Unimpressed

by Miranda Tacchia

As seen on her popular Instagram account (@mrmtacchia), Southern Californian cartoonist and animator Miranda Tacchia's first book collects more than two hundred hilarious one-liners (and even funnier drawings) tackling modern friendship, romance, urban living, and self-image.

Have you ever schemed with a friend? Stared at your phone screen well after you should have gone to sleep? Braced for heartbreak? Been told to smile more? Then Unimpressed will undoubtedly speak to you. In a book that bridges comics and memes, Tacchia uses her biting sense of humor and background in animation to create brilliant character portraits of women with only markers, Post-it notes, and tape. A master of expression, figure, and subtle (and other times not-so-subtle) comedy, Tacchia's protagonists are usually "unimpressed women" — who all share the fact that "they don't give a shit about you," as Tacchia puts it.

What makes Unimpressed so impressive and entertaining is how Tacchia taps into instantly relatable feelings and situations while simultaneously creating art that exudes confidence and vulnerability. (Sample caption: "When you went from giving him an earful to a mouthful.") Her often scabrous depiction of life as a young single woman today echoes that of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's (Fleabag) or Abbi Jacobsen and Ilana Glazer's (Broad City). Funny, smart, observant, sexy, gross, and relatable — Unimpressed is a wonderful debut and a great gift idea.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Humor, Adult, Nonfiction, Art

400 pages, Hardcover

Published November 23, 2021

About the author

Miranda Tacchia is a designer, illustrator, and cartoonist working in Los Angeles in the animation industry. She has worked as a character designer and layout artist for several animation studios, including Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Warner Brothers. Her work has been featured in galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and New York, as well as publications such as Juxtapoz and Printed Pages.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay - so let me say this: this book is definitely about 'the interior lives' of women; and as such I really don't feel qualified to affirm or deny the topics covered. The 'B' word is used in reference to other women (not by me) and there are graphic descriptions of sexual acts. From a male perspective I was fascinated by some of the 'situations' that centered around self-image: I will just leave it at that.

[Rod Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for anyone loaded with contempt for everyone else in the world. Humorous and sexy, but your mileage may vary if you don't find tsundere characters and resting bitch face as attractive as I do.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly magnificent!
Simply perfect!
And I preordered this babe and it came with a signed book plate doodle. Of course I gotta get it framed. Duh.

No but seriously I needed this in the worst way cause a bitch has been depressed and this book made me giggle. Seriously perfect.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smart, funny and sexy! I have followed Miranda Tacchia on Instagram and was very excited to see her work put together in this collection. Her simple post it notes drawings are relatable and give off that "big mood" energy.

A fun a quick read!

[Felicite Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book of the year and it’s fucking amazing ❤️

[Klem · Rating 4 out of 5]

C’est très joli, drôle, irrévérencieux et on se reconnaît dans de nombreuses situations.
Une plongée dans le cerveau et l’intimité des femmes.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unimpressed won me over with the amazing, utterly relatable cover. This book is perfect for the millennial woman, and while not everyone will relate to every drawing, there is a lot that is maybe a little too relatable. The drawings are sexy and irreverent and so funny. Reading this felt like hanging out with your coolest friend, the one who intimidates you a little bit, but in a good way.

[Patricia Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

'When you're not mad and then someone asks what's wrong, which reminds you that your neutral expression is read as hostility, so now you're pissed.'
This happens to me on a daily basis.

[Grace Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I relate to every picture and byline. Sassy and I love it.

[Mark]

LJ 146 (10) October 2021

[Jean Franco · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually don't write reviews but reading this book felt like a waste of time...
The artist is great. If you follow her on social media you know how good she is at capturing expressions, and body language and she's incredible at drawing real bodies. Male artists tend to always draw hegemonic women as if we were scared to add a few pounds to our characters. Miranda not only does real women but also captures the personality of every character with just a few lines. She's incredible.
So, what's my problem with this book? Well, here's the thing: It seems that the editors didn't know what to do with all these drawings and decided to add a sentence to each one of them. A SENTENCE THAT OCUPPIES AN ENTIRE PAGE. That's right, half of the book is blank pages with a random sentence that apparently expresses the situation in which the drawing is supposed to be happening. For example: "When he let you cum first" and then a drawing of a girl catching her breath on the bed.
I mean it's cute for a couple of times, but the situations start to be pretty similar and you soon realize that the phrases could work anywhere...
It's not fair. I wanted more art, maybe sketches, processes, some info on the artists... I don't know. I was expecting something else than just a coffee table little book...

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of cartoons, with the image on one page and the text on the facing page. Situational observations like "When your friend suggests something you said two minutes ago," or "When your crush isn't paying attention to you." Mostly about sex and relationships, with the occasional poignant moment or fart joke.

I like the curvy, cartoony figure drawing, but there's nothing else to the art. It's all heads or figures, with the occasional line to indicate the edge of a table, but no other background elements. We're always looking at the author (I'm assuming).

Taken individually, some of these are pretty good. But a whole book of them gets repetitive. You can read this in one sitting, but I'd recommend it in small doses.

[Eli Poteet · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is a fun shaped collection of realness. i mean it, the shape of this hardback caught my attention and second came the unique style.of the creator. i liked the showcased colors and thr originality of the characters. i couldnt relate to the vast majority of jokes although i admit one hit home but heeeeey thats the realness i mentioned earlier. i bet a lot of active chicks would resonate with this book of unimpressed reflections.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up to read out of pure curiosity. I just felt that it just wasn't really my kind of book, and that's okay. So I give it a higher rating on that premise. I think the writer/illustrator is quite talented. That being said, I did think some of the pictures earlier in the book were funny, and I was able to relate to those.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This feels like one long Instagram scroll, but it's funny and witty and very digestible, it basically takes mere minutes to read despite it being a stocky book. The illustrations are nice though, colorful and sassy. I can't say much stuck with me, but that's the nature of these bite-size snarky thought experiments that highlight micro-feelings or expressions and jokes.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is SO funny! I can relate to so many of the drawings and quotes. My best friend bought it after I sent him several of the pages as screen\shots, and tomorrow we will be laughing again at these over text :).

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this drawing style, and some of the scenarios were very relatable. I'm not sure that it gains much by having it in book form as opposed to scrolling through the author's social media, but good for her.

[Stephanie (Gorelenore) Cover2CoverBlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review coming closer to release date - visit www.cover2coverblog.blogspot.com to see it first.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting collection of one panel cartoons/artwork

[Hummingbirgio D’Saltalamacchia · Rating 1 out of 5]

To say I was ~unimpressed~ with this book is a great understatement

[Gabe Hiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute and light read

[Shoshanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed really loud / screamed at some of these.

[Tiffany T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't have a plot so much as a languid angsty mood with a touch of longing. Some nudity.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was this written about me and my friends?!???

[Pat · Rating 1 out of 5]

It lived up to its title. I really am not it's target audience.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the simplicity and expression of these great little comics? Pieces? They have a lot to say about modern women and self confidence that comes off as bitchy because people can’t deal with it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ha! Yes. I loved this!

So many relatable moments!

[Christa Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of this is relatable.

[Servane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and super on point....
Love the simple and expressive illustrations too :-)

[Hannah Garden]

So good.