Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault

February 15, 2019
The creator of an iconic cartoon strip shares her quirky humor in prose form.Like millions of other women, Guisewite (The Mother-Daughter Dance, 2016, etc.), creator of the megapopular comic strip "Cathy," has fears, concerns, and outrages; from 1976 to 2010, she expressed them all with a delightful sense of fun. Now that she's retired from drawing her "Cathy" strip, which at its peak appeared in more than 1,400 newspapers, the author turns to prose, presenting short essays and sidebars about her major life change when the strip ended. "I got older," she writes, "which I hadn't factored in, and became even more obnoxious and belligerent than my child or my parents, incapable of even committing to exercise five minutes a day. I thought that when I quit my job, the pace of all the change would slow down. But it didn't. It sped up." The author's topics, many of which she explored in her comic strip, range widely: aging parents who refuse to let go of their stuff and don't feel old despite being in their 90s; how she has outgrown all her shoes; eating and skin care habits and body image issues; inability to fit into a sports bra; desire to commit to an exercise program; terror at trying on a swimsuit; the difficulties of organizing a house; her life with her now college-bound daughter and how much things have changed for women since her own mother was young. Although some of the essays are repetitive and clunky in their attempts at comedy, Guisewite hits the mark more often than not. It's a collection that isn't likely to appeal to readers who were never "Cathy" fans (Ack!), but the author offers a new way to savor the humor of her classic comic-strip character.Absurd and often witty takes on life as a caregiver, mother, and woman.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 15, 2019
Fans of Cathy, rejoice! Cartoonist Guisewite (The Mother-Daughter Dance, 2016) is back with a hilarious collection of essays that will feel very familiar to anyone who ever read the funny pages over Sunday-morning breakfast in the 1980s and '90s. Covering topics that are eminently relatable to today's readers with her characteristic forthright humor, Guisewite's essays are well written and affecting, giving us an insight into where the comic strip might have gone had Guisewite not given it up to spend more time with her growing children and aging parents. It's easy to imagine the eponymous Cathy is the one stuck in a sports bra in a dressing room or aghast as her mother attempts to serve her expired mayonnaise. But Guisewite's writing really sings when she is being sincere rather than slapstick, an unexpected surprise. Fans of the comic will be thrilled at these later-year insights into a character they love and tickled by the scattered illustrations in Guisewite's trademark style. New readers will be charmed by the author's wit and turn of phrase. Ack!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2019

We have Guisewite to thank for the Cathy comic strip, which ran in nearly 1,400 newspapers for 34 years, was gathered into more than 20 books, and netted Guisewite a National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award and an Emmy. Now it's time for some funny and heartfelt autobiographical essays in the style of Nora Ephron, with Guisewite addressing the care of aging parents and growing children while also watching out for oneself. Here's the real Cathy; with a national tour.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.