David Boring

My first try at reading this didn't go so well. Some time passed, I read Twentieth Century Eightball and loved it so I considered giving David Boring another shot.
The interesting fact is the story, what I remembered of it from my partial first read, still echoed in my mind. There is a certain drowsiness and a certain abandon in the storytelling that haunts you afterward.

This is a book about adolescence. It is similarly caught between the mundane and the overwrought. The eponymous narrator is, like most of us, smart, mundane and somewhat shabby - yet he lives in a world of high-noir, where people get shot by strangers on a reasonably regular basis. This playing with life's registers has a lot of potential and it's a fun read. The story, however, tends to feel a little forced and random in places - and this detracts a little from the effect of the whole.

A well-drawn, well-constructed moody graphic novel -- obviously written *as* a graphic novel. The eponymous narrator is an emotionally stilted young man who takes part in several enigmatic relationships.

The artwork is fantastic and there were moments of intrigue but, in the end, I was rather perplexed by this book. I really enjoyed Ghost World and Ice Haven but David Boring lacks the humor of those books.

David Boring's life has changed in the big city - he's gotten lucky with girls, he's far away from friends that know every embarrassing detail of his past and his roommate, Dot, also appreciates his scrapbook of large-bottomed girls. This all works well until Whitey shows up and is murdered.

Much less a murder mystery and more of a dry dark comedy, the story follows David's obsession that leads to the perfect woman, getting shot in the face and even conspiracies to poison the world. Buried within in this is the story-within-a-story of The Yellow Streak, a puzzle that may lead to understanding David's father (two panels at a time).

Clowe's story is filled with compelling characters and an equally compelling storyline.

I try to like Daniel Clowes, but I have trouble not viewing his work at crude and vulgar. The artwork is nice and his plot certainly creative, but it doesn't allow my mind to dwell upon higher thoughts and find tangents to meander with. David Boring is simply the story about a guy and his search for love. Twists and turns abound, but other than creating a unique story, they serve little purpose.

It's obvious that Clowes has the ability to weave a great story, but in the end, he tends to keep the story simple and not flesh out the more intriguing plots, instead relying on sexual encounters to titillate the majority of his readers.

before goodreads, or even overlapping goodreads, i used to try to write down the titles of books i read when i finished them. recently i found one such list and have been trying to add these books to goodreads with the proper dates read. i was surprised to see this one on the list, as i have very little memory of reading it; looking at some plot synopses, though, some imagery came back strong and i remember liking parts of this. daniel clowes seems to be getting creepier and creepier, though, or that's my personal reaction to each thing i read. that might be why i blocked this one out.