Was She Pretty?

by Leanne Shapton

A Singular Exploration Of Modern Love And All Its Demons, In Words And Drawings

In this brilliant gem of a book, artist/writer Leanne Shapton weaves together a voyeuristic tale of love and life through epigrammatic vignettes and sleek line drawings. Entire relationships are encapsulated in a few, stingingly perfect lines: "Colleen was Walter's ex-girlfriend from med school. She loved to dance with men at weddings." Pricking our insecurities, Shapton introduces us to Kim, whose ex "kept a drawerful of love letters in a kitchen drawer . . . She would stare at it while she cooked." And Ben's ex, "a physiotherapist for the U.S. men's and women's Olympic swim teams. She wore small white shorts year-round."

Fascinated by her own jealousy, Shapton interviewed acquaintances about their anxieties and peccadilloes, and the result is a book of surpassing originality: one of those unusual books that comes along to delight us all, like An Exaltation of Larks or Love, Loss, and What I Wore or Griffin and Sabine. Was She Pretty? can also share the shelf with the work of the legendary William Steig, whose early, psychologically revealing work inspired Shapton. An unflinching observer of human behavior, she invites us to peer into the hearts and minds of her characters--while reminding us that we shouldn't be surprised if we see ourselves staring right back.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fiction, Art, Comics, Romance, Graphic Novels Comics, Adult

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2006

About the author

Leanne Shapton is an illustrator, author and publisher based in New York City. She is the co-founder, with photographer Jason Fulford, of J&L Books, an internationally-distributed not-for-profit imprint specializing in art and photography books. Shapton grew up in Mississauga, Ontario, and attended McGill Univesity and Pratt Institute. After interning at SNL, Harper's Magazine and for illustator James McMullan, she began her career at the National Post where she edited and art-directed the daily Avenue page, an award-winning double-page feature covering news and cultural trends. She went on to art direct Saturday Night, the National Post's weekly news magazine.

In 2003, Shapton published her first book of drawings, titled Toronto. From 2006 to 2008 Shapton contributed a regular travel column to Elle magazine, consisting of writing, photography and illustration. From 2008 to 2009, Shapton was the art director of The New York Times Op-Ed page.

Leanne Shapton published Was She Pretty? in November 2008 and Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry, in February 2009, with Sarah Crichton Books / Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She published The Native Trees of Canada with Drawn & Quarterly in November 2010. Shapton recently contributed a regular column to T: The New York Times Style Magazine's blog The Moment. In 2011 She posted an illustrated series titled "A Month Of..." to The New York Times opinion page website.

Currently Shapton contributes a food and culture column to Flare Magazine.

In 2012 Shapton published Swimming Studies with Blue Rider Press. It won the 2012 National Book Critic's Circle Award for autobiography, and was long listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2012.

Sunday Night Movies, a book of paintings from movies, is forthcoming from Drawn & Quarterly, fall 2013. Shapton is currently working on Women In Clothes, a collaboration with Sheila Heti and Heidi Julavits, about how women dress, with Blue Rider Press.

Source: Leanne Shapton Bio.

Reviews

[K · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author captures perfectly a soulless cosmopolitan perspective that is devoid of any real human spirit, a kind of materialism that transcends actual materialism. People as objects. Experiences as collector's items. One's life not just as a brand, but a very chic one. The uncanny and constant undercurrent of a self-awareness of the emptiness of it. The jealousy and yearning that that runs through the book is the same kind you might feel in a Manhattan boutique, where you don't know exactly what you'd actually buy, not even one individual thing, but you long for everything in the store, and the aesthetic it represents. It is hard to know what kind of experience would change the perspective of the people who inhabit this world, because it’s all there already, children, art, all of it. Realizing this makes it impossible to ever see how the characters in this world could escape it. My uncle and I once talked about how watching people you don't care about be miserable is the worst kind of movie, and this book is 100 times worse than Revolutionary Road in that regard. The book itself is clearly a piece of currency in this world, and on my shelf it feels like dirty money.

[lucy black · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a list of ex lovers. They all seemed the same, vapid, almost all white, rich, fashion types. All similarly drawn. I'm bored even trying to review it...

[Rand]

Minimalism at its best. Borrowed from the library. Its pages got wet in the basket of my bicycle on the way home. They soon enough came as dry as the wit which did writ it.

I chose to use parts of this text to teach English as a foreign language because of its use of ambiguity and baroque sentence structures. As an exercise in pedagogy, some of the pages were more successful than others. Much like the relationships described therein. Of course, any sort of judgement thereof begs the question as to what determines success: longevity, exclusivity, contentment, mutuality, moral development, and/or intimacy. Or even whether a given relationship may be ever said to begin or end or simply change.

The entire text is prefaced by Kierkegard's parallel of Fenris the wolf—which I did not cover with the students due to time constraints.

The sketches were a nice touch and aided in my students' comprehension.

[Susie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read the premise of this book, I knew I had to read it. It covrs the simple idea that most us are an ex or have an ex. She took that idea and combined it with a few sentences from interviews and simple ink drawings. It was simple and genius.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt a little guilty about adding this book to my "read" shelf, considering it takes about twenty minutes to get from cover to cover. However, I finally decided that Was She Pretty?—a combination of "epigrammatic vignettes and evocative line drawings" (according to the book flap copy)—deserves not only a star-rating, but a full review.

The book kicks off with a Kierkegaard quotation, which ends, "The chain is very flexible, soft as silk, yields to the most powerful strain, and cannot be torn apart." He is referring to chains that bound the Fenris wolf in Norse mythology, and reflecting on the metaphorical chains that bind him and us all.

After that prelude, someone's ex is introduced: "Jason's ex-girlfriend was Taylor. She was from the South." Each page contains a snippet (or "epigrammatic vignette") about someone's ex-boyfriend or girlfriend. What binds us all? We're all someone's ex, reduced to a few lines and a crude drawing in their memory.

Some of the people get their own little story about their insecurities:

June's ex-boyfriend Wade kept his love letters in a kitchen drawer. June was always tempted, but never opened the drawer. She would stare at it while she cooked.

Other passages help the reader make the connections (or chain links, perhaps) among the characters:

Graham kept a number of girlfriends on the go. He made them all the same mixed CD—a compilation of romantic and meaningful songs.

(This is followed by three illustrations of different women listening to his creation, possibly sensing something odd and impersonal about the songs he included in the mix.)

Some of the lines are hilariously pithy: "Estefania's ex-boyfriend suggested she wear darker jeans" or "Lionel's ex-girlfriend Edie enjoyed Brahms. But she preferred money."

In my own narcissistic way, I couldn't help but imagine what someone might write about me. What kind of lasting impression do I leave on someone's life? I settled on this: "Gunter's ex-girlfriend Rebecca spoke German with an American accent. His mother hated her, often dissolving into sobbing fits in their presence." (I did not have an ex-boyfriend named Gunter. This is merely a writing exercise!) Or how about this: "Rebecca told her ex-boyfriend Sam not to wear those socks again, but especially not with those shorts." (Again, it's an exercise. I am a fiction writer!)

This book was short but quite charming and thought-provoking. I'm glad I read it. Twice.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at the library on a whim when I spotted it nestled in the comic book section. It's a series of largely single page illustrations accompanied by short pieces of texts, usually a sentence or two and occasionally a full paragraph. The text and images are the links in the chain that connect us all together, the invisible ties we form in our relationships. Person A's current significant other once dated Person B who in turn dated Person C, and the impressions of those people linger either in carefully chosen, defining facts or objects they may have left behind. Shapton chooses either to draw those people or the pertinent objects in question, sometimes even a string of those items, flowing one to another. The drawing is a bit crude and unfinished looking, but there is a blunt swiftness to it that goes with the spartan nature of her prose. If you remember that song "88 Lines About 44 Women," Was She Pretty? is a bit like the literary equivalent of that, but instead of one man's celebration of his conquests, this is the anxiety and doubt he left in his wake. Though you'll read it in a blink, the effect is of having lived through all those break-ups, make-ups, and shake-ups, and you'll feel like you have to catch your breath.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

a quick, quick read - funny, sweet, and ultimately a solid depiction of how we all engage with the past lovers of our lovers

[Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise and execution of this book is simple and I love it. Everybody has an ex and everybody's been an ex. Shapton interviewed friends for short descriptions/explanations about their exes. Quick read, worth picking up. And the simple line drawings are perfect.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Shapton's previous work, Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry, which I still pull off my shelf occasionally to leaf through or show someone. This book isn't quite up to the same detailed standard, but I do love the way Shapton creatively organizes thoughts on relationships. Here, she tackles The Ex, The Ex-es, the men and women who were here before you. It resonates, man. Hahaha - literally had to stop trying to describe my exes in a similar way while I was reading. I would post a personal example here except, hey, this is the internet and I don't know who's reading. Possibly somebody who considers me The Ex.

(Though I should note that I was surprised to not see any technology brought up within the pages - plenty of home phones and letters and diaries but no cell phones, text messages, social media, etc. Different generation?)

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'll be tempted to rush through this quick read. Take your time, glance back and pay attention to the names, that sometimes carry through longer threads. Give yourself a few moments to let the subtext of each epithet sink in.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

best book i ever read in 20 minutes.

[Alyssa Staples · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting style and unique premise, but lacked any emotional depth.

[Lara Maynard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part of me thinks this book is sort of neat. But a bigger part of me insistently wonders if it ever really needed to be a book. Maybe it should have been a little chapbook. Or a little virtual exhibit. Or an art school project. Does every sort of neat idea merit printing and selling? Hmmm. There's just something about this one that rubs me the wrong way on some level. Maybe that it seems like indulging a little idea in whole book form. And the fact that I wanted to tell most of the folks in the little bitty profiles in the book to get over it and in my mind rolled my eyes at the indulgence in jealousy and insecurity and so on. So the book grates on me a bit because it is a little artsy indulgence filled with emotional indulgence. And I get this review by Karen: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful examination of the curiosities one has over their partner's exes. Simple as it is, with a modest illustration on one page and a single sentence or short paragraph on the opposing side, I was taken into some pretty deep thinking of my own curiosities.

I love the work of Leanne Shapton and the tone she sets in her work. It all belongs on my bookshelf.

[Pug · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've had this book on my "to-read" shelf for 13 YEARS! Not sure where I first saw it, but I knew this would be a wrenching and soulful book that would speak to me deeply...

Yeah, I wasted a lot of years waiting for this one. LoL

It was all very MEH.

Especially since I discovered it was fiction... so none of these vignettes of ex-lovers are true. Which just made it feel flat and pointless. There was no deep insight, no true heartache here. Thus, none of the "stories" made any sense. It was one or two weird sentences, and then on to the next page and the next fake relationship.

However, since it was only one or two weird sentences interspersed with equally odd line drawings, it was a super-quick read. And therefore, worth a flip-thru.

[H.L.H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good in a sad way. Or sad in a good way. Not sure which.

[Grace Ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

even ai would have more emotion than this

[Davina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't find the art in this book as evocative as the text, but I think this was a really interesting project.

[Ian Hrabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is fine and the rating is based on how it works as a graphic novel, which isn't all that well. You don't HAVE to treat it like a graphic novel, but since it was published by Drawn & Quarterly that's how I came at it. It's more of an art book, or a bound version of a French New Wave short. With the exception of one, multifaceted segment (which is the best part of the book), these drawings and one-sentence captions about fictional ex-lovers of fictional people would work very well as an art show. The art consists of simple, slightly rough drawings in brushed India ink that are fine. The drawings feel rushed in a good way, like they are trying to capture the essence of these people in just a few minutes. The book moves along in a nice little rhythm but in the end it just felt a little shallow. There's just not a lot to chew on. That's just me though, and I could see this being right up the alley of certain people I know and wouldn't begrudge anyone if this was their jam. The book jacket is pretty misleading though, calling the book a work of "unsurpassed originality" which is laughable and (paired with the exhaustive description on the flap) sets up unrealistic expectations for a book that operates on a VERY subtle wavelength.

[Tereza Eliášová · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was she pretty? je miniaturka, kterou slupnete za chvilku, ale stojí za to. Od Leanne Shapton už jsem četla Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry a byla jsem nadšená. Teď jsem taky, ale trochu jinak.

Tahle knížečka je sbírkou minipříběhů, větiček a postřehů ze života a životů o tom, kdo všechno nás míjí a co všechno po sobě zanechává. Mozaika o tom, co ti před námi měli a my ne. Každý se mezi těmi pár písmeny musí najít. Krásně vypravená. Rozhodně doporučuju!

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bunch of line drawings mostly of people, with brief handwritten anecdotes, which are supposedly true and taken from interviews, about people's exes, with a really great introductory riff that then turns out to be by Kierkegaard.

Leanne Shapton herself complained, in her meatier and textier book, Swimming Studies, that she can't draw; I thought she was being modest, but it's kinda true. Still, this is a fun book to read (read? flip through?), a meditation on the idea that we all live with the ghosts of our lovers' exes, that we are all, thus, haunted.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd little depressing book. The author interviewed many people and got the story of their ex's exes in a sentence or two. Jealousy and craziness abounds. It made me feel mentally healthy, so that was a plus! The drawings are minimalist and the book only takes a few minutes to read, since there isn't much text. I kept looking for connections between the stories, but I didn't see any.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

All about ex-boyfriends & ex-girlfriends, and there's no one central plot. It's more like a list, filled with snippets of stories and heartache and truth. I'll probably be pulling this off the shelf just to thumb through it. Each page of text is set off by an illustration. Fun to read out loud.

[Colettemariehayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is a one sentence on every other page sort of book/poem/curiosity. i had a wonderful time reading through its 198 pages on my lunch break, but now it is returning to its home at berkeley public library. not much of a vacation. sorry little book.

[reading is my hustle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Melancholy look at failed relationships with words and line drawings.

[Petr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zase skvělý nápad a ještě lepší zpracování. Desítky mikropříběhů o tom, co ti před námi byli a měli a my ne.

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light, quick, excellent artwork.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is SO pretty. and very sweet. and it's a 20 minute read.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dating. I tell ya.

[Rebecca Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the reviews I’ve read for this have been intimidatingly nuanced and clever and this book was the same.