Little Things: A Memoir in Slices by Jeffrey Brown (book review)

Andrew Shuping, Reviewer

Touchstone; 1st Touchstone Trade Pbk. Ed edition (April 1, 2008)
352 pages; 1416549463

Little Things, a graphic novel by Jeffrey Brown (author of Be a Man, Clumsy), is geared towards the mature audience as the story deals with mature material such as sex, death and life of a young adult. Little Things is Jeffery’s life story told in thin “slices” from various points of time in his life. Jeffery’s “slices” are bits and pieces of his life that can be a few hours to a week to longer. Jeffery captures himself and those that he interacts with in a lose line drawing style, mostly picturing himself as a scruffy young man.

Jeffrey is the one “character” consistent throughout the novel as it is the story of his life. People move in and out of the “slices” never seeming to stay for very long or come back, but seem to make a lasting impact within his life. For example, one “slice” deals with a camping trip into the woods with friends. The “slices” allow for the reader to see just how such a small event can have a greater impact on life than wee might expect. He shares with us the good times, being with friends, to the bad times, death of loved ones. Jeffrey shares his story in “slices,” snippets of his life story that range from a few minutes to a week or longer. Time never stands still and is constantly moving on to the next story or the next person.

Where the story suffers is that the move through timelines if often disjointed in places, transitioning from present to past back to present in what is often confusing. The last “slice” of Jeffrey’s life deals with the birth/pending birth of his child. We are never really told the status of Jeffrey and the baby’s mother, as whether they are married or engaged and while this piece of information can be missing, it stalls the flow of the story. When the “slice” begins we see Jeffrey and young woman (possibly Jennifer), waking up in the middle of the night to take care of the young baby. A few pages later the couple is driving to Kansas, but it appears that the baby has not yet been born. A few more pages and it appears to be the beginning of the pregnancy and the young couple is discussing pets. Where the story seems to fail is that there are no clear transitions in this passage of time. The reader is lost as to the passage of time and place with no clear indication of what might be happening. Perhaps if readers read his other stories, more would be revealed about his life and those in it, but if this is to be seen as a standalone work (as it appears to be), the casual reader will become lost. That being said, Jeffrey shows the simplicity and beauty in life and how different interactions with those around you shape it. Things that most people wouldn’t think of as being life altering are shown and a story takes shape.

The graphic novel uses simple black and white lines to create the universe and life that Jeffrey resides. Jeffrey captures the world around him from rescuing ants in a stream to his young son next to him with simple and often elegant line drawings that show a deeper meaning to life. He is able to show the voice of the character through the expressions on their faces and the simple beauty of the world that surrounds him. Brown captures the simplicity of the stars in the night sky in the forest and the rushing river going past. The chaos of life is captured in the drawings that Jeffery shares to tell his stories.

Although the time line can be confusing, the story is an interesting experiment in telling a story. Although the author does not quite succeed with keeping the story time line easy to follow, it is a worthwhile experiment to see a life story told in a different manner and worth a read at the local bookstore or the library.

Available at libraries and bookstores here.

Andrew is a Librarian and artist with a background in Art Education & Art History.

An archive of Andrew's articles is located here.

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