A Matter of Life by Jeffrey Brown
My rating: 3/5 cats
i got an email the other day:
A young child, upon spotting the new Jeffrey Brown book, screams with wide-eyed delight: “OH! Is THIS one of the STAR WARS books???”
even kid-phobic me thinks that is adorable. however, this is most certainly not one of the star wars books, and would probably baffle a young child expecting to see light sabers and muppet-baby versions of their beloved characters.
this is a more mature jeffrey brown than in any of his previous autobiographical graphical novels. no longer is he wearing a little barnes and noble name tag, pining over unattainable girls and getting himself into embarrassing situations. this one is a more contemplative series of pieces about fatherhood and faith.
he has found love! he has babies! and now he can relax, breathe a little easier and ruminate on his past, his family, and take stock of the decisions he has made along the way.
some of it is just cute “look at my kid stuff:”
and some of it is about how his early childhood acceptance of the faith of his minister father was slowly stripped away over time, through reading about physics in college, being exposed to other religions, and realizing that you don’t have to be a part of any organized religion to be a good person and perform good deeds.
it’s also about killing a cricket that had a tapeworm on a mission trip one time in his youth and the frustration of passports and travel in general, neither of which really fit into the themes of the book as a whole, but jeffrey brown was never really about continuity.
i was super disappointed with Little Things: A Memoir in Slices, and i feel bad for writing such a mean review of it (i love you jeffrey brown—don’t be sad!!!) but this one is right back on track. there is a different energy behind it, definitely, but there are some really beautiful, tender moments in here, and if you have been following his life story-through pictures as i have, you really have to feel a swelling in your heart for him and his happiness. you turned out all right, jeffrey brown!! i always knew you would.
read my book reviews on goodreads
