Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Shortcomings
    Unavailable
    Shortcomings
    Unavailable
    Shortcomings
    Ebook106 pages1 hour

    Shortcomings

    By Adrian Tomine

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Shortcomings, Adrian Tomine's first long-form graphic novel, is the story of Ben Tanaka, a confused, obsessive, Japanese-American male in his late-twenties, and his cross-country search for contentment (or at least the perfect girl). Along the way, Tomine tackles modern culture, sexual mores, and racial politics with brutal honesty and lacerating, irreverent humor, while deftly bringing to life a cast of painfully real anti-hero characters. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, Tomine has acquired a cult-like fan following and has earned a status as one of the most widely-acclaimed cartoonists of our time.



    Shortcomings was serialized in Tomine's iconic comic book series Optic Nerve and was excerpted in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDrawn & Quarterly
    Release dateMay 4, 2021
    ISBN9781770464285
    Unavailable
    Shortcomings

    Related to Shortcomings

    Related ebooks

    Comics & Graphic Novels For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      I Am the Walrus

      Nov 12, 2019

      I Am the Walrus
      7 min read

    • Article

      Rider on the Slab

      May 16, 2017

      Rider on the Slab
      4 min read

    • Article

      Answers

      Sep 28, 2023

      Answers
      6 min read

    • Article

      KYLE Walker

      Dec 13, 2018

      KYLE Walker
      4 min read

    • Article

      Monster Super Tour

      Dec 13, 2023

      Monster Super Tour
      16 min read

    • Article

      Jay runciman

      Mar 29, 2023

      Jay runciman
      7 min read

    • Article

      DXing and How I Got Started

      Nov 1, 2020

      Anyone who knows me understands that for my entire time in amateur radio, my focus has been on “organizing” and running clubs. Starting in my high school in 1965, I had my first experience in an amateur radio club. I joined the Bergenfield High Schoo

      11 min read

    • Article

      Your Say

      Oct 30, 2019

      The recent article The end of the climb (AG 151) brought back many memories of a trip to Uluru in 1952 as one of 40 schoolboys travelling from Sydney to Alice Springs via Uluru. We went as a scientific expedition, which enabled us to visit Uluru, the

      4 min read

    • Article

      There Is Nothing Like My Dames

      Feb 8, 2023

      With the wonderful Dame Judi Dench, at the beginning of March, I am hosting a charity matinee at the London Palladium. It’s to mark my 75th birthday and, more importantly, to raise £ 75,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital, where my youngest grandson

      3 min read

    • Article

      Two Networks. A Writers' Strike. COVID-19. Now, 'Supernatural' Faces One Last Twist

      Oct 9, 2020

      "Supernatural" has enjoyed 15 years of masked and made-up characters roaming the set, but in the final weeks of production, a different type of mask was on the minds of cast and crew. "It was weird not seeing the faces that you've been looking at for

      8 min read

    • Article

      Misty Copeland on Diversity in Dance, Her 'Nutcracker' Princess and Coming Home for the Holidays

      Dec 5, 2017

      LOS ANGELES - Misty Copeland has far-transcended the rarefied world of ballet, appearing as a guest judge on "So You Think You Can Dance," touring with Prince and serving as the face of Estee Lauder's Modern Muse fragrance - not to mention attracting

      5 min read

    • Article

      Concepts, Cash-Flow and Cutbacks

      Nov 12, 2020

      Albe Falzon has spent his whole life following a muse. Along the way he has made surfing’s most celebrated film ‘Morning of the Earth’, traipsed through the tropics to stumble upon Uluwatu, and filmed George Greenough for a year while the eccentric C

      5 min read

    • Article

      the knot BEST OF WEDDINGS 2020

      Jun 15, 2020

      TheFarmHouseSiloam.com “Our experience was spectacular and stress free. I could go on about how perfect this place is—every bride deserves to have the experience the FHS provides.” HiddenRiverEvents.com “Magical, dreamy, fabulous, beautiful, dope, in

      6 min read

    • Article

      Big Country

      Apr 4, 2023

      Big Country
      7 min read

    • Article

      John Rousmaniere

      Mar 14, 2017

      John Rousmaniere is a titan of yachting journalism, having written hundreds of articles and several books on sailing and seamanship. He was an onboard reporter for both the 1972 Bermuda Race and the infamous 1979 Fastnet Race, races in which both fle

      4 min read

    • Article

      Answers

      Nov 2, 2023

      Answers
      11 min read

    • Article

      MY OLD MAN & THE SEA

      Feb 12, 2019

      MY OLD MAN & THE SEA
      11 min read

    • Article

      In The Bloody Moonlight

      Dec 12, 2019

      In The Bloody Moonlight
      7 min read

    Reviews for Shortcomings

    3.5/5

    400 ratings25 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      It’s a masterpiece from one of the great cartoonists of our times.
    • 4/5
      The best thing about this graphic novel is Tomine's great skill in drawing. His lines and shadows are stark and mirror the cool ennui and distress emoted by his characters. Ben and his girlfriend are at each other's throats throughout, and it's hard to tell who is more annoying. Ben's interactions with her, with his friend Alice, and with everybody else make us ponder about stereotypes, ethnic identity, and problematic masculinity.
    • 3/5
      While I thought this book was well done, I didn’t like the characters very much--too many shortcomings. (Another LTer referred to them as “realistic jerks.”) The main character, Ben, is a 30 year old Japanese American whose Japanese American girlfriend is unhappy about his attraction to white women. Unfortunately, this racial element was the only thing that was interesting about their crumbling relationship. I’ll try another one of Tomine’s books but I wouldn’t recommend this one.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book because Tomine isn't afraid to analyze some of the intricacies of identity in America. I can see why some readers might be upset by some of the commentary by Ben, main character. My favorite part is when Ben approaches Miko and her new boyfriend in New York, and the boyfriend pulls the kung fu out. So typical, so hilarious. I'm looking forward to reading his other books.
    • 4/5
      This is painfully familiar territory for most of us -- the relationship that has been over for months, but neither person wants to admit it, until there is a crisis. In "Shortcomings", the crisis comes when Miko is offered an internship to New York City and away from her inadequate boyfriend, Ben. The stark graphic style enhances the realistic dialogue as the couple realize, but don't want to admit, that they don't even like each other any more. The novel is further made interesting by the theme of racialism and acceptance in mainstream society. If you are attracted to a person of another ethnic group, are you free from stereotypes or just accepting ethnic sexual mystiques? The most entertaining character is Alice, a cheerfully horny lesbian who brings Ben to a party as a date to deceive her parents. They are not amused, as Ben is of Japanese descent, and they are Korean. "Were you guys arguing, or is that just the way your language sounds?", muses Ben. The novel reveals the simple truth -- relationships suck.
    • 4/5
      interesting. i could totally see it as a movie in the same vein as "Ghost World," but entirely different. and of course, i love the best friend.
    • 4/5
      Anyone who has ever known (or dated) an overly sarcastic and bitter guy will recognize the main character in this. Once again, Tomine depicts the frustrating intricacies of relationships with subtle dialogue and wonderful illustrations.
    • 3/5
      This book really is closer to a 3.5 actually imo. I thought the topic was really very interesting and insightful into both issues related to relationships in the Asian community and the lesbian community in California and there's an interesting aspect of feeling lacking and wanting on a geographical level too between California and NYC.

      I guess the real problem for me is that I think, despite the fact that graphic novels usually do tend to be shorter in length, this was just too short to explore all of these issues fully.

      Also, I really disliked the main protagonist, which is kind of a deal breaker for me. I did think Tomine did a great job exposing the main character's double standards, though. I would love to see an even more complex expansion on this topic. Great drawings, too!

    • 3/5
      A relationship drama about an Japanese American who is in the process of splitting up with his girlfriend. The book explores the themes of Asian identity in America, sexuality, east vs. west coast and how to move on from past relationships. The main characters Ben and Miko take themselves a little too seriously. The funniest character is Ben's friend Alice, who is smart, shameless and always out for a good time.
    • 5/5
      This book is hilarious. But I'm Caucasian and 60 and have been married to a Japanese man the same age as me for 21 years. It's not another graphic novel, but I highly recommend Where the Body Meets Memory by David Mura for a great dive into Japanese-American assimilation issues.
    • 3/5
      I moved from reading Ginger Pye to Shortcomings, a typical book for this generation of young readers. The main character is a miserably unhappy fellow, in his early 20’s, who has an awful job and terrible relationships. He alienates his girlfriend and irritates most of the other people in his life. He bungles through his daily life, never feeling joy or even small moments of contentment. The book ends (and this will surprise no one who reads books of this type) with our fellow returning to his pathetic life, sans girlfriend, minus his one friend, hoping that somehow things have changed for the better. Yeah, right.How did we go from Ginger Pye to Shortcomings? Have people really gone from having lovely lives to living every day on the edge of suicide? Where are all the Ginger Pye books of 2008? Are people really Shortcomings-miserable?
    • 4/5
      I had some thoughts on Shortcomings after I finished reading it a month and a half ago, but those thoughts are lost to me now. Here's what I remember. I like Tomine's art style, as always. I have limited exposure to graphic novelists, but Tomine is by far my favorite with his crisp, realistic, detail-driven images. This story had its moments of greatness, but overall, I recall a sense of self-indulgence overshadowing any points the story could've successfully addressed. Shortcomings comes nowhere near the beauty and heartache of Killing and Dying, but it was still a visual treat and a very short read.
    • 4/5
      Shortcomings raises a lot of questions. They're about identity (racial, sexual, gender roles related) and self-esteem and other things both serious and non-serious, and while the questions themselves weren't new to me, the painful lack of resolution at book's close reminded me that knowing the questions is a far cry from knowing the answers. In fact, knowing the questions merely confirms the unknowable nature of these answers we're looking for by challenging the possibility of existence, past/present/future, of answers at all. Hard to say if this book is about an awakening or a reckoning, both or neither.
    • 3/5
      I love Tomine's art and I've enjoyed a lot of his short stories. The problem with this one is that I disliked every single character so much that I can't really say I enjoyed it. I was certainly impressed by it though. And they were all very realistic jerks.
    • 3/5
      This graphic novel is generally about a Japanese man in America. Ben Tanaka has a Japanese girlfriend, but their relationship seems to be quite rocky and uncertain. His girlfriend Miko suspects that Ben has issues with being Asian in a predominantly white country and society, but Ben does not admit to such a thing, and instead starts to push his girlfriend away.At the same time, Ben befriends a white chick from work. While Miko is away, Ben tries to woo a couple of girls (specifically noted to be of non-Asian ethnicity), only to have issues in the end. Ben’s closest friend is a Korean lesbian, Alice, whose parents hold a grudge against all Japanese people in general, due to what happened in World War 2. And to top it all off, Ben finds out about a secret that his girlfriend had kept hidden from him, and everything becomes unstuck.I suspect that this graphic novel was given the title Shortcomings because of the nature of the main character, Ben. He has, indeed, some very glaring shortcomings character-wise.For me, the graphic novel itself comes up short as well. Though the overall theme of the story is mainly about racism and how much of it is part of our lives, I feel like it hardly dwells enough with the issue to make an impact that matters. So many things felt like we just got the cream on top, and none of the strong coffee that was sitting underneath.Graphics-wise, everything was very clean-cut and tidy, but somehow it lacked the energy that I would otherwise have expected of a graphic novel that intends to deal with an issue this heavy. Everything felt constrained and contained within nice square boxes, whereas the core of the story deals with the issue that over-generalising people into tidy boxes just does not cut it.It being a graphic novel and all, it was an easy read. I would have wanted a lot more depth, but I guess, there will be books that have their shortcomings.
    • 3/5
      A short and bitterly funny story about a prick of a guy, his insecurities and inability to see them.
    • 3/5
      Pretty entertaining. The main character, who seems at least partly based on the author, is an unrelenting asshole, but the other characters keep letting him know about this, so it must be intentional.
    • 4/5
      Engrossing from beginning to end, this short graphic novel tells the story of a roughly 30 year-old Ben Tanaka and as his struggles for identity and love take him from the West Coast to the East Coast and back. What feels like a very realistic, moving and depressing depiction of a failing relationship, searches for new ones, and debates over identity, prejudice, and stereotyping. Plus an excellent lesbian sidekick character.
    • 4/5
      Yes, you may not like the characters in Shortcomings. They may seem annoying, whining hipsters (is that what they are called in the bay area?) with racial hang-ups and immature college attitudes. But the dialogue and flow of the story is impeccable. Tomine has avoided some of the common mistakes in graphic novels today: Characters are not having unintentionally awkward and unbelievable conversations, neither are drawings seem unnaturally done to accommodate long monologues. In the end, you get a well-written and well-told story of a bunch of characters centered around the perpetually complaning Ben. Ben is not very likable, I admit. Nor his skirt-chasing lesbian best (only?) friend. Nor his inert girlfriend. But Ben is fascinating as he verbalizes the politically INcorrect stuff about race and about relationship dynamics. Perhaps because Ben is not so likable, we want him to be wrong about everything, but really, he is not always wrong, and he is not always just being an asshole. He is sometimes an asshole, and sometimes other people are assholes to him. He certainly has to figure some things out and clear his head a bit.
    • 4/5
      4.5 Clean, shockingly beautiful drawings hold the messy ambiguity of relationships between people in their twenties and the difficulties of the "model minority". Perfectly made, the only downside is that I read it in an hour. Worth it for the panels without words.
    • 4/5
      Engrossing from beginning to end, this short graphic novel tells the story of a roughly 30 year-old Ben Tanaka and as his struggles for identity and love take him from the West Coast to the East Coast and back. What feels like a very realistic, moving and depressing depiction of a failing relationship, searches for new ones, and debates over identity, prejudice, and stereotyping. Plus an excellent lesbian sidekick character.
    • 3/5
      I thought it was an interesting character study, with good, believable characters. I found it a little depressing on the whole, but quite engaging.
    • 2/5
      I selected this one because I wanted to read more from Asian-American authors. The graphic novel’s protagonist is such a jerk that it’s hard to care what happens to him. He’s selfish, shallow, depressed, and angry about everything. Overall I wasn’t a fan, though I do appreciate the brave approach to delicate issues.
    • 3/5
      This is a straight-forward book that follows an anti-hero; the protagonist doesn't really care for his girlfriend, who tries to get their relationship to work.

      It's safe to say that watching him, the torpid, vacant man, sulk and complain himself through life is a gnarly, look-yourself-in-the-mirror kind of experience.

      Well written, interesting and human. Definitely makes me read more from this author.
    • 4/5
      A well-written sad story about the end of a relationship.