Clowes turns his considerable talents to the story of Monica, weaving her take through a medley of genre. While I was not as engaged with the narrative as I was with other of his works, it is still a delight to see.

I don't think I have ever hated the end of a book as much as I hated the end of this book.

Until said end I was enjoying the book well enough. Clowes tells the story of a woman's life using different comic book tropes. There are weird, eccentric moments. There are cults. There are moments of genuine reflection. Monica herself is an interesting character, and grows into one of those older women who volunteer for things and are vaguely hippie-ish.

I was grooving on the development and the art and the way Clowes used the various styles of comic book story to add texture to Monica's journey. And then the end happened. And I hated it.

Still, it is a well-told tale by someone who has spent years and years honing his craft. While I personally won't ever read it again, I think this book will appeal to many people.

This graphic novel was hilarious and well-drawn, definitely worth the money and the hype, and I hope will be successful!

Daniel Clowes, best known for the graphic novel that was later turned into a film, Ghost World and his anthology work EightBall has returned with Monica. It is the story of a woman raised in the counter culture who seeks to understand her past and find the meaning of her life. Across her journey, Clowes draws from many of the comics staple genres: horror, romance, crime and fantasy.

Told through interconnected chapters, featuring a wide cast of characters related to or associated with Monica's family, the story at first seems to be a straightforward tale of two young people falling out of love during the social changes of the 1960s. That is, until chapter three's "The Glow Infernal" branches out into the bizarre with a small out of the way town being taken over by futuristic blue skinned people. Chapters from here only grow more unsettling, Monica communicating with dead relatives via a radio, a town that appears normal but is teetering on chaos do to some unfathomable event, Monica's life after becoming wealthy, and the die-hard remnant of a 1960s alternative lifestyle cult.

It's quite the journey, full of confusing shifts in perspective and events bordering on the fantastical that could have occurred or might just have been imagined. The novel starts with two soldiers, Butch and Johnny, (probably in Vietnam?) conversing while in a forest foxhole. Butch shares his concerns over the future and that he keeps seeing or dreaming about the end of the world. Johnny just has plans for a simple life stereotypical life with his high school girlfriend Penny. Chapter two opens with Penny in bed with an artist, Leonard. Monica is born and the narrative catalogs all of Penny's relationships until she gets back together with Johnny. Penny then abandons her life and Monica, leaving her with her grandparents and disappearing. The rest of the book documents Monica's life with a few diversions.

Clowes' panels are well rendered and full of details. Characters can shift from realistic portrayals to tackiness or grotesqueness (and in one scene, a depiction a horror movie would be lucky to have). While there is some variation in the art style, the narratives are textually driven.

As our narrator spends much of the novel lost or searching to find some meaning in her life, the reader too gets lost in the different incidents and events. Monica is deeply lonely stemming from being abandoned by her mother. While she's found financial success it doesn't help her emotions or find happiness, she wants a family. To the point where she's even willing to join a bizarre cult that lives off garbage if it can help her find her mother.

Monica is a book that rewards re-reading as the themes and foreshadowing become clearer. We see Monica's full life-span all asking the questions can you find happiness or meaning to your life? Do you ever find yourself considering your undertakings aware of the point things tip from controllable to chaos?

A stunning tour de force, even by Clowes' absurdly high standards. He deftly jumps from genre to genre, exploiting each without ever bowing to their demands as he unlocks one puzzle box after another (with one strange, tantalizing, and dark thread left, perhaps, dangling), leading to a crushing but -- in retrospect -- inevitable conclusion. A flat out masterpiece.

I’m probably going to be in the minority on this, but I’m tired of books that prioritize a clever and groundbreaking message over readers actually understanding the message. I did like that the book challenged me to think through how all the chapters were related. Up until the last chapter, I thought I was making progress, chipping away at those connections. But then the end blew up all of those hypothesis, leaving me feeling frustrated and dumb.