Theories of Everything

I just finished perusing the new collected works of cartoonist Roz Chast, called Theories of Everything. This is a brilliant collection of the cartoonist's work from 1978-2006, full of the kind of deadpan observations and self deprecating humor that has infused and informed her work for the last (almost) three decades. It's a huge coffee table style book, chock full of eccentric humor and triumphs of the mundane.

I was first exposed to Chast's cartoons in the New Yorker and I have looked forward to them in almost every issue since. The nervous, shaky style of the drawings are paired with astute and clever observations about the human condition, with much of the humor coming from quirky, awkward characters placed in recognizable, everyday situations. One of my favorites shows a person sitting at a desk, staring at a computer screen. The caption reads: The guy who took a wrong turn off the electronic superhighway and wound up in a microwave oven in Davenport, Iowa. (Man’s computer screen tells him, ‘Defrost Wingettes 4:15 PM.’)

This book tickled me. I hope you will take a look as well.