Often funny, but more often depressing tale of teen alienation. ( )

Full review at http://yannabe.com/2009/06/20/review-...

Summary: Enid and Becky have been best friends forever and do everything together. They’re graduating from high school, so Enid is thinking of moving away to college but Becky doesn’t want her to go.

Review: This has been my favorite graphic novel so far, although I haven’t read very many yet. In the movie adaptation, I wish they had stuck to the book a bit more because the book was (of course) much better.

I loved Enid’s snarky commentary, but the last couple of chapters were the most satisfying because you start to see what’s really going on with Enid. I wish there had been a couple more hints of that earlier on because the beginning chapters seemed to wander a bit. Or it could be that I just missed them.

If you haven’t read any graphic novels before, this would be a great one to start with. ( )

I read this a couple of years before they made the film, and I now reread it over a weekend at my brother's. I didn't remember the difference between thew film and the book was so big. The book is much more plotless, static or perhaps floating, almost without a dramaturgical core. The main theme, growing apart, losing sync with a close friend is sort of happening in passing, in the margins even. It's quite skillfully done, and it moves me in a understated way. ( )

at first looks wierd but get used to green, story different to film, prefer this to film as usual ( )

The main characters of the story are two teenage girls who are bored, boring and not particularly nice. They do not do much with their lives and they do not seem to want much from them, either. Their relationships are superficial, juvenile and narcissistic. Nevertheless, as the story progresses, their fears, their hopes and their vulnerability begin to come through and they become more interesting and likable. By the end of the story I wished the book was much longer and I could know more about them. ( )

I think I might be too old to "get" this book... ( )

Erica, who doesn't do reviews (hint hint) loves this one. Me, I found it okay. Details at: http://panelpatter.blogspot.com/2008/... ( )

A sad but compelling graphic novel about a teenage girl who is an outsider on the cusp of adulthood but not satisfied with the inauthentic world she lives in. An excellent movie was made from this book, but I think its worth reading this first. ( )

My favorite literary graphic novel by far. ( )

Do I like Ghost World? I don't know.

Clowes art is economical while still somewhat grotesque. Features are a bit distorted out of true and are never hollywood-false, fortunately. He uses a spare amount of color to highlight the otherwise black and white drawings, in such a way that there is an almost bleak wash of dusk light suffusing the story. It adds just the right amount of poignancy to the undertones of the tale. Dusk, a time of change, realizations, shifting speeds, moving on. ( )

I had seen this movie before and enjoyed it, even if I thought it was a little confusing. The graphic novel makes much more sense. It's just about what happens to two best friends when high school is over and they have to decide what to do with their lives. They've been so close for so many years, and now it looks like they'll have to go their separate ways. The story is very realistic, and includes plenty of meanness and harsh language. I know this is considered an important work in the graphic novel format. I can see why.

The subject is the time between high school and adulthood. The question is about friendship and how the "ghost world" effects and changes them. The book is full of teenage experiences everyone can identify. ( )

Like Your Eyes in Stars, this is a story of a great friendship that grows apart as adulthood sets in. Very funny and often vulgar, Clowes' comic book is the form at its best. Clowes is highly regarded in the comics world, and is truly a master of the form. As with Blankets and Death of Speedy, the drawing adds great emotion and subtext to the otherwise non-dramatic narrative. Enid is a wonderfully complex character with a wicked sense of humor. This comic effectively captures the moment of the end of adolesence and the beginning of adulthood. Recommended for all readers. ( )

If you have ever been a middle class, disenfranchised adolescent in North America, if you have ever been bored/disillusioned/confused about growing up/sexuality/what the hell you should be doing with your life and what it all means anyway, this book is for you. Clowes portrays the adolescent angst (that is so painfully real at the time but seems a little shamefully narcissistic a few years later)to perfection. ( )

One of the best graphic novels I've read.
In essense, another retelling of the "Catcher in the Rye" story, but poignantly and effectively so : an adolescent searches for authenticity in life, not realising that their model of it is based on some childish presumptions and a lack of self knowledge -in short, the mortifying experience of someone finding out yet again, that they are trying to run before they learn to walk. Always a painful type of story to read, because we've probably all been there too often.
The last page frequently pops into my mind.
A much richer experience than the film, so if you enjoyed the film, don't miss the graphic novel. ( )

Enid and Rebecca: soulmates for the slightly edgy, slightly crazy, slighty sarcastic reader. ( )

Great book and movie! ( )

A book about irony and the perils thereof. The lead character infuriated me, but that's the whole point I suppose. Mixed feelings on this one, but I'd be almost leaning toward calling it "important" if I went in for such things.

movie and book are both great. you have to realize that the two main characters are ignorant flakes to enjoy it. but they have good hearts.. sort of... just read it. self mockery at its best. ( )

If you've only seen the film version of Ghost World, you're missing out on an entirely more compelling version of the story, rendered in a medium that is much more appropriate to the subject matter. Daniel Clowes has formidable talents in illustration, story and (best of all) characterization. Despite the delicate challenge of depicting the complicated lives of young women, Clowes succeeds marvelously by carefully balancing his delivery so that we are given just enough information, but never feel overwhelmed with too much detail. Enid and Rebecca are richly developed characters, and their story is subtle and fascinating. Not bad for a "comic book." If you're new to the world of graphic novels, this is a great place to start - this is the good stuff. ( )

I am not exactly in the age group that this novel is directed at, but it appealed to me in the end as well. At the beginning it seemed like a meaningless jumble of awful adolescent girl-speak, and I was seriously tempted to put it down, but then it got much better and was quite funny, lyrical and poignant in the end.
It’s a story of two girls in the “Ghost world”- the world between adolescence and adulthood. The girls finished high school, and don’t know quite yet what they want to do with themselves. Although they desperately want to be adult
and cool, they are still children in many aspects. By the end of the novel, though, the change in the mood, the graphics and the dialogue come together
and make us realize that they have grown up. The ending was a nice way, I think, of exploring the advantage of graphics in conveying meaning. ( )

Amazon.com
Dan Clowes described the story in Ghost World as the examination of "the lives of two recent high school graduates from the advantaged perch of a constant and (mostly) undetectable eavesdropper, with the shaky detachment of a scientist who has grown fond of the prize microbes in his petri dish." From this perch comes a revelation about adolescence that is both subtle and coolly beautiful. Critics have pointed out Clowes's cynicism and vicious social commentary, but if you concentrate on those aspects, you'll miss the exquisite whole that Clowes has captured. Each chapter ends with melancholia that builds towards the amazing, detached, ghostlike ending. ( )

Enid and Rebecca, too cool and eccentric for their peers, have been inseparable since childhood, but the summer after they graduate from high school, things start to subtly shift between them. They still have their twisted fun with each other and people they know, but the end of the summer looms as Enid longs to escape the town, and the child she was.

Well-drawn, with perfectly executed dialogue, probably more poignant and appropriate for older teens. Especially good are the glimpses into the real young women behind the personas. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/701004.htm...

Another character study from Clowes; I love his drawing style, and his individual moments, but he doesn't always put them together to great effect, and this is an example: two teenage girls, leaving school, bitch about their neighbours and each other to no real conclusion. He almost writes himself in as a character but doesn't follow through. The one element of tension - Will Rebecca go away for university, or not? - seems to fizzle out. Apparently this was made into a film; the mind boggles. ( )

http://www.i-reports.info/b/B200614.h... ( )