Berkeley Civic Arts Grant, 2018.
WRITINGS
Editor of comic anthology Irene, nos. 3-6, Irene Comics, 2013-16. Contributor to As You Were: A Punk Comix Anthology, nos. 1-4, Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club, 2013-16; and Incubator: A Selection of the Best Comics Made by Art School Students from around the Globe, Timof Comics (Warsaw, Poland), 2017. Contributor of comics to publications and organizations including Slate, Fusion, American Public Media, The Nib, Symbolia, Medium, KQED, Popular Science, IDEO.org, Center for Constitutional Rights, UNHCR, UNRWA, UNICEF, and Buzzfeed.
SIDELIGHTS
[open new]Andy Warner is a cartoonist and author who has filled the pages of comics and graphic nonfiction with his artistic visions and narratives. Already in elementary school he thought to become a cartoonist for a living. In his young adulthood, only after a stint as a graphic designer did he get an M.F.A. at the Center for Cartoon Studies, in White River Junction, Vermont, and start making his dream a reality. Although he broke his drawing arm in three places in a bicycle accident in 2007, he has been able to continue producing artwork digitally. In response to a Silver Sprocket interviewer’s observation that his work is variously, and sometimes simultaneously, “serious and political and lighthearted and fun,” Warner related: “It’s sort of hard to get a grasp on what I do sometimes, but I don’t mind that. I think the thing that ties it all together is that it’s stuff that interests me that I can really dig deep into. Oddly, that includes both the Syrian refugee crisis and the history of the toothbrush. It’s not difficult to switch gears, because I think my mind is working the same way in both: trying to figure out what’s really going on, and how to tell it as an interesting story.”
Collecting webcomic strips he had created, Warner made his debut with the expansively insightful and best-selling Brief Histories of Everyday Objects. From toothbrushes, razors, and shampoo to dice and billiard balls to toilets and cat litter to coffee filters and traffic lights and all sorts of other quotidian objects, Warner looks at how they were first fashioned, invented, or developed and where the idea, as well as the innovator, went from there. A Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that “each strip, though brief, has the power of a parable,” as themes like ambition, greed, and idealism play out. The reviewer praised Warner as a “deft cartoonist, able to convey a lot of information, humor, and emotion” in every panel.
Warner teamed up with illustrator Sofie Louise Dam to produce This Land Is My Land: A Graphic History of Big Dreams, Micronations, and Other Self-Made States. Casting his gaze around the globe, Warner presents thirty social collectives—intentional communities, utopian experiments, and self-proclaimed states—whose founders sought to create ideal circumstances for themselves and like-minded folks. From South Carolina’s Oyotunji African Village to Australia’s Principality of Hutt River, and from India’s Auroville (the “City of Dawn”) to the Coral Sea Islands’ Gay and Lesbian Kingdom, Warner looks at the views, practices, and beliefs that make these communities unique.
A Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that Warner and Dam manage to “capture the spirit and optimism that drive each society’s founder, while challenging … how people allow themselves to be organized” by their society. The reviewer hailed This Land Is My Land for offering both “inspiration” and “armchair escapism.” In Xpress Reviews, Martha Cornog declared that Warner’s “thoughtful collection about visionary living” offers readers a “tantalizing Rorschach test for speculation and research … and late-night debates among friends.”
Warner turns his gaze inward with Spring Rain: A Graphic Memoir of Love, Madness, and Revolutions. This autobiographical work portrays the several months the author spent in Beirut, Lebanon, while in college in 2005. Having just broken up with a girlfriend, he found himself in an unanchored, unstable state of mind. This left him room to befriend an open-minded group of expatriates, most of whom were queer, but it also left him shaken when the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri stirred up the ghosts of the fifteen-year Lebanese civil war, which had only recently ended. With mental illness part of his family history, he became aware of a strange internalized dissociation, whereby writing journal entries left him feeling like a character in a story of his from the future. As Lebanon gets mired in political uncertainty, Warner tries to muster the resolve to wend his way toward healing.
Impressed by Warner’s evocation of an “abstract, unnameable darkness” during his period of mental strife, a Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that his “artwork is tidy, detailed, and expressive, and he proves a confident illustrator of cityscapes, star-strewn canyons, and creepy hallucinations alike.” A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that Warner’s tone in Spring Rain is “matter-of-fact and dispassionate, which juxtaposes against the crazed desperation of his powerful artistic expression.” The writer concluded that “the political and psychological potently intertwine within this highly charged memoir.”
Tagged as another of “Andy Warner’s Oddball Histories,” Pests and Pets surveys the history of human interactions with eighteen different creatures, including dogs, cats, raccoons, mice, cockroaches, honeybees, and house sparrows. Along with anatomical and dietary details, Warner provides an accounting of when humans first encountered the animal and how the relationship proceeded from there. Dogs and cats were first domesticated in ancient times, while nearly all pet hamsters are descended from a female captured near Aleppo, Syria, just a century ago. The various creatures are loosely divided into the three categories of “Creatures we find cute,” “Creatures we find useful,” and “Creatures that find us useful.”
In School Library Journal, John Peters pointed out that the artwork’s “figures and action are easy to make out, and Warner lightens the informational load with comical side comments.” Peters was concerned that the author sometimes wades into “controversial territory,” such as when he details corporate chicken farming practices and even cockfighting “nonjudgmentally.” Altogether, though, he opined that middle schoolers would find Warner’s book “both droll and informative.” A Kirkus Reviews writer declared that the chapters are “informative and include enough jokes, quips, and groaners to keep most readers engaged.” The writer summed Pests and Pets up as an “entertaining, sometimes-sobering look at the effects we’ve had on the planet.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2019, review of Spring Rain: A Graphic Memoir of Love, Madness, and Revolutions; September 1, 2021, review of Pests and Pets.
Publishers Weekly, February 4, 2019, review of This Land Is My Land: A Graphic History of Big Dreams, Micronations, and Other Self-Made States, p. 167; November 4, 2019, review of Spring Rain.
School Library Journal, August, 2021, John Peters, review of Pests and Pets, p. 103.
Xpress Reviews, March 22, 2019, Martha Cornog, review of This Land Is My Land.
ONLINE
Andy Warner website, https://www.andywarnercomics.com (January 26, 2022).
Evansville Courier & Press Online, https://www.courierpress.com/ (November 26, 2016), Terri Schlichenmeyer, review of Brief Histories of Everyday Objects.
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon website, https://jsma.uoregon.edu/ (January 26, 2022), author profile.
The Nib, https://thenib.com/ (January 26, 2022), author profile.
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (August 15, 2016), review of Brief Histories of Everyday Objects.
Silver Sprocket website, https://www.silversprocket.net/ (February 24, 2016), author interview.
Andy Warner is the New York Times Best Selling author of "Brief Histories of Everyday Objects" (Picador, 2016). His comics have been published by Slate, Fusion, American Public Media, The Nib, Symbolia, Medium, KQED, popsci.com, The Showtime Network's Years of Living Dangerously, IDEO.org, The Center for Constitutional Rights, UNHCR, UNRWA, UNICEF, and Buzzfeed.
He is a contributing editor at The Nib and has taught cartooning at Stanford University, California College of the Arts, and the Animation Workshop in Denmark.
He makes comics in a garden shed in San Francisco and comes from the sea.
Andy Warner creates nonfiction comics.
He is the author of Spring Rain, This Land is My Land, and the NY Times Best Selling Brief Histories of Everyday Objects. His books have been translated into Russian, Chinese, Korean, French and Spanish.
He is a contributing editor at The Nib and teaches cartooning at Stanford University and The Animation Workshop in Denmark.
His work has been published widely, including by Slate, American Public Media, Popular Science, KQED, IDEO.org, The Center for Constitutional Rights, UNHCR, UNRWA, UNICEF, Google X and Buzzfeed.
He was a recipient of the 2018 Berkeley Civic Arts Grant and the 2019 and 2021 Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park Artist-in-Residency.
He works in a garret room in South Berkeley and comes from the sea.
Andy Warner is the author of Brief Histories of Everyday Objects and his comics have been published all around the internet, including by Slate, Fusion, American Public Media and KQED. He has taught comics at Stanford University, The California College of the Arts and The Animation Workshop. He draws comics in a garret in South Berkeley and comes from the sea.
Andy Warner creates nonfiction comics. He is the author of Spring Rain, This Land is My Land, and the New York Times best selling Brief Histories of Everyday Objects. His books have been translated into Russian, Chinese, Korean, French and Spanish. He is a contributing editor at The Nib and teaches cartooning at Stanford University and The Animation Workshop in Denmark. His work has been published widely, including by Slate, American Public Media, Popular Science, KQED, IDEO.org, The Center for Constitutional Rights, UNHCR, UNRWA, UNICEF, Google X and Buzzfeed. Warner was a recipient of the 2018 Berkeley Civic Arts Grant and the 2019 and 2021 Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park Artist-in-Residency.
Andy Warner is not only a long-time contributor to As You Were (he’s four for four right now), but he’s also sort of like the human version of Wikipedia; a quick glimpse at his work reveals a wide range of interests, in things both commonplace and obscure.
He’s also a really busy person, but luckily we caught up with him after an impressive year to talk a bit about his art, his teaching, and his forthcoming book.
Interview by Natalye for Silver Sprocket
How did you get involved in AYW?
I got involved in As You Were because my buddy Avi was publishing it and needed a quick page to fill out the first issue. I’ve been in every issue since. It’s sort of serendipitous, except I also work out of a garden shed in Avi’s yard, so I’m easy for him to corner.
How did you first get into drawing / comics / art?
I decided to become a cartoonist when I was in elementary school, but then I spent the next decade doing other stuff like studying Lebanese Civil War era literature and working as a graphic designer.
In my early twenties, I realized comics were the thing that fascinated me the most, and I went for it. I ended up getting an MFA at the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2012, and I’ve been working full time as a cartoonist ever since.
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What is your process like?
I work on a Wacom Cintiq, and I’ve been entirely digital since I broke my drawing arm in three places in a bike accident in 2007. I got the arm back after many months, but I learned digital tools to be able to draw with my left hand while I was still in the cast.
Is the scene you contributed to AYW someplace you’ve lived before? What can you tell us about the house, the people, or the period in your life spent living there?
It’s sort of a house mash-up, but I think the strongest element was the house I lived in in San Francisco from 2008-2010 called “Tapalpa.” Between five and eight people lived there, including a woodworker, animator, writer, etc. It was a really interesting, beautiful, and sometimes frustrating environment. I think it worked best when we all got the hell out of the house together and forgot about who wasn’t doing dishes. Actually, the last party the house threw was in 2013 when my wife and I got married in the awesome backyard that we’d terraced and made into a garden. Then, the next week everybody that still lived there got rent evicted.
Your art and writing are both serious and political and lighthearted and fun, depending both upon the outlet and the topic. Do you feel like the work you do is sometimes on opposite ends of the spectrum, or is it all more connected than it might seem?
It’s sort of hard to get a grasp on what I do sometimes, but I don’t mind that. I think the thing that ties it all together is that it’s stuff that interests me that I can really dig deep into. Oddly, that includes both the Syrian refugee crisis and the history of the toothbrush. It’s not difficult to switch gears, because I think my mind is working the same way in both: trying to figure out what’s really going on, and how to tell it as an interesting story.
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What does 2016 look like for you in terms of creative things? Your book will be published, is that correct? What can you tell us about it?
Yeah, I’ve got a book coming out in October from Picador called Brief Histories of Everyday Objects. I’m really excited for it. Just found out that it’s up for preorder on Amazon already. It’s going to be more than 200 pages hardcover, which is like four times as long as anything else I’ve ever done, and I’m really excited for it.
For other stuff, the amazing nonfiction and journalism comics publisher The Nib is getting resurrected this Spring. I’m really looking forward to working with them again. They published stories I did on everything from treasure hunters on the lam from the feds to the history of the Boko Haram insurgency in northern Nigeria. So I never really know what kind of stories they’ll bite on!
I’m going to try to put out a couple new mini comics for the convention season, too, and tour around with the new issue of Irene, a comics anthology that I co-publish. Irene 6 has a cartoonist from every single continent in the world, including Antarctica. I think we were the first people to ever do that.
Tell us about teaching for Stanford and CCA.
Teaching is really fun! I think about comics theory and practice a lot on my own, and it’s awesome and weird that I get paid to talk to other people about it. It’s very performative, which can be exhausting, but it’s rewarding when you see the effect you can have. Comics are an exciting subject to teach. It’s a whole visual language and tradition that’s so complex and interesting! I’ll be teaching at Stanford again this fall, and I can’t wait.
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If you had to choose one artistic piece of output of yours (comic or otherwise) that would be representative of who you are to show someone who is not familiar with your work, what would it be?
Haha, I dunno. I guess you’re supposed to brand yourself with one thing that you do really well, but I’ve always been too scattered in my focus to do that. So it’s hard to find something representative of the whole. Brief Histories of Everyday Objects would be a good place, but it’s not out until October. I guess this piece I did about invasive python hunters in Florida is a decent place to start.
Off the top of your head, who are some artists whose work you love that fans of your comics should check out?
There are SO MANY fantastic artists working in journalism/non-fiction comics right now. Jackie Roche, Lucy Bellwood, Emi Gennis, Matt Bors, Sarah Glidden, Sophie Yanow, Susie Cagle, and Wendy McNaughton are some of my favorites.
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Check out more of Andy’s art on his website or by following his Tumblr. Then get yourself a copy of As You Were: Living Situations, out this week.
Feb 24, 2016|Features
Warner, Andy (text) & Sofie Louise Dam (illus.). This Land Is My Land: A Graphic History of Big Dreams, Micronations, and Other Self- Made States. Chronicle. May 2019. 160p. maps. ISBN 9781452170183. pap. $19.95; ebk. ISBN 9781452170275. Rated: Teen+. HIST
The United States was formed with the intent to create a more perfect union of people in our country--an ambition envisioned on a smaller scale by the eccentric founders of these 30 self-made collectives. Warner (contributing editor, The Nib; Brief Histories of Everyday Objects) classes their attempts as intentional communities, micronations, failed utopias, visionary environments, or strange (but unrealized) dreams. Most had progressive goals. And, amazingly, half still exist and can be visited today, such as the Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina and the Principality of Hutt River in Australia. Colorful fauvist drawings and maps from artist Dam (contributor, The Nib) bring these would-be "better tomorrows" to life with grace and verve. Yet the collection lacks context. How were the 30 selected out of probably many more possibilities? Still, Warner's choices challenge readers in productive and entertaining ways, prompting questions such as: What are the commonalities among the 30? How would you design your own "self-made state"? How might modern cohousing situations relate to these marginal efforts?
VERDICT Less a complete chronicle and more a tantalizing Rorschach test for speculation and research, this thoughtful collection about visionary living makes fine fodder for adults and teens via book clubs, classrooms, and late-night debates among friends.--Martha Cornog, Philadelphia
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
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Cornog, Martha. "Warner, Andy & Sofie Louise Dam. This Land Is My Land: A Graphic History of Big Dreams, Micronations, and Other Self- Made States." Xpress Reviews, 22 Mar. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A579993622/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=12bc3a52. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
This Land Is My Land: A Graphic History of Big Dreams, Micronations, and Other Self-Made States
Andy Warner and Sofie Louise Dam. Chronicle, $19.95 (160p) ISBN 978-1-4521-7018-3
Those who have dreamed of leaving behind their day-to-day lives for a greater cause will find inspiration in these tales of little-known Utopian communities, micronations, and self-made states, which chronicle how one individual's ambitious (or even crazy) dream can become a reality. Warner (Brief Histories of Everyday Objects) and Dam present 30 stories that illuminate the establishment of idealistic societies, from Auroville--the City of Dawn--in southeast India, to the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands. They capture the spirit and optimism that drive each society's founder, while challenging, in the process, how people allow themselves to be organized by the societies in which they live. Even one man can declare himself sovereign, such as Dean Kamen (notably the inventor of the Segway scooter), who establishes himself as the ruler and sole inhabitant of North Dumpling Island off the coast of Connecticut while minting stamps, printing currency, and signing a nonaggression pact with the United States. The charming line-art imbues a fabulist feel, with a simple color palette reflecting the simple values of these communities. Establishing a haven from social and political strife is certainly topical, and this comics history offers armchair escapism. (May)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"This Land Is My Land: A Graphic History of Big Dreams, Micronations, and Other Self-Made States." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 5, 4 Feb. 2019, p. 167. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A575752729/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=362a1c0b. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
WARNER, Andy. Andy Warner's Oddball Histories: Pests and Pets. illus. by Andy Warner. 192p. Little, Brown. Sept. 2021. Tr $24.99. ISBN 9780316498234.
Gr 3-5--Warner follows up his history of micronations, This Land Is My Land, with a similarly tongue-in-cheek graphic survey of 18 animals--from dogs and cats to raccoons ("trash-pandas," as they're known in some quarters) and cockroaches. Dividing the volume into three sections titled "Creatures We Find Cute," "Creatures We Find Useful," and "Creatures That Find Us Useful" (categories he admits aren't always that distinct), he chronicles each animal's history, from first its association with humans to modern relationships. In most cases that association began in prehistoric times, but the author notes that animals such as house sparrows and honeybees were introduced to this continent only within the past few centuries--and even more surprisingly, nearly all hamsters sold as pets are descended from one female captured near Aleppo about 90 years ago. Occasionally Warner ventures into controversial territory, as in an entry on chickens ("From the Jungle to the Nugget"), which treats battery farming and even cockfighting nonjudgmentally. Also, his fulsome narrative tends to give the squared-off panels a crowded look. Still, the art's figures and action are easy to make out, and Warner lightens the informational load with comical side comments ("Domestication's a little weird," admits a dog. "Not gonna lie ...") and at least balances a pointed observation that no animal we've domesticated has ever gone extinct with a closing plea for more concern about the disappearance of wild species. VERDICT Not always comfortable reading, but middle graders will find these historical profiles of supposedly familiar animals both droll and informative.--John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, NY
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Peters, John. "WARNER, Andy. Andy Warner's Oddball Histories: Pests and Pets." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 8, Aug. 2021, pp. 103+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A670398054/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=99f1934f. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Warner, Andy PESTS AND PETS Little, Brown (Children's None) $24.99 9, 7 ISBN: 978-0-316-49823-4
Discover how human intervention changed the histories of 18 species.
Broken up into the three loose categories--"Creatures we find cute," "Creatures we find useful," and "Creatures that find us useful"--this graphic nonfiction title traces the domestication of common pets and farm animals as well as our relationships with less-popular creatures, such as mice, raccoons, and cockroaches. Each creature is given its own chapter, which introduces general information, such as weight, size, and diet, before delving into its intersection with humankind. The chapters are informative and include enough jokes, quips, and groaners to keep most readers engaged. A few chapters cross over broad categories, intimating at the complexities of humankind's dietary incentives. Rabbits, for instance, have been farmed for their meat for centuries as well as more recently raised as pets, but their introduction into the wild in Australia has been calamitous. The artwork features an international cast of humans representing multiple cultures. The world map that introduces every chapter identifies each species' "(Likely) Wild Origin" and uses star points instead of ranges, which may confuse literal-minded readers. That, and a lack of bibliography, may annoy those seeking to learn more. These quibbles aside, the book is an entertaining, sometimes-sobering look at the effects we've had on the planet. It's a useful title for any nonfiction shelf, but it may need a little support now and then.
File this one under "Books we find useful." (timeline, map) (Graphic nonfiction. 9-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Warner, Andy: PESTS AND PETS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A673649647/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=857532d6. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Spring Rain: A Graphic Memoir of Love, Madness, and Revolutions Andy Warner. Griffin, $19.99 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-1-250-16597-8
Drawing parallels between Lebanese political unrest and his own mental health struggles, Warner's intricate graphic memoir of his months spent in Beirut as a college student in 2005 resists simplistic cliches. When he arrives, Lebanon is still partially occupied following a 15-year civil war, but is flourishing in the delicate peace. Warner, who warns "I come off like an idiot," is fresh off a breakup and befriends a diverse posse of mostly queer expats. They dance, travel, do drugs, hook up, and learn about Lebanese history. After the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, Lebanon's old demons surface, and Warner is plagued by escalating paranoia and an absrract, unnameable darkness. Lebanese "revolution" doesn't lead directly to meaningful change, and Warner doesn't "fix" his mind by quitting drugs or finding a therapist, though he does begin to heal. Warner's artwork is tidy, detailed, and expressive, and he proves a confident illustrator of cityscapes, star-strewn canyons, and creepy hallucinations alike. If the final quarter of the book feels a bit meandering, it could be blamed on realism: there's no clean narrative for the turmoil of a mind or country in unresr. Warner's work honors the richness of Lebanon and the fragile, fleeting nature of peace. Agent: Farley Chase: Farley Chase Agency (Jan.)
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http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"Spring Rain: A Graphic Memoir of Love, Madness, and Revolutions." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 44, 4 Nov. 2019, pp. 47+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A606234574/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=895431d7. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Warner, Andy SPRING RAIN St. Martin's Griffin (Adult Nonfiction) $19.99 1, 28 ISBN: 978-1-250-16597-8
A cartoonist uses his art to connect the world he sees collapsing outside with the psychological state crumbling within.
In 2005, Warner (Brief Histories of Everyday Objects, 2016, etc.) broke up with his girlfriend and moved to Beirut, where he felt rootless, stateless, unsure of his bearings, and unstable in ways that reminded him of his past. There was a history of mental illness in his family, and he questioned his sanity, identity, and grip on present, past, and future. "In my diary," he writes, "I felt like a character in a story that I was writing years later." Identity remains a tricky concept for him, and besides, "memory is a tricky business." The author experienced his inner turmoil amid a particularly explosive period in Lebanon, a time of assassination and strife with Syria and fear from bombings by unknown perpetrators (an attack from within or by outside forces?), as well as U.S. aggression toward the Middle East under the George W. Bush administration, inflamed anti-American sentiment. Warner found kindred spirits and a community of sorts among Beirut's gay and lesbian subculture, in whose company he began questioning his sexual identity or at least opening himself to possibility in the absence of his girlfriend. The tone throughout is matter-of-fact and dispassionate, which juxtaposes against the crazed desperation of his powerful artistic expression. "I was drawing my comic. I was drawing on my walls. I was drawing on myself," he writes. He wasn't alone in his feelings about how the world was driving him mad or reflecting the madness within. "A bomb going off every three days is enough to make anybody crazy," noted a woman with whom Warner became casually involved. "But anyway, it's not just Lebanon! Look at America. Bush just won reelection. That dumbass…invaded Iraq only two years ago!" Ultimately, the author left Lebanon with some of his sanity and identity intact, and when he returned years later, he did so with fresh eyes and haunted memories.
The political and psychological potently intertwine within this highly charged memoir.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Warner, Andy: SPRING RAIN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A602487715/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7623b748. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.