You Can Never Die: A Graphic Memoir

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A poignant and witty graphic memoir from New Yorker cover artist, internationally syndicated cartoonist, and New York Times bestselling author Harry Bliss capturing his reflections on life and his relationship with Penny, his beloved dog New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss loved his sweet dog Penny, a joyful part of his life for seventeen years. Every day that he cared for his beloved pet, Harry joked with her, talked to her, and drew the adorable creature-Penny's presence is unmistakably, hilariously incorporated into Harry's iconic cartoons. In one, he gazes up at the night sky, remarking on the vastness of outer space, while she digs into the ground, unbothered, fuzzy tail wagging in the air. Harry grew up in a family of artists, a rowdy and turbulent bunch, and attended art school in Philadelphia. A therapist once suggested that perhaps when he looked at Penny, he saw himself as an innocent child. As Harry grieves Penny's loss, he reflects on his parents in their later years, his love for his wife and home, and the colorful artists, friends, and mentors who have shaped him. With humor and gut-wrenching honesty, You Can Never Die is an intimate portrayal of a man making sense of the beautiful and painful world around him. This singular memoir integrates sharply crafted, witty stories with hundreds of gorgeous cartoons and never-seen-before sketches from Bliss's career.

Reviews

"A deeply moving memoir by a gifted artist. It's one thing to write a memoir when you're thirty. It's another thing to write a memoir when you've actually experienced serious loss, achieved at least some of your dreams, and when the end of life becomes less of an abstraction. A terrific book."
--Roz Chast

"Somehow, looking into the eyes of an animal that you have shared a life with is even more profound than with a human, because with animals, we don't have words, we can only use our eyes. It's all there. The trust, love, fear, wonder and release. Just like this book."
--Jamie Lee Curtis

"A wonderful and moving story brilliantly told."
--Patricia Cornwell

"A moving, heartbreaking look at a 17-year relationship between a man and his dog. This New Yorker cartoonist breathes new life into the dog love story canon."
--Julie Klam, author of You Had Me at Woof

"[A] poignant, generously illustrated graphic memoir, which combines prose and comics in mordantly funny and moving vignettes."
--Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Harry Bliss is the creator of the internationally syndicated comic strip Bliss and a cartoonist and cover artist for the New Yorker magazine. He is the co-author of two New York Times bestselling books with Steve Martin and has written and illustrated more than twenty-five children's books. He is also the founder of the Cornish CCS Fellowship for Graphic Novelists.