A review by mpho3
The Jew of New York by Ben Katchor
4.0
One review I read criticized The Jew of New York by calling it a "book of ideas." Yes, exactly! And not your run-of-the-mill ideas either. I found it very inventive, original, thought-provoking, and culturally/historically accurate. That's a lot to pull off in less than 100 pages--especially pages that are largely taken up by drawings. Then again, pictures do say 1,000 words.
Another reviewer noted that you have to know something about Jewish stereotypes in the 1820s to understand this book. I'm a Black African female living in 21st century America, and I had no difficulty understanding the stereotypes or warped values behind those in Katchor's book. Maybe it would be safer to say that you need to have been the victim of some kind of stereotype in your lifetime, but I have to think that most people who would even pick up this sort of book, would be literate enough to know that the stereotypes depicted, are exactly that.
I even disagree with readers who say that the page layouts were difficult to read. If you've ever read sequential art, the layout of this one is pretty straight-forward. If you haven't read this kind of work before, the process of figuring it out becomes intuitive very quickly and adds to the telling. You *do* find the significance of certain details by kind of puzzling over the images and layout. So I guess if you need hand-holding narratives, then this probably isn't the book for you.
This is the first work by Katchor that I've read, and I am very impressed by his ability to say so much about capitalism, nature conservancy, race relations, religiosity, sexuality, theatre, etc. in so few words and how these things comprise /conflict with "progress" and the belief every age has that it is the epitome of advanced human development.
I first heard of Katchtor when reading [b:The Narrative Corpse|933150|The Narrative Corpse A Chain-Story by 69 Artists!|R. Sikoryak|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328042152s/933150.jpg|918138], a story told by 69 artists and edited by [a:Art Spiegelman|5117|Art Spiegelman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206557373p2/5117.jpg]. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people who had a negative reaction to that book, had similar comments about this one, that the "story," as such, wasn't linear, etc. But again, I feel like those readers really missed the point. If you're not so hung up on context, The Narrative Corpse is another that you might enjoy, though the two books couldn't be more dissimilar content-wise.
Another reviewer noted that you have to know something about Jewish stereotypes in the 1820s to understand this book. I'm a Black African female living in 21st century America, and I had no difficulty understanding the stereotypes or warped values behind those in Katchor's book. Maybe it would be safer to say that you need to have been the victim of some kind of stereotype in your lifetime, but I have to think that most people who would even pick up this sort of book, would be literate enough to know that the stereotypes depicted, are exactly that.
I even disagree with readers who say that the page layouts were difficult to read. If you've ever read sequential art, the layout of this one is pretty straight-forward. If you haven't read this kind of work before, the process of figuring it out becomes intuitive very quickly and adds to the telling. You *do* find the significance of certain details by kind of puzzling over the images and layout. So I guess if you need hand-holding narratives, then this probably isn't the book for you.
This is the first work by Katchor that I've read, and I am very impressed by his ability to say so much about capitalism, nature conservancy, race relations, religiosity, sexuality, theatre, etc. in so few words and how these things comprise /conflict with "progress" and the belief every age has that it is the epitome of advanced human development.
I first heard of Katchtor when reading [b:The Narrative Corpse|933150|The Narrative Corpse A Chain-Story by 69 Artists!|R. Sikoryak|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328042152s/933150.jpg|918138], a story told by 69 artists and edited by [a:Art Spiegelman|5117|Art Spiegelman|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206557373p2/5117.jpg]. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people who had a negative reaction to that book, had similar comments about this one, that the "story," as such, wasn't linear, etc. But again, I feel like those readers really missed the point. If you're not so hung up on context, The Narrative Corpse is another that you might enjoy, though the two books couldn't be more dissimilar content-wise.