Off Season (2019)

by James Sturm

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51	4	507,322	(3.52)	1
"How could this happen? The question of 2016 becomes deeply personal in James Sturm's riveting graphic novel Off Season, which charts one couple's divisive separation through the fall of 2016-during Bernie's loss to Hillary, Hillary's loss to Trump, and the disorienting months that followed. We see a father navigating life as a single parent and coping with the disintegration of a life-defining relationship. Amid the upheaval are tender moments with his kids-a sleeping child being carried in from the car, Christmas morning anticipation, a late-night cookie after a temper tantrum-and fallible humans drenched in palpable feelings of grief, rage, loss, and overwhelming love. Using anthropomorphized characters as a tactic for tempering an otherwise emotionally fraught situation, Off Season is unaffected and raw, steeped in the specificity of its time while speaking to a larger cultural moment. A truly human experience, Off Season displays Sturm's masterful pacing and storytelling combined with conscious and confident growth as the celebrated cartoonist and educator moves away from historical fiction to deliver this long-form narrative set in contemporary times. Originally serialized on Slate, this expanded edition turns timely vignettes into a timeless, deeply affecting account of one family and their off season."--… (more)

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Usually I'm pretty good at differentiating between thinking something is good or bad, and feeling as though I liked or disliked it. I'm really struggling with that in this case. The book feels like a rumination on being a subpar father, husband and man; with the overtone of having been owed a messiah in Bernie, or at least having been owed something. There is almost no introspection or self reflection. I'm not a person who believes that a lot needs to happen in a book for it to be good, and the writing and art are mechanically great and have a wonderful grasp of tone. That being said, I can't determine what emotional journey is supposed to be being portrayed here. The final note of the book is the two taking drugs in order to rekindle a marriage that you've just spent 200 pages establishing as dysfunctional and unhealthy, and the tone it seems to want to take with that is... hope?

If this were a zeitgeist character study I think I would really have enjoyed it, but the presentation as a semi-autobiographical work made it confusing and perhaps even slightly concerning. Perhaps its aim was to present precisely that worldview and pattern of behaviour to readers with no added veneer of retroactive reflection, but if so I can't say that I found it particularly compelling. (

)

trainsparrow | Apr 29, 2024 |

The 2016 election of Donald Trump casts a pall over a marriage disintegrating under the weight of anger and depression. This oddly compelling domestic drama unfolds quickly with just two panels per page but captures the zeitgeist quite well. And despite the characters' dog heads, their humanity is quite evident.

Trigger warning: MAGA hat. (

)

villemezbrown | Jun 30, 2019 |

This is a moody, grey-toned graphic novel that trudges through a year of a painful divorce. Told by Mark, he, Lisa and their two children are drawn as canines. There's a pervasive atmosphere of dread urged forward by Mark's construction boss cheating him out of his pay, the 2016 election results, and Mark's mother's terminal illness. Even though you wouldn't want to listen to Mark telling these vignettes in person, as drawn and inked, they are powerful and author Sturm creates a distinct world of disengagement, with only tiny minor notes of hope. This is a sad treasure for Mark and Lisa's two children and for anyone who appreciates non-fictionish graphic novels.

Quote: "Maybe two people liking something for different reasons is only a fight that hasn't happened yet." (

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froxgirl | Mar 4, 2019 |

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New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults (2019)

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Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2019

People/Characters

Important places

Vermont, USA

Addison County, Vermont, USA

Maine, USA

Important events

Presidential Election of 2016

Election of Donald Trump

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

This election is a real shit show.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Bazelon, Emily

Almond, Steve

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

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▾Book descriptions

"How could this happen? The question of 2016 becomes deeply personal in James Sturm's riveting graphic novel Off Season, which charts one couple's divisive separation through the fall of 2016-during Bernie's loss to Hillary, Hillary's loss to Trump, and the disorienting months that followed. We see a father navigating life as a single parent and coping with the disintegration of a life-defining relationship. Amid the upheaval are tender moments with his kids-a sleeping child being carried in from the car, Christmas morning anticipation, a late-night cookie after a temper tantrum-and fallible humans drenched in palpable feelings of grief, rage, loss, and overwhelming love. Using anthropomorphized characters as a tactic for tempering an otherwise emotionally fraught situation, Off Season is unaffected and raw, steeped in the specificity of its time while speaking to a larger cultural moment. A truly human experience, Off Season displays Sturm's masterful pacing and storytelling combined with conscious and confident growth as the celebrated cartoonist and educator moves away from historical fiction to deliver this long-form narrative set in contemporary times. Originally serialized on Slate, this expanded edition turns timely vignettes into a timeless, deeply affecting account of one family and their off season."--

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