Sleepwalk: and Other Stories

Sleepwalk is like finding an old friend, who you miss quite a lot, passed out on your stoop. And when you rouse them, invite them in, they've got stories to tell that will break your goddamn heart.

Sleepwalk and Other Stories collects the 16 short stories that were published as the first four issues of Adrian's Tomine series Optic Nerve. His comic style is singular, causing some readers to be enamored and some to just not get it. Each story offers a brief glimpse into someone's life for just a couple pages, some lasting just a few moments, some covering incidents over a few months. Each connects you to someone's existence, but only transiently and leaves lingering questions. Some of the stories are told with heavy internal narration, some just with the dialogue of the setting, and one completely in illustrations. All, however, hold elements of the unsettling isolation of modern life characteristic in Tomine's work, though the show more effect is executed better in some than in others. The earliest pieces are from 1994 at the beginning of his career, and his art and characters are rougher than his present work, but still hold the familiar talent that has made him well-recognized. A local artist of the Bay Area, his settings have a high degree of specificity; certain scenes will be immediately recognizable to the locals, such as the Safeway in Berkeley and the 51 bus line. The characters and their lives are ordinary in the sense that they are not particularly unique people or in unique circumstances, but the realism of their awareness and situation is what makes his work remarkable. show less

An interesting collection of short graphical stories of urban alienation, flawed and inconclusive relationships by the author of 'Shortcomings'. Particularly memorable for me were: 'Drop' (a one-page story); 'The Connecting Thread' about a woman who becomes obsessed with personal "I saw you" ads; 'Dylan & Donovan' about a father and his estranged teen daughters; and 'Six Day Cold' about a relationship which might have been over but isn't quite. All of the stories are competent and illustrated in a stark black and white style (some with a lot more black than others). A solid collection of earlier stories by Adrian Tomine.

Not so much a collection of stories as a collection of moments or singular events in various people's lives. Over-stylized as to be almost incoherent, but there's something interesting about this collection. It works a a whole because its surreality sort of draws you in. I'm not sure I'd read another but it was certainly an experience.

Juvenelia of a sort ... Tomine's earlier work. Nice to see how his visual style has evolved.

Interesting but frustrating as the stories are too unfinished.

Incredible. Some of these stories are so fucked up they make my stomach hurt.