If This Is a Lecture, How Long Will It Be?: A For Better or For Worse Collection by Lynn Johnston

For Better or For Worse #9

by Lynn Johnston

Lynn Johnston brings her particular talent and hilarious insights to parents' No. 1 domestic problem--having a teenager! Every parent (and every teenager) will identify with the chaosthat adolescent Michael's hormone attacks bring to the Patterson household.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Comic Strips, Comedy, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Lynn Johnston CM OM is a Canadian cartoonist, well known for her comic strip For Better or For Worse, and was the first female cartoonist to win the Reuben Award.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much nostalgia. It was fun revisiting something I grew up with. And a few of them still hit the mark.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming out in 1990 with strips from 89 and 90. Johnston does a sort of flash back sequence in which Elly is reminiscing with the kids about when Liz was an infant, but it just reminded me of how much better the strip is now than it was then. But she did another flash back about Elly’s own experiences with romance as a teenager that was pretty good. For the most part it’s the standard strip progression with Michael as a teenager getting lots of coverage.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always make me laugh

[Narariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read, the book includes storylines like Georgia and Phil house-shopping and Gordo's troubles with Allyson.

[tyRonE hArDing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great. Love the Patterson Family.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love to take a break with the little snippets of life that Lynn Johnston does.

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyn Johnston is so spot on with her humorous look at having a teenager in the house! Loved this book each time I have read and reread it.

[Child960801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a story arc of Ellie remembering when Elizabeth was a baby. Uncle Phil buys a house. Ellie gets in a car accident. Mike and his friends are experiencing crushes and hormones.

One of the things I like about these is that often times the joke is in the pictures. Someone will say something and then there is just a picture that makes you laugh. I really like how the family encounters real situations and how everyone grows and learns through out.

[The other John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one's a nice collection of For Better or For Worse strips. It seems like the strips featuring the teen-aged Michael predominate, but there's also plenty featuring Elizabeth, Elly, John and the supporting cast. Some of the highlights are Phil and Georgia buying a house, Elly's day in traffic court and Michael and Gordon's adventures at the Valentine's Day dance.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I collected this series but somehow missed this one. I found it by accident in the library of my building. Lynn Johnson's "For Better or Worse" cartoons are wonderful and I cried when Farley died. In this book he is still alive. What is absolutely fabulous for me is...this book is autographed with a small drawing and a written "All the best!" A treasure that I shall keep.

[Kyrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure if Lynn Johnston watches my house or predicts my future.

[Donna Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paradoxically perhaps, this gave me baby fever. Later, the "baby" tried to take it with him when he moved out.