Edmund and Rosemary Go to Hell: A Story We All Really Need Now More Than Ever

by Bruce Eric Kaplan

A modern fable follows Edmund and Rosemary as they confront the increasing unpleasantness of their everyday lives.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Humor, Fiction, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Philosophy, Novels

114 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Bruce Eric Kaplan, known as BEK, is an American cartoonist whose single-panel cartoons frequently appear in The New Yorker. His cartoons are known for their signature simplistic style and often dark humor. Kaplan is also a screenwriter and has worked on Six Feet Under and on Seinfeld (funnily enough, one of his most well-known episodes is one where Elaine becomes increasingly frustrated over what she takes to be an utterly nonsensical cartoon in The New Yorker). He graduated from Wesleyan University where he studied with Professor Jeanine Basinger.

Kaplan joined the crew of Six Feet Under during the first season in 2001 as a supervising producer. He scripted two episodes of the first season – "The Foot" and "The New Person". He was promoted to co-executive producer for the second season in 2002 and wrote a further two episodes – "The Invisible Woman" and "The Secret". He remained a co-executive producer for the third season in 2003 and wrote a further episode entitled "The Trap". He was promoted to executive producer for the fourth season in 2004 and wrote another episode "The Dare". He served as executive producer during the fifth and final season and wrote his last episode "The Silence". Kaplan wrote seven episodes in total for the series.

He has authored and illustrated six adult titles for Simon & Schuster: the cult classic The Cat That Changed My Life; the collections, I Love You, I Hate You, I'm Hungry, No One You Know and This is a Bad Time; and Every Person on the Planet and Edmund and Rosemary Go to Hell, both featuring the wonderfully neurotic Brooklyn couple, Edmund & Rosemary. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Seizure Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is most excellent and takes all of 20 minutes to read (and that's if your ADD is acting up and you keep wanting to go ride bikes or maybe the cat keeps making that horking sound and you have to keep getting up to see if the pointy little furbag is actually puking behind the couch or just rehearsing for some bizarre vomit opera to be performed later while you sleep). You should read this book. Everyone should read this book. Our president should read this book. Granted, it won't teach him how to pronounce "nuclear" correctly and he might need help with some of the bigger words and scary plot complications; however, he might learn something about giving people winning lottery tickets. People like you and me-- this is not to be confused with tax cuts for wealthy people or lucrative contracts for friends and associates. Anyway. What was I saying? Oh, yeah, this is a fun book. Wanna ride bikes?

Not quite as awesome as Wendal, His Cat, and the Progress of Man: An Illustrated Novel, but close.

[Ian "Marvin" Graye · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'Enfer, C'est les Autres à Huis Clos

Bruce Eric Kaplan's
Drawings prove Hell is our view
Of other people.

Inconsequential Perplexity

As some people know,
It's not overstood, unless
You underthink it.

Consequential Simplexity

The black on white line drawings and lay out are superb. The text is equally subtle and economical. It's tempting to criticise the text for its implied or inferred politics, but to do so might comprise overthinking. It's best just to enjoy the beauty.

[Rodica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The scary part of this short little book (available on scribd) is how accurate it is. The fun part of this book is how accurate it is. It takes less than 30 min, and it’s very enjoyable. Win win!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

More adult picture book than graphic novel. This is a pretty neat book. If the world is just getting you down, you should read it.

[Becca Loo · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute. a total impulse buy after a night of good tips. it's short and sweet, maybe taking 15 minutes to read in all. depressed about the state of their lives and the world around them edmund and rosemary convince themselves that they are in fact living in hell. after a long search for evidence leads them to a high ranking official in washington their fears are confirmed. he admits that they are in fact in hell and offers them the winning numbers for a lotto. after indulging in their spoils and trying very much to forget the sad fact that they are invariably in hell the couple strives to find heaven. what i don't get is that when they do find heaven rosemary is scared to go in. she loves edmund deeply and worries that in heaven they won't need each other and i guess she doesn't really want things to change. i'm not sure what the ending is supposed to mean. maybe that no matter how hard we try to change we are still the same? maybe that fate is bigger than us and there's nothing we can do about it? maybe there is no such thing as heaven or hell when everything is predetermined? whatever the case I enjoyed the writing style and the cute illustrations. maybe i'll gift it to my niece when she gets a bit older and have her tell me what it's about.

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edmund and Rosemary, two very ordinary people, realize that their life and all the annoyances we wish didn't exist, from too many loud cell phone users to box stores that carry everything but what we need, are a clear sign that they're really in hell.

Through a series of funny drawings and sparse text, our heroes ferret out the truth from the Feds--who else could be behind such a plot?--and are bribed into silence.

But what good is money if you know you're in hell? And what about the devil you know versus the angel you don't?

Kaplan tells a cute tale about today's society and the fact that, to matter how bad things are, we as Americans tend to feel safer about the known. (What's funny is that the blurb says this book is about realizing what you have, whereas I think of it more as a book about denying what you don't. I guess maybe I'm pessimistic that way.) He manages to both tweak us and entertain us at the same time. For this, I laud him, and think this quick read is worth picking up for those who like a nice satire. Which, as you may have guessed, includes me. (Library, 11/07)

Trebby's Take: Recommended.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce Eric Kaplan's New Yorker cartoons were often some of my favorites, so I expected to find the book clever and witty, but I was surprised to find several quite sweet and touching details as well.

This is a very quick read - but in not many words or images, Kaplan manages to convey a lot of feeling. Some of it, like Edmund and Rosemary's disdain for cell phones, movies, Pop art and all the rest, is frequent complaint fodder and although you've heard it before, the frustrating realization moment rings hilariously true.

My expectations of wit and humor were definietly met - I loved what the government does when someone figures out they are in Hell. And Kaplan really got to me at the conclusion, when with very few words and very few images, he constructed a feeling in a moment that is sweetly reassuring about life - even a life lived in Hell.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am familiar with the artists work from the New Yorker but this is the first thing of his that I have read that is longer than one panel.

This is a very quick read but lots of fun. It kind of feels like it was written by/for octogenarians because of all the griping about the modern world but I could still connect with it. On bad days it feels like I am in hell (as protrayed here) and even on good days I can sympathize with many of the issues Edmund and Rosemary must endure.

This is a fun read and would make a great birthday present for anyne you know who seems to feel like the world is going to Hell.

[Elagabalus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I know what to call the world I live in.

If it weren't for quite a bit of misogyny toward the Rosemary character, I'd give it 5 stars. Example would be when Edmund is given an envelope: "Edmund quickly gave it to Rosemary to open, in case it was a bomb" ...What the hell? Also, the art style is pretty bland and simple. Which seems to reflect the author's simple-minded views against cis-women.

All in all, despite missing some important elements of not being oppressive and ignorant, this is an important story for what I imagine to be our final generation.

[Elizabeth Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce Eric Kaplan's illustration style is instantly recognizable to anyone who's read one of his "New Yorker" cartoons. Less familiar -- and previously unknown to me -- is his fiction. I was charmed by this deadpan funny, low key fable about how the experience of being in Hell (or Heaven) is determined by your thoughts, expectations and interpretation of circumstances.

[Ashley Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

To quote an earlier statement of mine:
“This book reads like it was written by Oren from Parks and Rec”

It was so dark and twisty and depressing and macabre.

I loved it.

But it did leave me kinda down in the dumps a little and I wish there had been a bit more plot, so I’m giving it 4 stars instead of 5.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This breif graphic novel tells the story of a quiet couple who go out for the evening and make a very startling discovery. Rude cell-phone screamers, endless traffic jams, big box stores--clearly, they are living in Hell!

[Elizabeth Desole · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a cute 5 minute read. Seriously, 5 minutes. But in that 5 minutes it deals with struggling to be content, even happy with what you have instead of focusing on what you don't like. It's an funny, silly, optimistic book that takes place in hell. Go figure

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's funny and interesting and so true.

[lynette · Rating 5 out of 5]

too funny, but in the darkest way possible. rosemary and edmund realize that life sucks so much because they are already in hell.

[Sally Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can NEVER go wrong with Bruce Eric Kaplan.

[Kevin McGuire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story about restlessness in the modern world.

[Erin Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, melancholy tale about love in modern times.

[Eugi · Rating 5 out of 5]

are we there yet?

[Kerfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short graphic novel is full of observations about the irritations of living in the 21st century such as "There were no nice stores, only big chains that refused to give people health insurance and where you could never find anything....They just had more of what you didn't want."

More of what you don't want--a pretty good summary of the world. As the evidence mounts, Edmund and Rosemary conclude they are living in Hell. They even get a politician to admit that the government knows this, but is covering it up. There's certainly a case to be made for it. I don't believe in Heaven or Hell, but I'm quite sure no deity, good or evil, could do worse things to humans than they do to each other and themselves. And though you can't bargain with God, it seems that the Devil is quite amenable to making (and keeping) a deal, which is more than you can say for most humans. So possibly we are actually living in the next step below Hell, where we have only ourselves to blame.

But not to quibble. The idea of living in Hell depresses Rosemary and Edmund, so they set out to search for the way to Heaven. But when they find it they decide it's too dangerous to go there. At least in Hell they know they have each other.

[Matt Graupman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a fan of Bruce Eric Kaplan’s wryly funny cartoons in “The New Yorker” and his chunky, minimalist drawing style. A hybrid of graphic novel, poem, and grown-up picture book, his “Edmund And Rosemary Go To Hell: A Story We All Really Need Now More Than Ever” is exactly what I’d expect from the cartoonist. In the book, a married couple begin to suspect that real life is actually Hell which, with the way society can be sometimes (okay, maybe most of the time), seems very plausible. Kaplan tackles the story with his usual wit and subtle art but it’s an appetizer at best; the book is so short and fast-paced that it doesn’t feel all that filling (and saying that shit is crazy and awful nowadays isn’t exactly a news flash anymore). Still, there are worse ways to kill fifteen minutes while waiting to be claimed by the afterlife than reading “Edmund And Rosemary Go To Hell.”

[Mary Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Bruce Eric Kaplan's work and I love this book. It's a keeper and one to share, meaning I'll share it but I want it back. And it has the most beautiful dedication: This book is for anybody that is in pain about anything, and that means you.

[Jewel Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a charming, funny, and poignant reminder of what really matters in life.

“As we all know, what’s the point of anything unless you overthink it?”

“I’m not going to Heaven if you’re not going to Heaven,” Edmund said, and Rosemary knew he meant it.”

[Loona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a nice little heart-warming story with a good message

[Tom Romig · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEK's offbeat, inventive wit seems especially welcome in these days when often we take ourselves more seriously than is warranted.

[Diana Jou · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was the title that first attracted me to his comic/graphic mini novel. It's a tale about a couple that is exasperated from senseless consumerism, felt that there is a diminishing return from humanity, and an ailing planet that is doomed. All these problems are made trivial when it ends up being the background for a simple love story between Edmund and Rosemary. The story is anti-climatic, but the drawings are endearing.

[Abraham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute short graphic novel(story?) about some middle class new yorkers who discover that this is Hell, the place itself. I rather enjoyed the opening when they get all uppity about the same middle-class complaints that are inevitable these days (too many people on cellphones, too much traffic, tv sucks, etc.) It could go further, maybe, or maybe it went as far as the idea could take it. This is the guy who does all those New Yorker cartoons.

[Vero Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

An adorable quick comic about the pain we feel inside and how we can feel whole again. It won't change your life, but it will put a smile on your face.

[Christiane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Um, I didn't get it. I liked the artwork (particularly their cat) and I loved how they gradually came to the realization that they must be in hell (I feel like that all the time...WHY is everyone and everything so bloody annoying?!??). And I certainly wouldn't mind the winning lottery ticket. But the ending did not make sense to me.

[Jacobi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super dry humor, which worked well. I liked the message of the book, but it didn't jive with my tastes as much as I would have liked.

Still, it can be read in less than 5 minutes, so there is no harm in trying this out.