Crazy for You

Crazy for You

Paul Theroux, Steve Lafler (Illustrator)
$24.99
Publish Date:
Publisher:
Fantagraphics
ISBN:
9798875001659
Pages:
208
Language:
English
Usually Ships in 1 to 5 Days

Description

In this double feature of love and obsession, two short stories by the acclaimed novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux are adapted into comics in a feat of vision only veteran cartoonist Steve Lafler could accomplish.

Money, women, power, and rebelling against the golden years. These are some of the perilous and alluring patterns that weave their way through Crazy for You. In this double feature of love and obsession, two short stories by the acclaimed writer Paul Theroux are adapted by veteran cartoonist Steve Lafler. “Minor Watt” is a high society satire lampooning the perverse relationship between art and the art market — and what happens when the joy of owning is outstripped by the thrill of destroying. “Siamese Nights” is a tale of infidelity, infatuation, and exoticism, blending into an intoxicating, midlife crisis siren song. Little choices and self-betrayals build until a quiet leitmotif rolls into a shattering crescendo.

Lafler's bold and expressive style effortlessly captures the pulp exuberance adorning Theroux’s stories and the profound vulnerability underlying his characters. Crazy for You will stop you in your tracks right before it bowls you over.

About the Author

Paul Theroux is an American novelist, short story writer, and travel writer. His novels include Picture Palace and The Mosquito Coast, which was the joint winner of the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His acclaimed travel books include The Great Railway Bazaar, Dark Star Safari, and The Old Patagonian Express. His short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, and The Atlantic. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod.

Steve Lafler launched his opening cartooning salvo with Mean Cat several decades ago, a comic book brimming with energetic surrealism fronted with a garish purple and pink screenprint cover. Ever the maverick marching to his own beat, this comics auteur enjoyed long runs of his improvised Dog Boy comic book, as well as the jaunty, unhinged Buzzard anthology. Lafler has several graphic novels to his credit, notably BugHouse From the Top, a history of bebop jazz realized with an all-insect cast.

Praise for Crazy for You

Lafler’s style that rests somewhere between 60s adult animation and 70s underground comics is a great fit for the material, balancing the sexy and the crude, the silly and the flat out absurd.
— The Beat

Tales that explore themes of power, ownership, love, lust, self-delusion, and choices that cannot be overcome.
— Solrad

Lafler transmits the turmoil in shorthand, and without the detached observational distance Theroux frequently employs.
— Slings & Arrows Graphic Novel Guide

It’s an effective communication of a fundamentally silly idea, a man who wants to live like he’s a character in Looney Tunes because nothing else can thrill him quite the same way anymore.
— Book and Film Globe

Some of Steve Lafler’s best work. Clever and engaging in story with art that’s full of character but eminently readable.
— Never Iron Anything

Those who like their stories a little messy, personal, and even a little repellant should find much to love in Crazy For You, offering a great blending of Theroux’s original storytelling and Lafler’s illustrations, and should please fans of both artists – and maybe cross-pollinate a few new ones in the process.
— Calcopia