The illustrations in this book are, indeed, very bizarre. However, my main criticism is that it is not necessary to have someone introduce Barthes's essays on all-in wrestling and 'The Death of the Author' because they are short and simple enough to be worth reading themselves. In the course of my not particularly careful reading I didn't pick up much about Barthes's other important works. Nonetheless, I found this book quite an entertaining read. ( )

This book unsuccessfully attempts to present an explanation of Barthes's theories through a combination of text and cartoons. At times the narrative is aided by conversation bubbles in the cartoons, but this is rare. Toward the end of the book, the drawings become needlessly sexually explicit, depicting orgies and S&M. This volume tries to pack too much information into one short volume and fails completely at presenting its topic. Readers with no background on Barthes will be poorly served by it.