All-in-all, I thought it was a decent book. I understand (and agree, in general) with critics of the book - specifically Schulz's children - in that this is not really a biography, a chronicle of an American success story, but rather a psycho-analysis of a so-called tormented soul. The problem being is that this is not the man his children remember and, for the most part, I tend to believe children know their father better then anyone. There are a number of claims the author makes - like how he believed his mother never really loved him - that are a bit too far fetched to accept. One of the author's arguments is that the comic strip was practically a reflection of Schulz's life, what he was going through at that time, and yet there are very few such examples - direct ones that make it clear what he is addressing. Additionally, there is no year attached many, if any, of the strips, so unless you are an expert or fanatic of PEANUTS, you won't know if it was made when such-and-such an event was taking place in Schulz's life or years before or after. There is very little focus on the animated short subjects or feature-length films. The only one that gets any attention above a brief mention is A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. I would like to think that Schulz had some involvement in many of these shorts produced during his life time. I also tend to agree that while some focus on the destruction of his first marriage was relevant, the way it was stretched out for as long as it was seemed a bit too much. ( )

I have always identified with Charlie Brown. Somehow Charles Schulz had gotten into my head and put my life into his comic strip. Not surprisingly David Michaelis found this to be a common reaction to the Peanuts strip among many people that he talked with, in preparation for this book.

Charles Schulz was given the nickname Sparky, in infancy, after the racehorse character in the Barney Google comic strip. The comics page in the newspapers of the early 20th century served some of the same purposes as television does today, adventure series ran in installments, comedy was served up daily. The comics were discussed around the office water cooler like he latest Seinfeld episode, or whatever it is people talk about now.



Amazingly, Sparky Schulz determined that he would be a cartoonist at the age of 6. He was a shy withdrawn child, preferring to draw pictures rather than participate in the rogh and tmble play of the neighborhood children. Then again he formed and managed his own sandlot baseball team. Just like Charlie Brown.

There has been some negative reaction from the Schulz family to the conclusions that Michaelis has drawn. Family members object to his assertion that Schulz suffered from depression, feelings of inadequacy, agoraphobia. Yet Michaelis uses the Peanuts strips to illustrate his points. Certainly Charlie Brown believes that no one likes him, despite his good nature, intelligence and willingness to pitch in and help the other characters.

According to Michaelis, Schulz peopled his strip with representation of those in his daily life. Lucy as his first wife, Joyce Halverson; the little red haired girl as Donna Johnson, the woman who rejected his proposal; Snoopy, Schulz's fantasy life. He carefully inserts strips from Schulz's 50 years of work to illustrate each point. Schroeder, the unrecognized genius, another aspect of Schulz, yet he was always surprised when people complimented his work.

I found the small type, and particularly the speech balloons of the greatly reduced comic strips, shrunk to fit the page of a standard hardcover book, to be difficult to read. I will be wandering over to the large print section sooner than I thought. I persevered, however and, using a magnifying glass to read the strips, I was able to watch, as Schulz aged, a tremor appear and grow in his drawing hand. And I was able to watch as Schulz learned to master, and use that tremor to enhance, rather than detract from, the quality of the drawing.

In the end Schulz, as he was dying of colon cancer, was saddened that Charlie Brown never got to kick the football. I was more than ever convinced that Sparky Schulz had been reading my mind and putting my thoughts into Charlie Brown's speech balloons.

I'll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book!

I'm always hesitant to read biographies of people I admire, afraid of risking becoming disenchanted with a hero. I knew before reading Michaelis' work that Schulz was a conflicted man, but aren't we all? The Schulz family's disputes with Michaelis over the portayal of their father are probaly partially founded, but I can only imagine it's difficult to see someone so close to your heart in an objective light. I walked away from this read still loving Sparky Schulz and seeing new layers of richness to the Peanuts strip that I hadn't before. Schulz said that he never intended Peanuts as a strip for children and revisiting them as an adult opens them in a whole new way to me. Cheers to Sparky and long live the WW1 Flying Ace! ( )

Read 2/28-3/15/09

Synopsis: An extremely well researched and in depth account of Snoopy & Charlie Brown's creator. The book begins with the marriage of Charles Schulz parents, and continues through his childhood, military career, Art Institute career, fame, marriages, and up to his death in 2000. "Sparky" Schulz always wanted to be a cartoonist. He went through many rejections and setbacks on his road to Peanuts. His mother died when he was 20, leaving deep scars. He was anxious, depressed, and felt misunderstood all of his life. He revolutionized the cartoon industry with his simplistic, big-headed children in his strip "Lil Folk," later changed to "Peanuts" - a name he always hated. The Peanuts gang later became one of the most recognized and popular cartoon characters in the world, making Schulz rich, but not any happier.

Pros & Cons: This book took me FOREVER to get through. There is so much information and detail, including addresses of Schulz's former homes, relatives and in-law names and relationships, Sparky's thoughts and feelings, and strip samples to add to a point that Michaelis was trying to make. If there is a flaw, that is it - too much detail. The author never met Schulz, but was able to gain access to his personal papers, and interviews with family and business acquaintances shortly after Schuz's death. Some of the information did not seem pertinent to the life of the cartoonist and made the book drag along. Recommended for those who are true Peanuts fans or those who enjoy a well detailed biography. ( )

I grew up with Charles M. Schulz. His Peanuts strip had already been in newspapers for over a dozen years by the time I was born, and some of the earliest books I can ever remember reading on my own were the paperback comic strip compilations and Happiness is a Warm Puppy, which were so popular in the late 1960s. Schulz, who died in 2000 less than a day from the publication of the very last original Peanuts strip, provided an environment that was a mixture of "cute and safe" and "bitingly satirical" at the same time. Thus, it was with some trepidation that I read this new Schulz biography, having seen reviews that indicated the Schulz family was shocked at the portrait of Schulz that this book painted. Overall, I'd have to say this is an excellent biography, that goes a long way towards explaining Schulz' psychology and how he created such a lasting cultural contribution. At the same time however, it is somewhat disheartening to learn of Schulz' personal failings (affairs, distance from his children), and emotional problems (to his dying day he believed people didn't love him). Still, despite the shattering of his "kindly grandfather" image, I found this to be an engrossing read. If you can handle the unvarnished truth about an American icon, this book will help you understand Schulz, the brilliant but flawed man, and Peanuts, the timeless comic strip. ( )

I’ll never look at a Peanuts comic strip in the same way.

I have to admit it took me 5-1/2 months to pound my way through this book. I really enjoyed the beginning of his career with the Art Institute in Minneapolis. I struggled with the beginning of his marriage and put the book down. I carried it with me when I traveled, had it by my bedside and brought it with me to the beach. I just could not get any more pages behind me for the longest of time.

I really do not like to start another book until I have finished the one I am reading.

Anyways, I picked the book back up last week and knocked out the rest of the book. I’ll walk away from this book knowing that Charles Schulz was not the man I thought him to be. That he played hockey well into his years and got a hole in one. I’ll know that he played out his desires, his needs, his questions and his life in his comic strip regardless of how much he publically denied this.

*WOW NOTE: repeat of The Office just referenced Charlie Brown *

I’ve always enjoyed A Charlie Brown Christmas and I really can’t wait to see it again this winter.

Overall, I enjoyed this book despite how poorly put together this review is …

*good grief* ( )

Schulz and Peanuts is biography of Charles Schulz by David Michaelis. It is the story about a cartoonist who created one of the best loved cartoon strip read weekly by millions of people and earned him millions of dollars each year.

Shultz, whose nick name was Sparky, knew that he wanted to be a cartoonist from the very beginning. He would spend hours drawing and constantly comparing his drawings with the best in the trade. His family really couldn’t understand his fascination with comics and his father who had his own business as a barber didn’t see how he could ever make a living. But his mother was his protector against the world that seemed to always treat him like an outsider. He didn’t have many friends because he was not considered attractive and, therefore, he was bashful and always appeared dumb. But the truth was that he was very intelligent but always feared criticism. This caused him to be bashful and self-conscientious. His motto was “that it is good not to talk too much or others would think you are bragging and expose yourself to criticism”. He put caution and humility above self-confidence. He did not like to expose his feelings to the public except through his comic strip. It was sort of therapy for him to say things or express certain thoughts that he would never say in public. Even during the break up of his first marriage to Joyce, no one knew of his discontent but could have read his comic strip to see his difficulty with Lucy who was continuously berating him publicly and privately. Joyce, like Lucy, was a take control person who was used to getting her way and made good use of the millions of dollars that he made every year. Then Schulz met Jeannie and he walked away from the continuous conflict that he experienced at home and started a new life at the age of fifty. Jeannie was only thirty-four. She was a person who gave him the freedom to express himself without criticism and constantly gave him the approval that he always desired.

Sparky lived a full life of success that most of us dream about but in the end he was not a happy person. He died February 13, 2000 from colon cancer and complications from a blood clot in his leg. When he died so did Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the gang. Right at the end, Sparky said “you know, that poor kid, he never even got to kick the football. What a dirty trick-he never had a chance to kick the football.” He died believing that he never truly succeeded.

I found the book very interesting because it included many of his comic strips that describe what Sparky was experiencing at each stage of his life. It is over 500 pages about the life and times of person I have always admired. I imagine we all grew up reading Peanuts and seeing a little of ourselves in these characters. It was a good read and I would recommend it.

http://homepage.mac.com/shawjonathan/... http://homepage.mac.com/shawjonathan/iblog/C1020611578/E20080331132940/index.html

Every week, for just months short of 50 years, Charles M Schulz sat at his drawing board to produce six daily strips and a longer Sunday piece. He inked every line himself, and penned in every letter until his final stroke meant that the speech balloons in the very last frames were filled by computer-generated lettering. Peanuts was the most important thing in his life; he hated being away from home, and died the day his last cartoon was published. So this isn't a tale of heroic physical exploits or grand public gestures. But David Michaelis seems to have interviewed every living soul who had a meaningful connection with his subject, from the psychology student who gave him an impromptu -- and effective -- counselling session on his agoraphobia at a tennis tournament and never had another conversation with him, to Joyce nee Halvorsen, the main model for Lucy, his first wife and the mother of his many children (one of the best bits of the book could have been titled The First Wife's Story). The result is a fascinating, many-faceted portrait of an artist and of a man. Peanuts strips are scattered through the pages, not as decoration but as integral elements of the narrative. Cartooning was not only Schulz's life work, the fulfilment of a central ambition; it was also, dare I say, a spiritual discipline by which he found perspectives on the difficulties and dilemmas of his life (and the lives around him) that allowed the release of laughter. While Michaelis is very bold (and repetitive) in some of his psychologising, I found his thesis persuasive: that what we common or garden readers received as Schulz's comic reflections in life in the abstract were often if not always born out of particular moments of pain or joy. Schulz seems to have been an excellent exemplar for Neil Gaiman's advice on how to deal with trouble: Make good art.

Michaelis places Schulz interestingly in the history of comics -- though he barely mentions comic books, as opposed to strips, and surely the moral panic in the 1950s epitomised by Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent (which led to a nun confiscating a Phantom comic from me in Grade Three, and to our teachers recommending that we read the boring Catholic comic Topix) had something to do with the runaway success of Schulz's wholesome creation. It's surely not entirely coincidence that for a time in the 1940s, before he got his big break, Schulz did lettering for Topix ( )

Bobbi Ann's birthday?

"Peanuts" was my favorite comic strip as a kid. It still has a special place with me. Reading this biography of Charles Schulz, while unsettling in its description of Schulz as a basically unhappy man, deepened my appreciation of Schulz the artist by opening me to more of the dedication required to create the iconic strip.

Definitely recommend. ( )

An exhaustively researched and fascinating biography of the creator of "Peanuts", Charles Schulz. "Peanuts" was the first comic strip I came to love and collect as a boy, and reading this book fascinates partly because I can now see much more clearly a linkage between many of the strips, and the life and psyche that was behind them. Sometimes Michaelis goes uncomfortably far in reading Schulz's psyche, and there are many reported events and conversations in the book that make me wonder how the author knew about them, especially since he never met Schulz before his death. Still, the lengthy list of source notes following the text does much to reassure me of Michaelis' bona fides. Plus, it all reads true; it makes sense. As for the subject himself, it was interesting to learn how truly separate from others and unsure of his own abilities Schulz was. The author makes the point that Schulz's own multiple insecurities were necessary to the angst-filled strip he created. I tend to agree. Schulz himself was a complex and conflicted man, at times sure of his unloveability, and others confident of his own powers. I was surprised that Schulz knew no fewer than three actual "Charlie Brown's" in his life, although one in particular was inspirational. I've renewed my appreciation for a great strip with this book, and it's regretful that Schulz died when he was still in full creative bloom, and was not ready to call it quits. ( )

Enjoyed the book. ( )