Little Things by Jeffrey Brown

Little Things
By Jeffrey Brown
Touchstone

Jeffrey Brown’s stories tend to defy convention. He’s a fantastic storyteller, and much of his strength lies in the way he foregoes the need for set ups and finite endings. In his world, life is constantly moving, making it all one big middle.

Brown achieved fast fame with his debut graphic novel, Clumsy, in 2003. That book and its follow up, Unlikely, garnered him a reputation for writing about women and relationships in extremely honest—some would say painfully so—detail. His latest release, Little Things, maintains a similar level of honesty but examines many different aspects of life—relationships and much more.

As the title suggests, the book is largely about life’s minutiae: music, coffee shops, stomach aches. But Brown throws in plenty of big stuff, too—death and surgery, for instance—and what’s remarkable is the democracy of the book. He approaches all of his subjects with equal energy, so that the story of visiting a friend follows that of a car accident his father was in, and the transition feels natural.

Read more »