“Jimmy Corrigan” – Disconcerting

“Jimmy Corrigan” is one of the more difficult graphic novels to simply read.  I found the style, the seemingly erratic arrangement of the frames, the lack of continuity as the novel jumps from one tale to another, and the overall manner in which the story unfolds to be extremely trying.  Furthermore, the story revolves around some heavy topics, and ends in an open manner (much like many of the novels we have read, i.e., “Night Fisher”, “Black Hole”, etc..) that left me confused and stunned.

Perhaps the most trying element of this novel was “our protagonist”, Jimmy.  Lacking any social skills, he is the epitome of pathetic; the author went to the furthest lengths to ensure that he truly had a dismal life in all regards, and to some extent, I began to resent him by the end of the book.  Rather than empathize with his situation (which is really just abysmal, yet “self-created” in many regards), I instead found myself annoyed with everything that he did, despite the fact that many occurrences are out of his control (i.e., his father’s death).  Perhaps this is what the author was attempting to accomplish in creating a protagonist that seems like a good person, but the reader ultimately finds themselves resenting this pathetic creature.  In turn, I feel awful for my annoyance with Jimmy; the author has successfully created a protagonist that, like him or not, requires a great deal of thought on the reader’s behalf to fully understand.

Besides Jimmy, another difficult aspect of “Jimmy Corrigan” was the set-up.  The sizes of the frames, the order, the way each is placed on the page varies seemingly upon each page turn.  I simply couldn’t find a rhythm, and instead found myself exasperated when trying to sort through the convoluted frame structure presented on the page.  On many pages, I would read the frames out of order, and then would have to return to the beginning of the page, or an earlier frame to simply find my barrings.  This facet of the novel really frustrated me, and I think played a huge part in my inability to truly delve into the story.

Unlike many other novels we have read which were simple reads, this one required a severely active role on the reader’s part, which I generally believe is a positive element of a novel, yet here was due to poor structure.  Consequently, when the author presents the difficult topics of family relations, social skills, and death, it became an even more difficult read.  For instance, there is one page (the lack of page numbers is difficult as well…) in which Jimmy “fears” his father is going to murder him and has been meticulously planning to do so for some time; the author shows the senior Mr. Corrigan (father, not grandfather) using a knife and viciously slitting Jimmy’s throat.  I found this scene to be harrowing for it seemed so random, simply thrown in to portray the protagonist’s feeble state of mind (and vivid imagination) and for shock value.

This novel may have been trying, and I realize that most of what I have expressed is frustration and confusion which can be interpreted as negative sentiments.  Nonetheless, I think it is important to realize that this novel truly made me struggle to understand what was taking place, and subsequently, stayed with me long after I had turned the last page.