What do you think?
Rate this book
Inklings: A Memoir
At age six, Jeffrey Koterba began drawing cartoons, creating with ink and white paper a clean, expansive refuge from the pandemonium surrounding him. The Koterba household was filled floor-to-ceiling with second-hand TVs and garage-sale treasures his father, Art, fixed and sold for extra money. A hard-drinking ex-jazz drummer whose big dreams never panned out, Art was subject to violent facial and vocal tics-symptoms of Touretteâ s Syndrome, a condition Jeffrey inherited-as well as explosions of temper and eccentricity that kept the Koterba family teetering on the brink of disaster. From the canyons of busted electronics, the lightning strikes, screaming matches, and discouragements great and small emerged a young man determined to follow his creative spirit to grand heights. And much to his surprise, he found himself on a journey back to his family and the father he once longed to escape. Inklings is an exuberant, heart-felt memoir infused with a uniquely irresistible optimism.
- GenresNonfictionMemoirComics
264 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
8 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Koterba
3 books16 followersJEFFREY KOTERBA is a writer, musician, and cartoonist. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and during the summer of 1978 was struck by lightning and lived to tell about it.
His memoir, Inklings (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) traces Koterba’s path on his journey to become a cartoonist, and more so, to rediscover the love of his family that was there from the start. Inklings was named a Chicago Tribune Favorite Nonfiction book of 2009. Entertainment Weekly called Inklings “…a powerful and moving portrait of an artist.”
Since joining the Omaha World-Herald in 1989, he has been a finalist for Editorial Cartoonist of the Year from the National Cartoonists Society and has placed second in the National Headliner Awards. In 2009 and 2010, he won first place for editorial cartooning in the Great Plains Journalism Awards.
His cartoons are distributed through King Features Syndicate to 400 newspapers nationwide, and has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, and on CNN. One of his cartoons can also be spotted in the Alexander Payne film, Election, but you have to look quickly. Additionally, his original cartoons have been collected by notables such as Warren Buffett and Oprah. In 2010, two of Koterba’s cartoons flew aboard one of NASA’s last planned space shuttle flights.
He is lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Prairie Cats, a swing and jump-blues band he formed in 1998. The Prairie Cats have performed at the South by Southwest Music Festival, and at the Derby Lounge in Hollywood, and have been included on several Sony/BMG compilations in Europe alongside the likes of Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, and Frank Sinatra.
Koterba has written for The Huffington Post, ABC News and The Daily Beast. He has also received an honorable mention from Glimmer Train in the Short-Story Award for new writers.
He now avoids thunderstorm whenever possible. Inklings is his first book.
His memoir, Inklings (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) traces Koterba’s path on his journey to become a cartoonist, and more so, to rediscover the love of his family that was there from the start. Inklings was named a Chicago Tribune Favorite Nonfiction book of 2009. Entertainment Weekly called Inklings “…a powerful and moving portrait of an artist.”
Since joining the Omaha World-Herald in 1989, he has been a finalist for Editorial Cartoonist of the Year from the National Cartoonists Society and has placed second in the National Headliner Awards. In 2009 and 2010, he won first place for editorial cartooning in the Great Plains Journalism Awards.
His cartoons are distributed through King Features Syndicate to 400 newspapers nationwide, and has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, and on CNN. One of his cartoons can also be spotted in the Alexander Payne film, Election, but you have to look quickly. Additionally, his original cartoons have been collected by notables such as Warren Buffett and Oprah. In 2010, two of Koterba’s cartoons flew aboard one of NASA’s last planned space shuttle flights.
He is lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Prairie Cats, a swing and jump-blues band he formed in 1998. The Prairie Cats have performed at the South by Southwest Music Festival, and at the Derby Lounge in Hollywood, and have been included on several Sony/BMG compilations in Europe alongside the likes of Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, and Frank Sinatra.
Koterba has written for The Huffington Post, ABC News and The Daily Beast. He has also received an honorable mention from Glimmer Train in the Short-Story Award for new writers.
He now avoids thunderstorm whenever possible. Inklings is his first book.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 20, 2013
"Inklings" is one of the most wonderful memoirs I've ever read. And I've read quite a few. It's touching, magnificently written in the style of the most evocative novels, tear-inducing but never maudlin, and ever-hopeful (but never saccharine) throughout. I wish I had read this book when it first came out four years ago. Still feeling actual tears of joy and relief when Koterba writes about getting that editorial cartoonist job with the Omaha World-Herald he had strived for since the days of his adventures with Dogie the Doggie. Read the book to enjoy the rest.
April 22, 2021
The odds were against young Jeff Koterba. He grew up in a chaotic household with unrecognized Tourette’s Syndrome. School was difficult for him (but he loved art class), he and his father had a complicated relationship, and his family struggled financially. In spite of all that, he found success as a political cartoonist and musician.
Koterba’s story is a fascinating one and I admire him for rising up his beginnings but INKLINGS felt disjointed to me, especially in the beginning. The writing was fine but the story almost felt like interconnected stories from Koterba’s life. In the end, the book was just okay for me.
Koterba’s story is a fascinating one and I admire him for rising up his beginnings but INKLINGS felt disjointed to me, especially in the beginning. The writing was fine but the story almost felt like interconnected stories from Koterba’s life. In the end, the book was just okay for me.
July 17, 2023
The content of this memoir is interesting just on its own, covering Koterba's somewhat unconventional childhood, his dream of becoming a cartoonist, and his experience with Tourette's syndrome. What really sets it apart to me though is the writing style. Many, many times on my journey through this book, I was struck by a turn of phrase that was especially well constructed or a description that made the world he was explaining feel exceptionally tangible. In general, I have so much respect for cartoonists. They have to be both knowledgeable about a wide variety of topics as well as artistic. I remember being a child and watching my mother read the newspaper. I would look at the political cartoons, and she would explain them to me. This kind of art has the power to help us see the broader picture and have conversations with each other on topics that are important to us. This was a fantastic book. I hope the author will write more in the future. Although the landscape of newspapers and journalism has changed a lot over the years, this type of art is still powerful and important.
August 16, 2022
An expertly written account of a fascinating life. I couldn't help admiring Jeffrey Koterba's determination, drive and creativity. This book provides yet more evidence of the huge talent present in the Tourette community.
May 1, 2023
Closer to 3.5. As someone who isn't a huge fan of biography/memoir, I thought this one was pretty good. I wish there had been a lot more illustrations, though.
December 30, 2010
I got this book as an advanced reading copy through the Amazon Vine program. I have heard of Koterba before but wasn't very familiar with his work. I thought that a Memoir of a cartoonist would be fun to read and it was an okay read, but not fun.
Koterba tells his story of growing up in a poor and dysfunctional family with Tourettes syndrome. He finds refuge in music and drawing; and is constantly seeking approval from a father who never gives it. He shows us his path to become a full-time cartoonist.
There were some things I liked about the book and other things I didn't. Koterba does a good job of telling the story from the point of view he would have had at that age. For example when he talks about what happened when he was six, he does it from a six year old's perspective. The strange things his dad does are all he knows; so the story doesn't seek pity from the reader rather it tells the story in an unbiased way. This changes as he gets older and starts to compare his family to other families. Some of the looks into his life at various times are fascinating, and at points, this memoir is more a nostalgic journey back into the seventies than anything else.
The above being said I had a lot of trouble getting into this book. It starts out slowly. A lot of time is given to his childhood and then as he gets older the story becomes less detailed and more disjointed. To be honest some of the childhood stuff is interesting, but some of it really drags on. I was also a little disturbed that early on he spends a ton of time talking about his family, but then when he has a family of his own they are mentioned infrequently as if they are only an afterthought to the story of his career. This was confusing because you would think his children and wife would shape his life just as much as his own mother and father did. He spends so much time talking about all the clubs he played at and cartooning jobs he took, that as a reader I felt like his own family (wife and children) really didn't matter all that much. This made me kind of sad, because I had hoped he would learn something from his own experiences growing up in a dysfunctional house.
All in all this book doesn't really teach anything. The author doesn't really come to any deep realization about his life, he just states the facts and lets you draw your own conclusions. The story itself pretty much just ends in the middle of things. All in all I found it kind of a depressing read. Maybe I would be more excited about it if I was a Koterba fan or knew more about him. I was also very disappointed that despite this book being about his life as a cartoonist, none of his cartoons are in here. It would have been nice to have at least a few of his cartoons in here for people unfamiliar with his work. Especially since most of the end of the book revolves around different pieces of work that he did for magazines/newspapers.
Overall it was an okay read. Some of it is interesting, but the disjointed way the memoir is presented makes it difficult to get into at times. I was also disappointed by the lack of any of his cartoons in the book itself, this was the main reason I wanted to review the book. I probably won't be checking out any more works by Koterba.
Koterba tells his story of growing up in a poor and dysfunctional family with Tourettes syndrome. He finds refuge in music and drawing; and is constantly seeking approval from a father who never gives it. He shows us his path to become a full-time cartoonist.
There were some things I liked about the book and other things I didn't. Koterba does a good job of telling the story from the point of view he would have had at that age. For example when he talks about what happened when he was six, he does it from a six year old's perspective. The strange things his dad does are all he knows; so the story doesn't seek pity from the reader rather it tells the story in an unbiased way. This changes as he gets older and starts to compare his family to other families. Some of the looks into his life at various times are fascinating, and at points, this memoir is more a nostalgic journey back into the seventies than anything else.
The above being said I had a lot of trouble getting into this book. It starts out slowly. A lot of time is given to his childhood and then as he gets older the story becomes less detailed and more disjointed. To be honest some of the childhood stuff is interesting, but some of it really drags on. I was also a little disturbed that early on he spends a ton of time talking about his family, but then when he has a family of his own they are mentioned infrequently as if they are only an afterthought to the story of his career. This was confusing because you would think his children and wife would shape his life just as much as his own mother and father did. He spends so much time talking about all the clubs he played at and cartooning jobs he took, that as a reader I felt like his own family (wife and children) really didn't matter all that much. This made me kind of sad, because I had hoped he would learn something from his own experiences growing up in a dysfunctional house.
All in all this book doesn't really teach anything. The author doesn't really come to any deep realization about his life, he just states the facts and lets you draw your own conclusions. The story itself pretty much just ends in the middle of things. All in all I found it kind of a depressing read. Maybe I would be more excited about it if I was a Koterba fan or knew more about him. I was also very disappointed that despite this book being about his life as a cartoonist, none of his cartoons are in here. It would have been nice to have at least a few of his cartoons in here for people unfamiliar with his work. Especially since most of the end of the book revolves around different pieces of work that he did for magazines/newspapers.
Overall it was an okay read. Some of it is interesting, but the disjointed way the memoir is presented makes it difficult to get into at times. I was also disappointed by the lack of any of his cartoons in the book itself, this was the main reason I wanted to review the book. I probably won't be checking out any more works by Koterba.
August 4, 2011
The purpose of a memoir is to tell the truth about oneself with a purpose. Not to just lay out all the family garbage, but to make it mean something to the reader. Jeffrey Koterba does that masterfully in his humorous memoir.
Koterba is a nationally syndicated political cartoonist who didn’t have an easy path toward success in his field. Not many artists or writers do, but his path had even more challenges than the standard rejections and missed opportunities. He has Tourette's syndrome; a condition he was not aware of until he was in his thirties. According to his father, who also had Tourette’s, they just suffered from a “nervous habit”, so Jeff never received testing as a child. The twitches and uncontrolled sounds made him a subject of ridicule and bullying.
Jeff also grew up in an extremely dysfunctional family.
The father, Art, was a frustrated inventor who worked as a bookkeeper for the Union Pacific Railroad and repaired televisions at home. In addition, he collected things that he thought he could fix and sell so the house, garage, and yard overflowed with his “someday” projects. At one point in the book, Jeff describes his delight at finding part of the living room carpet free from clutter and he made “carpet angels”.
Art was also an alcoholic, and, like most alcoholics, his behavior was erratic and frustrating. He constantly compared Jeff unfavorably to his brother, Artie, who was the “good son.” Jeff’s mother, who was the typical peacemaker in a dysfunctional situation, tried her best to smooth everything over. She was Jeff’s champion when he was a boy and always tried to get Art to recognize and acknowledge Jeff’s artistic talents.
Being raised in a dysfunctional family creates all kinds of problems, but Koterba does not present them to solicit sympathy or pity. Most of the book is written with humor and pragmatism. This is just the way life was for the Koterba family who might be awakened in the middle of the night to “dispose” of old televisions in the vacant lot behind their house.
Despite the drinking and broken dreams and broken promises, Jeff somehow managed a positive outlook. “I also know we are a family filled with regret. We are the clouds of smoke left behind on the launch pad as the rocket soars skyward. But even in our fog of disappointment, the rocket itself, its power and speed, gives us hope and makes us believe that at any moment our luck might change.”
That hope gave him strength as he pursued his dream of being a cartoonist. He idealized his Uncle Ed, a member of the White House Press Corps who died in a plane crash. Uncle Ed got his start at the Omaha World Herald, and Jeff held fast to that as a talisman. Maybe it meant he could, too.
That dream came true in 1989.
A cartoonist, like a poet, learns to tell a story with few words, and Jeff is a master at concise, straight-forward prose that is engaging on many levels. Inklings is a book rich with humor, poignancy, and truth, but it is never sappy or sentimental. It is a terrific read, with only one flaw. The adult years, especially his relationship with his former wife and his son are not explored with the detail of the rest of the book. Perhaps because there is another memoir in the works?
Koterba is a nationally syndicated political cartoonist who didn’t have an easy path toward success in his field. Not many artists or writers do, but his path had even more challenges than the standard rejections and missed opportunities. He has Tourette's syndrome; a condition he was not aware of until he was in his thirties. According to his father, who also had Tourette’s, they just suffered from a “nervous habit”, so Jeff never received testing as a child. The twitches and uncontrolled sounds made him a subject of ridicule and bullying.
Jeff also grew up in an extremely dysfunctional family.
The father, Art, was a frustrated inventor who worked as a bookkeeper for the Union Pacific Railroad and repaired televisions at home. In addition, he collected things that he thought he could fix and sell so the house, garage, and yard overflowed with his “someday” projects. At one point in the book, Jeff describes his delight at finding part of the living room carpet free from clutter and he made “carpet angels”.
Art was also an alcoholic, and, like most alcoholics, his behavior was erratic and frustrating. He constantly compared Jeff unfavorably to his brother, Artie, who was the “good son.” Jeff’s mother, who was the typical peacemaker in a dysfunctional situation, tried her best to smooth everything over. She was Jeff’s champion when he was a boy and always tried to get Art to recognize and acknowledge Jeff’s artistic talents.
Being raised in a dysfunctional family creates all kinds of problems, but Koterba does not present them to solicit sympathy or pity. Most of the book is written with humor and pragmatism. This is just the way life was for the Koterba family who might be awakened in the middle of the night to “dispose” of old televisions in the vacant lot behind their house.
Despite the drinking and broken dreams and broken promises, Jeff somehow managed a positive outlook. “I also know we are a family filled with regret. We are the clouds of smoke left behind on the launch pad as the rocket soars skyward. But even in our fog of disappointment, the rocket itself, its power and speed, gives us hope and makes us believe that at any moment our luck might change.”
That hope gave him strength as he pursued his dream of being a cartoonist. He idealized his Uncle Ed, a member of the White House Press Corps who died in a plane crash. Uncle Ed got his start at the Omaha World Herald, and Jeff held fast to that as a talisman. Maybe it meant he could, too.
That dream came true in 1989.
A cartoonist, like a poet, learns to tell a story with few words, and Jeff is a master at concise, straight-forward prose that is engaging on many levels. Inklings is a book rich with humor, poignancy, and truth, but it is never sappy or sentimental. It is a terrific read, with only one flaw. The adult years, especially his relationship with his former wife and his son are not explored with the detail of the rest of the book. Perhaps because there is another memoir in the works?
May 25, 2015
The whole story felt very disassociated from the true conflicts and struggles central to the author's life. Everything seems half-remembered and the connections made between events seem false because the importance and weight of everything mentioned is unclear. It seems the author spent a lot of time in his head throughout his life and did the same when writing this book without putting any of that cognitive dissonance on the page. Instead of feeling the conflictive emotional pulls he probably felt very viscerally and severely with his father and his brother and his mother and his wife and many other people in his life he takes a passive glance at all of them. This seems to be the way he interacted with them in real life but in rendering it that way in the book it gave me little to be invested in. I didn't need insincere drama in order to punch up the story but it made the stakes seem very low and the payoff of his successes flat and unremarkable. I really just wanted more detail. Even if that detail was strange meanderings of a Tourette's addled mind twitching off bizarre afterthoughts, at least that would breathe some life into the story. Even when he did spend time explaining a person in his life they never seemed fully fleshed out or like they were more than a mere character in the grand story of his own life. When writing memoir it's easy to take for granted that, yes, every life matters and has great import but that's due to the heart and soul of the person and those things must be fused into the telling of their story or it's just a lifeless list of quotidian events that explains nothing of the person's experience beyond, say, what they had for lunch and that they liked it, maybe.
January 18, 2010
I was so upset when I found out this wasn't a graphic novel. I have read a couple graphic novel memoirs now, and LOVED them, I got this thinking it would be the same. Nope, its a memoir, minus the graphic. Surprising, as it is the memoir of a cartoonist, one would expect quite a bit of cartooning in the book.
Aside from the fact that this was not at all what I had expected, I think it was decent. Not a light hearted memoir, this book shows a difficult childhood full of disappointment and confusion. I have never read anything about Tourettes Syndrome, but reading about it from the perspective of a person who has it was really interesting. Imagine the confusion that would bring, not being even knowing what the problem was until later in life, he managed to get through it.
I prefer the latter portion of the book because it is more about his adult life and is easier to read, along with being much more entertaining.
I would recommend this book, but I would also forewarn that it isn't what you might expect it to be.
Aside from the fact that this was not at all what I had expected, I think it was decent. Not a light hearted memoir, this book shows a difficult childhood full of disappointment and confusion. I have never read anything about Tourettes Syndrome, but reading about it from the perspective of a person who has it was really interesting. Imagine the confusion that would bring, not being even knowing what the problem was until later in life, he managed to get through it.
I prefer the latter portion of the book because it is more about his adult life and is easier to read, along with being much more entertaining.
I would recommend this book, but I would also forewarn that it isn't what you might expect it to be.
December 6, 2009
Koterba's memoir is broken down into three parts: early childhood, teenage years, and adulthood.
His father--the primary character in the book other than Jeffrey--is an office worker who is miserable in his day job and spends a good deal of the rest of his time perusing garage sales for salvageable items and stuffs the family home with his treasures, fixing and re-selling the TVs from the front porch of the family home. His father is also a hard drinker. As one might guess, there is a lot of dysfunction in the home with Koterba's parents arguing on a consistent basis. Koterba loves to draw and finds solace from the family craziness in the cartoons he creates.
Koterba has Tourette's syndrome, which goes undiagnosed until his adulthood. His father and one of his siblings also have Tourette's.
There were a few unique elements to his story, but I wasn't particularly enthralled with Koterba's writing style or the narrative. Closer to 2-1/2 stars.
His father--the primary character in the book other than Jeffrey--is an office worker who is miserable in his day job and spends a good deal of the rest of his time perusing garage sales for salvageable items and stuffs the family home with his treasures, fixing and re-selling the TVs from the front porch of the family home. His father is also a hard drinker. As one might guess, there is a lot of dysfunction in the home with Koterba's parents arguing on a consistent basis. Koterba loves to draw and finds solace from the family craziness in the cartoons he creates.
Koterba has Tourette's syndrome, which goes undiagnosed until his adulthood. His father and one of his siblings also have Tourette's.
There were a few unique elements to his story, but I wasn't particularly enthralled with Koterba's writing style or the narrative. Closer to 2-1/2 stars.
September 21, 2012
Jeff Koterba narrates his Bildungsroman with as much taste and artistry as one of his cartoons. I loved the illustrations throughout the book. I first saw this book being promoted while living in Omaha, where Koterba lives. It was fun to read his narrative and be familiar with the streets and buildings. This book vaguely reminded me of Glass Castles or A Child Called It that I have read recently--Koterba, Wells and Pelzer overcome setbacks, disappointments and an overall rough childhood to break away from family/childhood and experience fulfillment and success as adults. Koterba and Pelzer both marry young (full of astonishment that a woman could love him) later divorce, and are wonderfully devoted and loving fathers. I love Koterba's cartoons and I would be interested in hearing his music.
July 22, 2013
I have enjoyed Jeff Korterba's political cartoons in the Omaha World-Herald for literally decades, yet I had no idea of his background. And what a life has has lived! His memoir is well-written, poignant, and took me back to many memories of visiting Omaha when I was growing up in Southwest Iowa. He shares intimate family secrets and his personal challenges during his life, but in the end, he overcomes everything life has thrown at him. Jeff is a living example of a person who focused on his goal for literally years and reached it ... and went well beyond his dreams. Kudos to Jeff for this wonderful account of his life, his career and his dreams. And know you have a life-long fan with me!
July 20, 2012
Actually, I'd probably give this a 3 and a half. Interesting view of a rather chaotic childhood, and reminded me once again of how much children are hostages of their parents and their parents' quirks (though as a parent I have also thought it was the other way around). I also enjoyed the views of Omaha. The narrative did seem to meander a bit at times, and Koterba pretty much skips over what you would think would be fairly major events (his failed marriage and relationship with his wife, for example).
February 15, 2019
I am blown away by this book. Since Jeff is a home-town boy he is a part of my life. I would have never guessed what he has gone through. I think the quality of his writing is way above the norm. This is a true, well-written griping story. I cried with him when he was offered his job at the Omaha World Herald.
I reread the book. I am going to chose for my book club selection next year. It is a gem.
I reread the book. I am going to chose for my book club selection next year. It is a gem.
April 29, 2012
Unfortunately, I found this book a challenge to get through. Not because of the writing, but in part I did not find it very believable. The section on his childhood was viewed too much through the the eyes of the adult, and I believe it was unintentional. This mad it feel like someone trying to be pretentious, though unintentional.
September 15, 2010
A wonderful memoir by this political cartoonist/musician who grew up in a truly crazy family from which he escaped as soon as possible. In the end he comes to appreciate his family's quirkiness if not their downright insanity. A good read for people who grew up in the 60s.
November 21, 2010
A really good memoir by an award winning political cartoonist. He and his father both suffer from Tourette's syndrome. His eccentric family remind me somewhat of Jeannette Wall's as he struggles to overcome both his physical condition and his upbringing.
November 14, 2013
This book was given to me by a friend and I really had no idea what to expect. I ended up really liking it. The idea of being the "creative kid" in a family and having parents who are not sure how to deal with it really struck home for me. Well worth your time.
Want to read
March 22, 2010Jeffrey Koterba
November 30, 2009
Powerful, well-told, depressing as hell, but also illuminating.
April 8, 2010
enjoying it very much, would recommend. It reminds me of my childhood in the late fifties, holidays... I am such a huge fan of Jeffrey art work here in Omaha in our local paper. It is top notch
January 11, 2011
A little slow at times, but an interesting and worthwhile memoir.
February 27, 2011
Terrific, funny memoir!
July 7, 2011
Good beach read. Not too intense but amusing.
August 31, 2014
Very enjoyable.
December 2, 2014
great story.
September 3, 2015
Interesting read and portrait into how "abnormality" (for lack of a better word) bred creativity, similar to Glass Castle and Running with Scissors.
March 19, 2016
A very honest reflection of life at it's core.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews