My Perfect Life

by Lynda Barry

In this vividly imagined continuation of her immensely popular Ernie Pook series, extraordinary cartoonist Lynda Barry chronicles the trials and tribulations of Maybonne and her sister, Marlys, as they struggle through their teenage years. Line drawings.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix, Humor, Young Adult

127 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Lynda Barry is an American cartoonist and author, perhaps best known for her weekly comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

1/2/22: It is very fun and enlightening to revisit the work of your artistic influences. I'm on a renewed Barry kick all of a sudden and plan to ride it out until I'm sated (next up is The Freddie Stories from 1999). This one is great, but I actually now think that Come Over Come Over might be the strongest of the two.

One of Barry's very best comic strip collections, this one from 1992. Contains the brilliantly written longer story "The Most Obvious Question," a dark, heart-breaking tale of an attempted family reconciliation that fails. I've never forgotten it, and this is probably the book in Barry's oeuvre that I've most gone back to.

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lynda Barry is queen of the world.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book when I was a teen and first learned about it thanks to Sassy magazine. Thanks Sassy! You made sure that I was ahead of the curve/weird while growing up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Anyway, this book, the graphic novel of a girl named Maybonne, holds up really well. It's still relevant, feminist and funny. I'm guessing the themes in the book are issues that teens still have to deal with today.

[Hannah Garden]

Most of my Lynda Barry has come off the shelves of my husband's library, but he didn't own this one and I hadn't heard of it till reading Rob Kirby's review. I ordered a copy immediately and read it the night it arrived, in quarantine in the basement, eating chips and dip.

She is some kind of god, I think.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish everyone on the planet earth would read this. Peace and love

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt, occasionally devastating, hilarious.

“EVER SINCE I FOUND OUT I HAVE AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX I HAVE BEEN FEELING SO TERRIBLE. ALSO, MORE SELF-CONSCIOUS THAN MY LIFE HAS EVER KNOWN”

Maybonne 4 ever!

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow - Maybonne was never my favorite character of Lynda Barry's (after all, teenagers, when portrayed honestly, are rarely likable), but this book really turned her around for me. It begins with Maybonne as a little energetic and idealistic - shades of Marlys - and ends with a view of her as she is in the comics today: jaded, melodramatic, and withdrawn. And it's all very authentic: the bullying, the awakening sexuality, the struggles with family, the drinking, etc. It's difficult to read at times, but it's definitely a powerful story.

[Elizabeth McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd seen Lynda Barry's "Marlys" comics in the Funny Times newspaper, which is why I checked this book out of the library. This book is a sort of coming-of-age story told in comic-strip form. (It actually is more like a series of comic strips than a graphic novel; I suspect they were originally published serially in some periodical.) The art is busy and casual, and the storytelling is quirky, stream-of-teen-consciousness. It's mostly about the female narrator trying to figure out friendships and boys, in a way that is both sufficiently realistic and feminist-friendly.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've recently been going through Lynda Barry's work and really dig the honesty she reaches in pictures and words. I had to stop while reading this book because of an intense scene with the main character in some real peril. Anything like that makes my stomach churn. There needs to be warning labels on books for this. But otherwise, reading this book let me re-experience those sad and confusing feelings of being a teenager, but I guess in a safe way. We are all survivors of our teen years.

[maddog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely added to my holy trinity of comics thus far

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this one the most of all the Maybonne & co. books.

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lynda Barry is a genius. Marlys and Maybonne will break your heart. These books saved my life in early high school.

[Tristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

MAYBONNE FOREVER. I so want to see what Maybonne is like as a grown-up lady. I hope she is happy and living her right on dreams.

[Nika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would read this on the train and laugh out loud.. while people looked at me like I'm crazy.

[David Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to be the President of the Lynda Barry fan club!!

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Perfect Life is the follow-up to Lynda Barry’s Come Over, Come Over continuing the story of Maybonne and her sister Marlys. It’s a year later and Maybonne and Marlys are still living with their grandmother. Their mom doesn’t want them back and their dad has deserted them ever since he lost his sobriety.

So, we follow Maybonne over the course of one year as she adjusts to her new living arrangement, starts a new school year, copes with rumors that she’s lesbian, deals with one boyfriend who likes her only when no one is around, deals with another boyfriend who likes her way too much, explores her spirituality, and navigates the hormone hurricane that is puberty.

My Perfect Life isn’t as strong as Come Over, Come Over (which I think is pitch perfect) but it still resonates just as deeply. I really can’t say much more about Lynda Barry that I haven’t already said. There’s something about her storytelling that hits me to my core. There are very few writers — let alone graphic artists — that I can say that about. She’s just that good.

[Scott JB · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is simply awful being a teenager. Any casually dropped word, little bit of throwaway cruelty, can land hard inside you and change who you are irrevocably. The stakes will never be higher on a psychic level! Lynda Barry knows this! And, I think, heightens it by putting her characters in a particular socio-economic environment where on a very real level they really may not be okay, whether they get through this or not.

Maybonne just wants to get good grades, kiss a nice boy, wear clothes that aren't totally appalling, and feel some little bit of inner peace. But life and fate conspire against her. The anguish and inner turmoil here is so beautifully represented by the juxtaposition of text and image, by how time moves in the illustrated panels versus the interior monologue and the letters Maybonne writes. Some truly jarring, heavy-impact drawings along the way, like Mr Ludermeyer after his heart attack, his soul scrabbling to get back into his body.

I just love this artist-writer so much.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who would be a teenager again? Not many people, probably. This graphic novel follows Maybonne, and her kid sister Marlys, over the course of a year. They live with their grandmother because their parents are hopeless and don't really want them, and Maybonne, in particular, spends her year in a cycle of cringeworthy romantic relationships, which are all extremely relatable, but still. I kind of wanted to shake her for whining on about Doug for so very long. Still, I suppose that's part of the coming of age story, isn't it - learning to let go of things and people that it doesn't do you any good to hang on to.

Honestly, the book's so clearly observed that it probably deserves four stars, but while I liked it, it didn't grab me outstandingly if that makes sense. And Barry's artwork, while distinctive, is not something I find immediately appealing.

[Ruby i · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow this was an amazing read. Maybonne is 14 and is in the throws of teenage angst, boy troubles and a fractured family. Her point of view gave me much understanding of what it feels like to be a teenage girl navigating relationships and high school. I felt Maybonne's emotions acutely and deeply. Through Maybonne I found more space to accept the parts of myself that want to be loved and are hurt by rejection, and to forgive the stumbles and choices that lead to pain. Also, Maybonne's relationship with her sister Marlys is fantastic. It is tender and real.
Barry's line work highlights the intensity of Maybonne's emotions. It gives visual context to some harrowing content. A Perfect Life is a sublime example of the power of comics.

[Megan Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another perfect Lynda Barry book reissued by Drawn & Quarterly. This one picks up where Come Over, Come Over left off. Maybonne is getting used to her new school, making some friends, dating different guys, and dealing with the complications that come alongside being 14. Barry's typical bittersweet approach to girlhood doesn't shy away from difficult subjects. A stand-out stretch comes when Maybonne takes the bus to see her mother. The panels are dark, the story is dark--it's a strange and sad little odyssey in the middle of the book.

I do wish this book had a little bit more Marlys representation. Marlys forever!

[Nadine Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another remarkable read from Lynda Barry. Barry's stories evoke the navel gazing/solipsism that pretty much all of us are guilty of going through in our teenage years. Her writings/drawings are alternately hilarious and wrenching and I simply cannot tear myself away from any of her books. How does she do it? How does she write about adolescence with such laser precision? I will continue to marvel over Lynda Barry's works until I croak. I just hope she will continue writing for as long as she is able.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the storyline was interesting, the plot was hard to follow due to being comprised of individually published comic strips later assembled into a book. I enjoyed following the adventures of Maybonne, but felt like I truly only saw a snapshot of her life as she dealt with issues of sexuality, friendship, family, and much more. It felt like I witnessed more than a year of her life and nothing at all. I think this book was a great introduction to Lynda Barry's work and characters that show how she gives life and depth to her work.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know how she captures the specific traumas of teenage life so distinctly. So many times reading this I felt like no one has ever articulated this particular feeling as clearly and painfully as this. And while the themes are quite serious and difficult, it manages to feel light and even laugh out loud funny. If you ever have been a teenager, have a teenager, or forgotten all about your teenage years and wonder why teens are the way they are, this book is for you.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild to read these sequentially after reading snippits here and there in NOW Magazine back in the day. Oh, Maybonne, so many trials and tribulations. And Marly's. It was good to see both of them again in this collection!

[spoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep saying it but she was doing things in the 90s that are so ahead of where comics are at now. Amazing, showstopping, never the same. Blew my sh*t away. The best living cartoonist. The best cartoonist. The best.

[Jamie is · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this in the library when I was about ten years old and it was very eye opening. Found a friend in Marlys when I was struggling to relate to other people.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every so often I give one of these books a re-read just because I miss Maybonne and Marlys. This one in particular always gets me. Oh Maybonne, we've all been there.

[jada alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Brpejo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the humor in this book very sarcastic, something I like about a book.

[Mateen Mahboubi]

Marlys rocks and I'm glad that she's finding stability and finding her way in the world (even though she maybe didn't make the best decisions on her bus adventure).