Book Review: You Know Exactly what you Have to Do
Title: You Know Exactly What you have to Do The Third collection of All Over Coffee
Author: Paul Madonna
What’s it About?
If you’ve been here a bit, you know that this review looks different then the reviews I usually write. But there’s a good reason for that. This isn’t the kind of book I usually review. This book isn’t about telling one story with words. It’s about telling a million stories with images with some words sprinkled around in the form of essays and short stories. Most of these are accompanying a images. It’s the story of life. Of the world around us. It’s the story of what could be, what feels to be reality in the world at large told with beauty, poignant art that enchanted me in a way that art like this seldom does. Drawn mostly in pen with subjects around and about San Francisco. There really isn’t any telling what this book is about because it kind of depends the reader.
Image found on pg. 31
What’s it About?
I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this book from the publisher to check it out and see what I thought. I’ll be honest, I only requested to get a copy becuase it had coffee in the title. I didn’t really know what it was and kind of assumed that I was getting a coffee table book of images that probably includes coffee. I was wrong but in one of the best ways.
I started reading through, learning about Paul Madonna and his comic All Over Coffee and found myself intrigued before I had even had a chance to explore his work. The above image was the image that told me this book was going to have an unexpected effect on me. There was something about this image that pulled me in, that made me feel. Instantly the story teller part of my brain was creating stories about the family that had this tree in their living room for Christmas, all decorated and lit up, shining and radiating happiness, love, hope and opportunity among a family who’s been struggling but somehow managed to create one of the most amazing Christmas mornings for their kids, a holiday season that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The scene is so simple, but it hit me so hard.
I came across this piece and it hit me like a plus existential crisis, begging me to consider what story I’m telling to my kids, what story I’m telling the world and what story is told through the Emporium.
I thought, “That’s a question I need to ask myself more often. That’s the question that’s going to help guide me like an arrow sign pointing in the right direction.
This image hit me with nostalgia and the story of a woman? Girl? (I’m not sure if she’s a teen or a woman in her twenties) Sitting by the phone waiting for a call she’s convinced with change her life; it’ll make
everything perfect, the start of a fairytale, dream come true life. I’m not sure if the call is someone she wants to date or a job offer or what exactly it is. It’s just something she wants really badly and she thinks that when she gets it, it’ll be the best thing to ever happen to her and, if it doesn’t come, it’ll be the end of the world. But I can’t tell you why this image tells me this story, why I feel the desperation, excitement and hope coming from the chair that we don’t see next to the table. But it spoke to me, like a number of others, in a way that simple, mundane subjects in art never have before. And I’m there for it.
But, I also really liked the stories told, from the essays about how and why the pieces shared in the books earned their place among the pages or why that category is meaningful to Mr. Madonna. As someone who considers her artistic strength to come from other places far away from visual art due to lack of talent and a fierce sense of perfectionism which happily berates me for every perceived imperfection loudly and violently in my ear as I work, I appreciated getting into his head a little to understand his process and his choices without telling us exactly what to think or feel while we experience his works.
And I looked forward to coming across another short story. I think my favorite was the one that starts on page 72 about the aunt that cross stitches. His stories gave me the image of a man sitting at a desk hunched over and hand writing a story that meant so much to him, something that spoke so deeply and personally to him in a profound way.
But mostly, the book is filled with amazing images. Those shared here are just some of my favorites, the ones that called to me and made me want to share. Of course, my absolute favorite a double page and not able to be photographed well but it’s AMAZING!
My Ratings:
I give this book
a
6
out of
Guitars hamburgers
But that’s just what I thought. What did you think? Did you love the art? Prefer the Eviction story? Let us know in the comments!
