Cartoon Marriage: Adventures in Love and Matrimony by The New Yorker's Cartooning Couple

by Liza Donnelly, Michael Maslin

What happens when two cartoonists for The New Yorker fall in love and marry? Lots of witty wordplay, skewering drawings, and a healthy dose of illustrative competition. For twenty years, veteran cartoonists Liza Donnelly and Michael Maslin have been exploring in their work the ins and outs of marriage. From whimsical and wacky to risqué and barbed, their humor allows us to laugh at our follies and foibles and the insanity that is inherent in the day-to-day workings of every marriage. From meeting, wooing, and dating to marrying, divorcing, and remarrying, from having sex to having kids, the course of true love never runs smooth–but it’s excellent fodder for talented humorists.

Here, Donnelly and Maslin offer a his-and-hers view of marriage, a cartoon conversation about all that love entails. From the wedding day (“And do you, Louise, take Jack to be your husband until really, really pissed-off do you part?”) to cohabitation (“And this is where I go to escape from where I go to escape”) to parenting (“Dad says it’s all right with him if I watch TV as long as it’s not all right with you”), husband and wife give us hilarious insights into the way relationships work. Cartoon Marriage shares clever takes on male/female communication (“You could at least acknowledge the fact that I’m ignoring you”) and renovation (“I’ve made a few improvements, but the way you see him now is pretty much the way I found Harold eleven years ago”). And of course, what view of marriage would be complete without a trip to the “Owen, look, the good-sex fairy.”

Featuring more than two hundred hilarious cartoons, Cartoon Marriage is a deliciously witty true-to-life look at matrimony, children, happiness, connubial squabbling, and everything in between.

Genres: Humor

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 27, 2009

Reviews

[Iliana Noory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, and too highly relatable!

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction to the book is in form of series of cartoon panels telling the story of how the two authors met, and at the beginning of each section of the book is another multi-panel story about their relationship: the "I Do" section is snap-shot of their wedding party. My Favorite cartoon is on of Donnelly's: A bride and groom standing in front of the minister as he says: "Do you promise to love, honor and always say 'Who's there?' when she says, 'Knock-knock'?

Not every cartoon hit home, but definitely enough to justify the work of lugging the work of lugging the book home from the library.

I will definitely keep an idea for other collections by either or both of the authors.

[Dani]

This is a cute collection of single-panel cartoons about marriage. At the beginning of each section, there is a multi-panel cartoon about something in the cartoonists' own relationship. None of the cartoons are particularly edgy; I've laughed harder at webcomics like xkcd. The ones in this book remind me more of the ones I would see in Reader's Digest as a kid. Still, reading this book was a mildly amusing way to wile away an hour.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cartoon Marriage: Adventures in Love and Matrimony by the New Yorker's Cartooning Couple by Liza Donnelly and Michael Maslin is bound to make you chuckle, whether it's about dating or weddings or
parenting or divorcing. Donnelly and Maslin look at the lighter side of marriage, professional competition, collaboration, and plain old humoring one another, both in and out of the bedroom.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept is fun and the cartoons range from the eye-rollingly lame to the run-into-the-other-room-brandishing-the-book hilarious. There are a lot of "typical" New Yorker cartoons, of course. It's well worth picking up and leafing through, though I don't think I'd read it more than once.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great cartoons about twosomes - not yet married, they still ring true to this reviewer's almost 5 year-old (4 years cohabiting) relationship.

My favorite lines?
***SPOILER ALLERT****

"I now pronounce you husband vs. wife."

&

"You could at least acknowledge that I'm ignoring you."

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved this. I actually laughed out loud at a lot of the cartoons.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, funny, funny cartooning couple. Sometimes it is simply the drawing (esp. Maslin), but the captions are perfect, too.

[Kristi Fedorowicz]

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb. Don't bother with this book. These are not funny cartoons in the least. It amazes me that these people actually make a living drawing cartoons. Dumb.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. Mostly funny, but a few duds.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of it was funny, some of it was pessimistic or dark humor.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book, pleasant diversion.