Told in a vaguely chronological order, each vignette explores a different aspect of the change from childhood to the alienated world of the teenager. 'All of sudden dancing got hard,' she writes, showing herself caught between the desire for and dread of carefree dancing. The 'Dancing' piece, for example, changes when the teenage Lynda learns that she dances like a spaz.

In the best pieces, Barry explores wider themes, most often the loss of childhood innocence. She always had a plastic orchid in her hair.' You could read 'One Hundred Demons' just for the pleasure of remembering playing kickball in the street, or the way other people's houses smelled, or clutching your favorite teddy bear.Ī page on 'Hate' from Lynda Barry's 'One Hundred Demons'įortunately, nostalgia isn't all you get from this book. The hula teacher is a 'middle-aged white lady who was obsessed with Hawaii. With fantastic powers of memory (or perhaps imagination) Barry recreates the near-hallucinatory, intensely-observed world of childhood. 'Dancing,' for instance, tells of Barry's childhood enthusiasm for hula dancing. The somewhat random subjects of each story bear this out: Dancing, Hate, San Francisco, Dogs, Girlness, etc. Treating the book as something of a Zen exercise, Barry has claimed that, with no determined direction, each piece began as a word or phrase on a notecard. The titular 'one hundred demons' are actually seventeen vignettes from the author's life, mostly from her childhood. Whatever she wants to call it, Barry's book creates a poignant mix of what makes our lives both comical and sad. This third installment examines Barry's 'One Hundred Demons' (Sasquatch Books 224pp HC $24.95), the first work of (nearly) non-fiction by the veteran alternative weekly cartoonist.

ix has dedicated each week in October to covering a different volume. No fewer than four semi-autobiographical books about growing up, all by women cartoonists, have appeared or will appear this fall. Barry classifies her book as 'autobifictionalography.' Should libraries start a new section? Maybe. Follow Barry's new book may present a problem for the librarians smart enough to purchase it.

One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry