Proof of Life on Earth: Cartoons by Roz Chast

by Roz Chast

Genres: Humor, Comics, Cartoon, Graphic Novels

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1991

About the author

Rosalind "Roz" Chast is an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker. She grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, the only child of an assistant principal and a high school teacher. Her earliest cartoons were published in Christopher Street and The Village Voice. In 1978 The New Yorker accepted one of her cartoons and has since published more than 800. She also publishes cartoons in Scientific American and the Harvard Business Review.

Chast is a graduate of Midwood High School in Brooklyn. She first attended Kirkland College (which later merged with Hamilton College) and then studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and received a BFA in painting in 1977. She also holds honorary doctorates from Pratt Institute and Dartmouth College, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is represented by the Danese/Corey gallery in Chelsea, New York City.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Roz Chast collection -- it's a bit too heavy on the negative themes of her work: neuroses, hypochondria, and denial. Still, there's some great cartoons here, including one of my all-time favorites, "In the Final Analysis" (with its classic observation, "As much as people go on and on about horses, they are still very large and have weird teeth.")

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend lent me this wry collection of comics. Perhaps my eyes are starting to fail, or I read too many larger lettered comics, but my only complaint is the legibility.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roz Chast has a very odd sense of humor - it's so dry and subtle sometimes you don't even see that it's funny. All the same, it makes for some good entertainment.

[Fahr Sivakriskul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short, fun reading My mother bought this book when she was studying in America decades ago. I asked her if she had read it because there are many parts I didn't quite get in the book, but she said no. This book reminds me of the short comics that Mr. P showed us before Math class. I didn't get a lot of jokes in the book (maybe they are jokes specifically for the Americans to understand), but the author indeed had a great sarcasm. I laughed at some pages and there are some parts that I thought was brilliant. Since this is a graphic novel, I finished it in a short period of time which is nice after reading the full length novel yesterday. I wanted to give it a 4 - star but there are many parts that I don't get (the jokes), so I decided to rate it 3 stars.