October 17, 2004

Janet & Me

I just finished reading Janet & Me, a graphic book by Stan Mack. Mack is perhaps most famous for his long-running Real Life Funnies, which ran in the Village Voice for twenty years. In Real Life Funnies, Mack illustrated verbatim conversations, usually of strangers, often folks who were members of unusual groups or subcultures.

Lately, Mack's book projects have been more ambitious, including a graphic history of the American Revolution and a history of the Jewish people.

But none of his work prepared me for Janet & Me, the true story of how his love, author Janet Bode lived, and later died from breast cancer. By the time the book was over, I loved and admired both Janet and Stan.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who might be encountering potentially lethal cancer -- or to anyone who might care for them. Found alongside the beautiful illustrations (some more elaborate and less figurative than most of Mack's work) is some hard-earned practical advice. But most of all, this is a love story that without treacle or bombast, makes us care deeply about two people.