freshkatsu's review
4.0
The first 25% of the book was maddening to get through but it was worth it once I got into the vibe in act 3/4/5/6. The humour is nonsensical, bordering on just randomly picking absurd Postmodern sit-com scenarios. At one point the authored lamented his work being an 'artsy endurance contest' like a David Lynch movie (that's the only joke that made sense to me). In terms of the illustration, the minimal 'bad cartoon' David Shrigley/Brian Chippendale figures work well but the most surprising element is probably the use of Google Earth photography as an existential stage. Consistent panel compositions help tie the 'narratives' (loosely defined) together as well without loosing the overall non-coherence. Given the title, I wonder if you can piece together a timeline from the individual fragments...A four star rating is probably too generous, I never know how to evaluate art books anyway.
ohmanbleh's review
2.0
Short, abstract comic. The artwork is intentionally simplistic, but it's still often nice. Some of the jokes are pretty funny or clever.
Unfortunately, there's just not much in the way of structure across the comic - and it's just long enough that that's a problem. I think it would have worked better if it were more carefully structured as a series of short stories.
I picked it up at random at the library & I don't regret the time I spent with it, but I wouldn't seek it out.
Unfortunately, there's just not much in the way of structure across the comic - and it's just long enough that that's a problem. I think it would have worked better if it were more carefully structured as a series of short stories.
I picked it up at random at the library & I don't regret the time I spent with it, but I wouldn't seek it out.
katemilty's review
5.0
I can't help loving Anders Nilsens monologues. This one, the second of his monologues books, was actually more entertaining than the first. These books are bizarre, but they're so quick to read that I'm willing to turn five pages to get through one cohesive thought. Can't get enough.
arachne_reads's review
4.0
Strange and meandery, juxtaposing odd notions of identity and aimlessness and authorial intent.
dkai's review
3.0
About half the book is fairly witty, and the other half gets lost in (purposeful) meandering. If nothing else, it is relatively quick to read through. I was able to get plenty of inspiration from it (which may be a strength of the rambling it contains). I would still put most of Nilsen's work above this.
marcopoloreads's review
4.0
The more I read books by Anders Nilsen, the more I realize he's hands down one of my favorite graphic novel authors of all time.
A lot a of people don't like this author's books, and I completely disagree.
Monologues for Calculating the Density of Black Holes is extremely similar to his other books Poetry Is Useless and Big Questions. They're books that have loose plots and mainly focus on themes of life and the human experience. A lot of this graphic novel is very random and strange, but the author's writing and themes behind these random pages connect with me really well.
There's this one specific scene added randomly where the character talks about how they are worried about death and nothing matter in life and the scene ends with him finally saying "Sometimes I worry that nothing matters, but then I figure if nothing matters, it doesn't matter so I keep worrying and it's fine." And it's something that really stuck with me. There are multiple well written moments like these that I enjoy.
I will say the author art style isn't the best but I enjoyed this anyways.
A lot a of people don't like this author's books, and I completely disagree.
Monologues for Calculating the Density of Black Holes is extremely similar to his other books Poetry Is Useless and Big Questions. They're books that have loose plots and mainly focus on themes of life and the human experience. A lot of this graphic novel is very random and strange, but the author's writing and themes behind these random pages connect with me really well.
There's this one specific scene added randomly where the character talks about how they are worried about death and nothing matter in life and the scene ends with him finally saying "Sometimes I worry that nothing matters, but then I figure if nothing matters, it doesn't matter so I keep worrying and it's fine." And it's something that really stuck with me. There are multiple well written moments like these that I enjoy.
I will say the author art style isn't the best but I enjoyed this anyways.
sarahkennedy's review
5.0
"Ive never heard god actually talk to me, but he does sometimes call me up and breath heavily into the phone."
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