I Feel Bad

March 20, 2017
Auslander feels bad about a lot of familiar things: “I’m high-maintenance.... I lie to my kids.... I only eat the pie crust.” In a series of scribbly one-panel cartoons, she shares her neuroses about marriage, child rearing, parents, religion, sex, and on and on. Many are universal—find a parent who hasn’t used a bathroom break to hide from the kids—but the more interesting are specific to Auslander’s life as a woman of Middle Eastern Jewish background, sparring with a disapproving, sexist father (her fault, she says) and a brother who’s been born again as a Hasidic fundamentalist (also her fault). Also perceptive are the side-by-side cartoons revealing the no-win situations she sets up for herself, such as feeling guilty both for making and not making the kids’ birthday cakes from scratch. There are shining moments, but this type of cartoon confessional has been done better many times before, and Auslander’s shaky artwork doesn’t add much. She shouldn’t feel bad about it, though.