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Little Things: A Memoir in Slices
A collection of funny, poignant, and autobiographical short stories, Little Things looks at the aspects of daily life -- friendship, illness, death, work, crushes, love, jealousy, and fatherhood -- we take for granted. As each story loops into others, Jeffrey Brown shows how the smallest andseemingly most insignificant parts of everyday life can end up becoming the most meaningful. Brown's first full-length autobiographical book in several years, Little Things is also his most impressive, touching, and true.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
6 people are currently reading
541 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Brown
189 books1,385 followersJeffrey Brown was born in 1975 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and grew up reading comic books with dreams of someday drawing them, only to abandon them and focus on becoming a 'fine artist.' While earning his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Brown abandoned painting and began drawing comics with his first autobiographical book 'Clumsy' in 2001. Since then he's drawn a dozen books for publishers including TopShelf, Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, McSweeney's and Chronicle Books. Simon & Schuster published his latest graphic memoir 'Funny Misshapen Body.' In addition to directing an animated video for the band Death Cab For Cutie, Brown has had his work featured on NPR's 'This American Life' His art has been shown at galleries in New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and Paris. Jeffrey's work has also appeared in the Best American Comics series and received the Ignatz Award in 2003 for 'Outstanding Minicomic.'
He currently lives in Chicago with his wife Jennifer and their son Oscar.
He currently lives in Chicago with his wife Jennifer and their son Oscar.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
July 6, 2008
as refreshing as it is to see jeffrey brown finally doing autobiographical pieces (koff), this was the most disappointing book of all time. its as though some dullard child wrote a "what i did on my summer vacation" essay and it was illustrated by someone only interested in wasting the time of others. there is so much filler here, its unbelievable. panels wasted on deciding what to listen to on headphones, panels where he has to pee, countless panels of him drawing... there is no content at all. karen smash!!
April 25, 2008
This review doesn't actually contain spoilers, really, but I hid it behind a thing 'cause it's kind of mean.
...
I get it, Jeffrey Brown, you can draw cute little people and your head looks like a testicle. That doesn't change the fact that nothing happens in any of these stories except cute indie rock boys and indie rock girls talk about bands and go look at mountains or whatever. I get enough of that shit in my life already, I don't need to spend fourteen bucks for it.
I only read the first half though, maybe it picks up.
...
I get it, Jeffrey Brown, you can draw cute little people and your head looks like a testicle. That doesn't change the fact that nothing happens in any of these stories except cute indie rock boys and indie rock girls talk about bands and go look at mountains or whatever. I get enough of that shit in my life already, I don't need to spend fourteen bucks for it.
I only read the first half though, maybe it picks up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2013
In Clumsy, the last book I read by Jeff Brown, the author's penis was practically a recurring character.
It doesn't appear at all in this title, so I guess that makes this one slightly better.
It doesn't appear at all in this title, so I guess that makes this one slightly better.
July 23, 2009
Yesterday I actually snuck over to the comics store on my break at work just so I could buy this. I felt like an addict. When the man at the counter slid my purchase into a plain brown paper bag, my feelings intensified. For whatever reason, after reading some of Mr. Brown's earlier work, I NEEDED Little Things and I needed it bad. I read it feverishly in my ill-lit living room.
I wish I could've given it more stars. I think it's worth anyone's time and is both a great introduction to and continuation of this artist's autobiographical work. But my relationship with this memoir is a somewhat tortured one, and those three stars are its badge. The thing that disappointed me was this: after all this autobiography mired in self-deprecation and a focus on break-ups, failures, and quasi-existentialist musing, I felt ready to finally share in the author's joy. Jeffrey Brown, I had decided, deserved something better. And tucked away at the end of this more recent piece was the evidence that he may have got it - he had a child! He's living with a partner! Someone finally chose him! He is loved! I wasn't looking for anything maudlin, but I guess I expected some kind of relief at least. And I'm not criticizing his decision to keep some things private - Mr. Brown has been more than forthcoming up til now, and who knows what requests the mother of his child made as to her rights in all this. Still, I felt abandoned when I finished reading Little Things. I let myself identify with all the tough parts; I revisited my own failures and ruined relationships. Don't I deserve to share some of the good times too? How come you don't invite me over anymore now that you no longer need a shoulder to cry on? Huh?!
Anyway, all this really proves is that 1. apparently I believe that the relationship of an author to his or her audience contains a certain level of responsibility, 1.2. I do not know, exactly, how to articulate that responsibility and I understand that the very idea is problematic, 2. Jeffrey Brown is particularly skilled at self-representation in his work, and 3. I have issues with empathy. In conclusion, stars be damned. I need a new system.
P.S. Mr. Brown, please don't be sad if you ever read this. If I were you, I would take it as a compliment that someone could take my art so personally. Also, this whole thing is about you NOT being sad, and I couldn't handle the irony if I found out that I had hurt your feelings.
I wish I could've given it more stars. I think it's worth anyone's time and is both a great introduction to and continuation of this artist's autobiographical work. But my relationship with this memoir is a somewhat tortured one, and those three stars are its badge. The thing that disappointed me was this: after all this autobiography mired in self-deprecation and a focus on break-ups, failures, and quasi-existentialist musing, I felt ready to finally share in the author's joy. Jeffrey Brown, I had decided, deserved something better. And tucked away at the end of this more recent piece was the evidence that he may have got it - he had a child! He's living with a partner! Someone finally chose him! He is loved! I wasn't looking for anything maudlin, but I guess I expected some kind of relief at least. And I'm not criticizing his decision to keep some things private - Mr. Brown has been more than forthcoming up til now, and who knows what requests the mother of his child made as to her rights in all this. Still, I felt abandoned when I finished reading Little Things. I let myself identify with all the tough parts; I revisited my own failures and ruined relationships. Don't I deserve to share some of the good times too? How come you don't invite me over anymore now that you no longer need a shoulder to cry on? Huh?!
Anyway, all this really proves is that 1. apparently I believe that the relationship of an author to his or her audience contains a certain level of responsibility, 1.2. I do not know, exactly, how to articulate that responsibility and I understand that the very idea is problematic, 2. Jeffrey Brown is particularly skilled at self-representation in his work, and 3. I have issues with empathy. In conclusion, stars be damned. I need a new system.
P.S. Mr. Brown, please don't be sad if you ever read this. If I were you, I would take it as a compliment that someone could take my art so personally. Also, this whole thing is about you NOT being sad, and I couldn't handle the irony if I found out that I had hurt your feelings.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2012
You see a graphic novel of any kind and if you are a comic enthusiast you pick it up. You take a peek inside and you think to yourself, Hell, if the art is that bad then this guy must be really super talented and insightful as a writer to pull this off, right? Then you read it. And he's not. And even if you only paid $2 at a used book store you still feel kinda cheated.
I've read pretty much every comic and graphic novel I could get my hands on over the past 35 years, and this is serious hipster naval gazing that starts nowhere and goes nowhere fast.
You know how most independent comic creators like to follow the pattern laid down by Robert Crumb, mainly satisfying their readers' needs for outrageous slices of life and innovative art styles? Well, Mr. Brown decided to go another direction. He thinks that the ordinary parts of a day are the things his readers want to know about. Like his walking. Or his sitting. Or his looking around.
And the art...Good Christ...this is worse than Dilbert. He renders his own face to look like Coop's Smokin Bunny, complete with outsize dots representing stubble, and that's it...coffee break time. I mean, he's really done. This artist has no desire to be better. And why should he? Someone out there is keeping this artist in print. I can only recommend that you take a moment to read a few pages before you lay your money down to support this artistic slacker.
I've read pretty much every comic and graphic novel I could get my hands on over the past 35 years, and this is serious hipster naval gazing that starts nowhere and goes nowhere fast.
You know how most independent comic creators like to follow the pattern laid down by Robert Crumb, mainly satisfying their readers' needs for outrageous slices of life and innovative art styles? Well, Mr. Brown decided to go another direction. He thinks that the ordinary parts of a day are the things his readers want to know about. Like his walking. Or his sitting. Or his looking around.
And the art...Good Christ...this is worse than Dilbert. He renders his own face to look like Coop's Smokin Bunny, complete with outsize dots representing stubble, and that's it...coffee break time. I mean, he's really done. This artist has no desire to be better. And why should he? Someone out there is keeping this artist in print. I can only recommend that you take a moment to read a few pages before you lay your money down to support this artistic slacker.
June 10, 2016
For a guy with a highly uninteresting life, I'm surprised by the amount of autobiographical books he's churning out. 'Clumsy' was OK. But from there, everything else seems rather repetitive.
Girl problems. Hospital visits. Drawing at random places. A lot of coughing. That's basically it.
Girl problems. Hospital visits. Drawing at random places. A lot of coughing. That's basically it.
February 14, 2021
I’ve been reading a lot of Jeffrey Brown’s comics lately, and have been very impressed. I first discovered Brown’s endearing drawing style in the first “Found” book (one of my favorites), and looked forward to reading more of his work. Now that I have read much of his autobiographical output, I find I really enjoy the extremely personal, bittersweet “slices of life” that Brown specializes in writing. I can identify with many of the experiences recorded in his work and I find that oddly reassuring.
This is particularly true with “Little Things: A Memoir in Slices,” which shifts the focus away from Brown’s relationships to other aspects of his life, from camping trips to pet ownership. In this widening of scope, the memoir becomes even more accessible. Brown’s simple, sketchy drawings ably capture the expressions and emotions that are easily recognizable as something that we have all experienced. No one makes the minor triumphs and failures of everyday life, the “little things” appear more meaningful than Brown. The dry, self deprecating humor present throughout “Little Things” also makes it a charming celebration of the beauty of the mundane and helps to remind me of that.
This is particularly true with “Little Things: A Memoir in Slices,” which shifts the focus away from Brown’s relationships to other aspects of his life, from camping trips to pet ownership. In this widening of scope, the memoir becomes even more accessible. Brown’s simple, sketchy drawings ably capture the expressions and emotions that are easily recognizable as something that we have all experienced. No one makes the minor triumphs and failures of everyday life, the “little things” appear more meaningful than Brown. The dry, self deprecating humor present throughout “Little Things” also makes it a charming celebration of the beauty of the mundane and helps to remind me of that.
December 13, 2025
I like Brown's style and the focus on the mundane. I wouldn't be opposed to reading other things he did, which feels odd for a 2 star rating, I think. Unfortunately for this one, while I really, really enjoyed a lot of the observation of the most mundane moments, there were a few stories that dragged on much, much longer. I didn't connect with these stories at all. They made up such a large percentage of the book that I ended it feeling really disappointed.
May 22, 2017
This felt like a teaser for a larger story. I don't mind the out of order snippets but I couldn't find a real common thread anywhere. I still like Brown's style and so it wasn't all bad but overall it felt like something was missing.
March 31, 2020
Autobiographical comics set in the mid aughts. Mostly about indie rock, drawing comics, and meeting girls. Drawn in Jeffrey Brown's trademark sketchy style. Like all anthologies, some were better than others, but the overall quality is there, so long as you don't mind the art style.
February 22, 2021
Little things was a gift for my birthday. The person who gave it to me is very special and this book is now one of my favourites. It has been really easy to empathize with each situation or feeling. This book is a must!
January 29, 2021
Necesito conseguir estos cómics en papel , si señor.
September 30, 2021
Talk about an absolute snoozefest.
December 12, 2021
I liked this and it had some funny bits. It didn't completely click with me. I think having a more consistent narrative would be good
January 8, 2026
A cute collection of autobiographical comics set in Chicago. For anyone nostalgic about Wicker Park circa 2008, this is for you. Stories about life, girls, and putting in the work.
April 16, 2015
I like Jeffrey Brown's work. His quietly meandering short autobiographical stories are full of the wonders of mundane human comedy, often unfolding at his local haunts (work, street, the Earwax Cafe.. He is, at least as he portrays himself in his work, a gentle soul who craves intimacy and is always a bit sweet and clumsy with it.
I liked all the stories, but was especially drawn to "Missing The Mountains" in which he goes camping and hiking with a close friend Dan and Dan's close friend Bradlee. Well, first he has to get to Dan in Stehekin, Washington, and that isn't easy. And once he gets there, there is beauty, there is loneliness, there is Scrabble. On the several days hiking trip there's a lot of silence and a lot of chatter between Dan and Bradlee. It isn't clear if Jeff feels left-out but he certainly enjoys the experience of hiking and dedicates a lot of panels to the paths, rivers, mountains, stars. In one panel (this is before the camping trip begins - though there are some stars there, too) he and his friends are lying down looking up at the stars at an air-strip. There's a close-up on them and Jeff says "so many stars." In the next panel, just stars. Simple, touching, awkwardly elegant. That's how things seem to go with him.
All the little details are magnetic, and to tell the truth, I don't know exactly why. His plots don't quite thicken. There's some kind of arc, though sometimes the arcs are only just that the stories start in one place and end in another. And in getting from point A to point B we meet family, friends, lovers, logistical complications, visual observations, travel, work, music, animal friends, and many experiences in detail up close. This is the second book of his I've read and I look forward to reading more.
I liked all the stories, but was especially drawn to "Missing The Mountains" in which he goes camping and hiking with a close friend Dan and Dan's close friend Bradlee. Well, first he has to get to Dan in Stehekin, Washington, and that isn't easy. And once he gets there, there is beauty, there is loneliness, there is Scrabble. On the several days hiking trip there's a lot of silence and a lot of chatter between Dan and Bradlee. It isn't clear if Jeff feels left-out but he certainly enjoys the experience of hiking and dedicates a lot of panels to the paths, rivers, mountains, stars. In one panel (this is before the camping trip begins - though there are some stars there, too) he and his friends are lying down looking up at the stars at an air-strip. There's a close-up on them and Jeff says "so many stars." In the next panel, just stars. Simple, touching, awkwardly elegant. That's how things seem to go with him.
All the little details are magnetic, and to tell the truth, I don't know exactly why. His plots don't quite thicken. There's some kind of arc, though sometimes the arcs are only just that the stories start in one place and end in another. And in getting from point A to point B we meet family, friends, lovers, logistical complications, visual observations, travel, work, music, animal friends, and many experiences in detail up close. This is the second book of his I've read and I look forward to reading more.
May 1, 2011
Little Things, a graphic novel by Jeffrey Brown (author of Be a Man, Clumsy), is geared towards the mature audience as the story deals with material such as sex, death and life of a young adult. Little Things is Jeffery's life story told in thin "slices" from various points of time in his life. Jeffery's "slices" are bits and pieces of his life that can be a few hours to a week to longer. People move in and out of the "slices" never seeming to stay for very long or come back, but seem to make a lasting impact within his life. Time never stands still and is constantly moving on to the next story or the next person. The last "slice" of Jeffrey's life deals with the birth/pending birth of his child.
Where the story suffers is that the move through timelines if often disjointed in places, transitioning from present to past back to present in what is often confusing. Where the story seems to fail is that there are no clear transitions in this passage of time. The reader is lost as to the passage of time and place with no clear indication of what might be happening. The graphic novel uses simple black and white lines to create the universe and life that Jeffrey resides. Jeffrey captures the world around him, from rescuing ants in a stream to his young son next to him, with simple and often elegant line drawings that show a deeper meaning to life.
Although the time line can be confusing, the story is an interesting experiment in telling a story.
Comment
Where the story suffers is that the move through timelines if often disjointed in places, transitioning from present to past back to present in what is often confusing. Where the story seems to fail is that there are no clear transitions in this passage of time. The reader is lost as to the passage of time and place with no clear indication of what might be happening. The graphic novel uses simple black and white lines to create the universe and life that Jeffrey resides. Jeffrey captures the world around him, from rescuing ants in a stream to his young son next to him, with simple and often elegant line drawings that show a deeper meaning to life.
Although the time line can be confusing, the story is an interesting experiment in telling a story.
Comment
October 23, 2012
I'm a fan of Jeffrey Brown and his little drawings and his little stories. They are unsentimental in the way an old snapshot from a family album is. Interesting in the same way, too.
This book is like peeking through Mr. Brown's diary at random, a collection of random autobiographical stories. At least I didn't detect a overarching theme.
It's basically hang-out porn because he has a nearly ideal life as far as I'm concerned: hanging out with friends, drawing at a coffee shop most nights, going to shows, and doing signings of his work. It's a bohemian kind of life that only the offspring of the bourgeoisie can have. That is, the same kind most of my friends were having in their 20s. It's like early Cometbus but with better breeding.
In one story, all the hotels are full at a stop on the way to visit a friend, so Mr. Brown just plops down and sleeps by a tree. (Of course, first he politely asks if it's okay. What's the point in being a rebel about it? He's tired and has a ferry to catch the next day.)
I liked the story about how Chris Ware really encouraged him to continue his work. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Ware, but it's cool that he's so generous.
Obviously I've made choices that preclude a life like this -- and my back flares up from time to time, so no sleeping under trees for me -- but it's nice to visit.
This book is like peeking through Mr. Brown's diary at random, a collection of random autobiographical stories. At least I didn't detect a overarching theme.
It's basically hang-out porn because he has a nearly ideal life as far as I'm concerned: hanging out with friends, drawing at a coffee shop most nights, going to shows, and doing signings of his work. It's a bohemian kind of life that only the offspring of the bourgeoisie can have. That is, the same kind most of my friends were having in their 20s. It's like early Cometbus but with better breeding.
In one story, all the hotels are full at a stop on the way to visit a friend, so Mr. Brown just plops down and sleeps by a tree. (Of course, first he politely asks if it's okay. What's the point in being a rebel about it? He's tired and has a ferry to catch the next day.)
I liked the story about how Chris Ware really encouraged him to continue his work. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Ware, but it's cool that he's so generous.
Obviously I've made choices that preclude a life like this -- and my back flares up from time to time, so no sleeping under trees for me -- but it's nice to visit.
March 5, 2011
So I'm revisiting some of my younger adult angsty moments by going to see Sebadoh in concert, re-reading Lost in Zer0, renting Heathers, contemplating buying a "fun" pair of converse, and while laying in bed daydreaming (how often do you let yourself daydream anymore without also compiling a list of either shit to do or shit you wish you were accomplishing but aren't?), and I dug out my Jeffery Brown books.
Re-reading Little Things, while older I feel less jaded. I love it. How mundane or fantastic is your life, truly? Whether its putting your finger on a song you like, or being witness to a car accident, or going on vacation where you really just go around hiking with a flaky friend? Its the little rewards, the little deaths of someone on the phone you're dating stating they just don't think they can see you anymore, its the embarrassment of having stomach pains and having to have your friends drive you to the hospital all the time.
I have to admit the ending is odd...like, all of a sudden he has a special lady friend and they have a baby?!? I'm hoping that this was a taste of his life to come in a future book with a baby and stuff.
Jeffery Brown isn't that likable, but his ability to distill mundane moments certainly makes him admirable.
Re-reading Little Things, while older I feel less jaded. I love it. How mundane or fantastic is your life, truly? Whether its putting your finger on a song you like, or being witness to a car accident, or going on vacation where you really just go around hiking with a flaky friend? Its the little rewards, the little deaths of someone on the phone you're dating stating they just don't think they can see you anymore, its the embarrassment of having stomach pains and having to have your friends drive you to the hospital all the time.
I have to admit the ending is odd...like, all of a sudden he has a special lady friend and they have a baby?!? I'm hoping that this was a taste of his life to come in a future book with a baby and stuff.
Jeffery Brown isn't that likable, but his ability to distill mundane moments certainly makes him admirable.
February 6, 2011
I’m a long time fan of brown’s work, and I often have a hard time putting my finger on anything justifiable about it. It’s easier to say it is badly drawn and overly focused on teen-age like melodrama than to argue for it being penetrating, engaging and memorable. For that reason, if I had guilty pleasures, his work would be in that bag.
But for the most part, Brown does remarkable things. He displays great humility in not justifying his protagonist. He also teases out an earnestness, a sincerity that cuts through the distanced hipster stance that might be expected among his peers. He’s never short of a humour with warmth and intimacy, never lowers himself to a cheap or bitter laugh. He allows moments to hang in the air. He allows things to be unsaid. He’ll take a risk trying to convey pages in a single glance. And as portrayed, he’s danmned likable.
All that said, Little Things was tremendously disappointing. I felt I had been conned into purchasing cast off half starts. Meaningful silence was replaced with empty moments. Carefully ugly drawings were replaced with overworked pages depicting nothing. Stories that end hung in a precious moment were replaced with fitful cut offs that made no sense and engendered no feeling.
But for the most part, Brown does remarkable things. He displays great humility in not justifying his protagonist. He also teases out an earnestness, a sincerity that cuts through the distanced hipster stance that might be expected among his peers. He’s never short of a humour with warmth and intimacy, never lowers himself to a cheap or bitter laugh. He allows moments to hang in the air. He allows things to be unsaid. He’ll take a risk trying to convey pages in a single glance. And as portrayed, he’s danmned likable.
All that said, Little Things was tremendously disappointing. I felt I had been conned into purchasing cast off half starts. Meaningful silence was replaced with empty moments. Carefully ugly drawings were replaced with overworked pages depicting nothing. Stories that end hung in a precious moment were replaced with fitful cut offs that made no sense and engendered no feeling.
April 10, 2008
All I had read of Jeffrey Brown's before this was Mini-Sulk and some work he did for Drawn & Quarterly Showcase (which I had completely forgotten I owned - oops!) but it was all pretty damn funny: little two pages chunks of anecdotes, usually about relationships. He has moved away from both areas he's been comfortable with in this pretty large book (for him). Not too much is spent on his relationships (often leaving them to one panel in a larger story) and most of the stories are the size of his previous books. Alot of them tend to focus on , as the title suggest, little things...meeting friends for a hike, getting a cat, having surgery, and so on. It's fun, but he still has this tendency to just end stuff abruptly. I suppose most of the stories really can't have any big revelations but, there ya go..
So I'll take a cue form him with this review.
(I recommend it to my co-workers, if only for the two panels where he perfectly captures what it is like to try and sneak a drink behind the counter. I kept laughing, it was dead-on!)
So I'll take a cue form him with this review.
(I recommend it to my co-workers, if only for the two panels where he perfectly captures what it is like to try and sneak a drink behind the counter. I kept laughing, it was dead-on!)
April 12, 2008
More growth from Brown as he moves away from a simple "This happened and then this happened" style of storytelling that plagues the genre of memoir comics. Too often the creators who work in this genre will simply relate a chain of events as if that's storytelling, and the human side of what's happening is forgotten, but Jeffrey does touch on emotion. I'd still like to see a bit more of it, and while I've grown accustomed to his sketchy style of art I'd like to see some growth in that area as well. Still, the art is more than sufficient to carry the story, and I suppose I'd rather have 342 Jeffrey Brown pages instead of 80 really well drawn ones.
Also, at times I feel like I'm supposed to feel bad about his relationship troubles, but mostly I keep saying, "Whoa! Who's this NEW girl?" Seems like a lot of girls wend their way through the pages of Brown's life. I confess a modicum of jealousy.
All in all, a really enjoyable piece of comic's lit, and a great addition to Jeffrey's body of work.
Also, at times I feel like I'm supposed to feel bad about his relationship troubles, but mostly I keep saying, "Whoa! Who's this NEW girl?" Seems like a lot of girls wend their way through the pages of Brown's life. I confess a modicum of jealousy.
All in all, a really enjoyable piece of comic's lit, and a great addition to Jeffrey's body of work.
May 20, 2008
Jeffrey Brown's art is like a wool sweater. It's extremely comfy, but can also be a bit scratchy and irritating at times. This is probably my least favorite work of his (though I still like it. Honest.) My main problem is the book's format. While Clumsy, Unlikely and his other autobiographical work tends to focus on one relationship or time period, Little Things is just that: little things and stories from different parts of his life. Some of it is awesome: I like his strung-together stories about Andrew Bird, his autobiographical instruction manual on how to meet a girl, and how he tells about getting his gallbladder removed by listing his medical bills. Other things feel thrown together without any need for an overall story or theme. I now know that Brown likes music, and drew a lot at a specific cafe, but I don't get why he's writing this down for everyone.
I devoured this book as soon as I got it, and enjoyed reading it, but I'm not sure what I'll take away from it.
I devoured this book as soon as I got it, and enjoyed reading it, but I'm not sure what I'll take away from it.
June 23, 2008
The first time I read Brown's work, I was surprised at the -- well, I won't call it the crudeness of Brown's drawing, more simplicity. His pictures aren't terribly detailed or pieces where you stare and stare at the great perspective. And his storytelling is likewise simple.
An example is the first story or chapter of this which follows the Jeff character through a friendship/dating situation with a girl that leads to a kind of break up and all throughout there is frequent reference to the music he's listening to. What is captured is this sense of how you can almost block out certain periods of your life as having a very distinct soundtrack and how that soundtrack comes to be very evocative for you in later years. The story doesn't have any particularly strong structure as you might think a story would, but it has a good sense of closure and a solidly paced move through a period in Jeff's life.
What Brown writes are quiet little vignettes, sometimes embarrassingly recognizable, always interesting, very often amusing. Pathos seems to be his metier and it works wonders.
An example is the first story or chapter of this which follows the Jeff character through a friendship/dating situation with a girl that leads to a kind of break up and all throughout there is frequent reference to the music he's listening to. What is captured is this sense of how you can almost block out certain periods of your life as having a very distinct soundtrack and how that soundtrack comes to be very evocative for you in later years. The story doesn't have any particularly strong structure as you might think a story would, but it has a good sense of closure and a solidly paced move through a period in Jeff's life.
What Brown writes are quiet little vignettes, sometimes embarrassingly recognizable, always interesting, very often amusing. Pathos seems to be his metier and it works wonders.
December 22, 2016
Long (over 300 pages), small (about the height of a stapler) collection of short stories from the author's life. Many of them depict his involvements with women, and daily life as a relatively unattached guy who works in the music section of a Barnes & Noble. I'm a people watcher, so I like this kind of stuff.
His style is black and white here, and mostly six square panels to a page. He doesn't tell things as much as show them - there isn't a lot of textual introspection. In the (illustrated) introduction, he says
Infer what you'd like.
His style is black and white here, and mostly six square panels to a page. He doesn't tell things as much as show them - there isn't a lot of textual introspection. In the (illustrated) introduction, he says
"It's about how things interconnect in life, you know, how these different things mean something to us. Like, the way certain songs become associated with specific events or people and, um... How everyday stuff is what we, um... How we find meaning in our lives in... uh... How these little moments... um... um... Anyway, they're a bunch of autobiographical short stories and they're funny sometimes."And that's as explicit as he gets, as far as a larger meaning.
Infer what you'd like.
August 4, 2009
By all laws of logic and mathematics, I should love Jeffrey Brown’s graphic memoir Little Things: A memoir in slices. We like the same music, we’re about the same age, we’re both writers, and this is the stuff that fills his book. Seriously, I should have a full-blown crush on this book right now.
And yet, somehow, I don’t.
The problem is, I think, that Brown is too much like me, and most of the 30somethings I know. His stories, while amusing at times, lack the kind of emotional significance and depth I look for when I read. And that’s not to say every story you read has to be a life or death moment of drama-filled importance. However, the onus is on the writer to include in his/her story why exactly the story is being told at all. And that’s what each of the slices is missing, the whyness of them.
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And yet, somehow, I don’t.
The problem is, I think, that Brown is too much like me, and most of the 30somethings I know. His stories, while amusing at times, lack the kind of emotional significance and depth I look for when I read. And that’s not to say every story you read has to be a life or death moment of drama-filled importance. However, the onus is on the writer to include in his/her story why exactly the story is being told at all. And that’s what each of the slices is missing, the whyness of them.
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October 6, 2009
I was feeling really jerky and less-emo-than-thou about Jeff Brown when I got to the Small Press Expo last weekend, and then I went to his Q+A and he was pretty great and talked about how he drew everything straight into little notebooks and I was like shoot I gotta stop with my disillusion with him. So I turned right around, went back upstairs, and bought his book. I appreciate his style a lot and it is in full force in this book. The storytelling is fairly meandering and I didn't really see the connecting threads, not that there were necessarily supposed to be any.
The story about becoming a dad (which I sort of bought the book for, secret) was kind of disjointedly told and I'm not sure if I liked that a lot. I think I want to read the cat book, and I started Funny Misshapen Body which is really good in that it gives more of a much needed, not-girl-related backstory to Brown.
Yep. I'll definitely keep up with the dude, he's cool.
The story about becoming a dad (which I sort of bought the book for, secret) was kind of disjointedly told and I'm not sure if I liked that a lot. I think I want to read the cat book, and I started Funny Misshapen Body which is really good in that it gives more of a much needed, not-girl-related backstory to Brown.
Yep. I'll definitely keep up with the dude, he's cool.
August 8, 2008
I'm really interested in the trajectory (for lack of a less pretentious word) of Jeffrey Brown's career. I think it's pretty admirable that Brown isn't looking to play the same note over and over again with his autobio comic strips and I was excited for a non-relationship dip into the author's life.
While I enjoyed the book on the whole, I have to say that I found the jacket copy to be a little misleading. I didn't really see the way that the stories connected. As a collection of individual stories yes, Little Things works well... but the copy almost promises an interconnectedness that just isn't there.
I think there are some fine comic stories here; certainly the hiking expedition is a great example of the artist stretching himself to great Little Things is a very enjoyable mixed bag.
I'd be really excited to see some more stories focusing on Brown's new role as a father.
While I enjoyed the book on the whole, I have to say that I found the jacket copy to be a little misleading. I didn't really see the way that the stories connected. As a collection of individual stories yes, Little Things works well... but the copy almost promises an interconnectedness that just isn't there.
I think there are some fine comic stories here; certainly the hiking expedition is a great example of the artist stretching himself to great Little Things is a very enjoyable mixed bag.
I'd be really excited to see some more stories focusing on Brown's new role as a father.
June 8, 2010
Pretty standard Jeffrey Brown fare. Its sort of an awkward hybrid between slice of life and more linear memoir. We're not given much context to understand Jeffrey's revolving door of crush-girls and quasi-girlfriends, but there is a fairly consistent arc surrounding him just being single and trying to meet someone who he can be with long term for the first 95% of the book. Then there is a really abrupt shift to him living with someone who we've never been introduced to before now and to him taking care of a child with her. The reader is left to guess whether or not he's even the father. The blank space left between him just being single, muddling through on his own day-to-day, and him having his own family is very weird and left me feeling pretty alienated from him and the book, which is pretty much the opposite of how a well-written autobiographical comic should effect you. Meh.
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