Sleepwalking and Other Stories by Adrian Tomine 1998

            I was pretty unprepared for Tomine’s Sleepwalking and other stories of overwhelming loneliness. The characters were so sad and depressing I felt my self esteem go up after finishing, thinking, “well at least I’m not that guy.” Although it wasn’t exactly “bad,” I cant say that I would recommend this book. The writing wasn’t too bad and the illustrations were fine, but I cant get over the fact that every character that played the subject of a story was incredibly alone, alienated, depressed, or otherwise down on their luck. I kept reading, hoping to find a happy ending, or some dark humor at the very least, but it all just dragged on with the same motif of the downtrodden. I guess if there are any redeeming qualities to this book, it’s having done sad well. In doing so, I suppose there’s a bit of realism in there too. I feel like I almost overlooked this aspect because of the insistence of these themes of loneliness and alienation. It’s almost as if harping so much on the idea that “we’re all alone,” causes a deviation from a sense of reality. Perhaps if I had read the stories one at a time, spaced out, in the context of a weekly or monthly publication, I might have a greater appreciation for the sentiment and the perspective on reality. On second thought I might actually recommend this to someone who thinks they’re depressed or maybe someone who actually is. People always need a remind that “it’s not that bad” or “it could be a lot worse. No, really, it could be a lot worse.”