What's So Funny? : A Cartoonist's Memoir

DavidSipresss engaging, illuminating, and hilarious memoir will perhaps clarify what dark forces are at work when it comes to becoming a cartoonist rather than a podiatrist, a billionaire tech mogul, orsomeone who is deeply into collecting owl figurines.And if it doesnt, you will love it anyway.Roz Chast

From a longtimeNew Yorkerstaff cartoonist, an evocative familymemoir, a love letter to New York City, and a delightful exploration of the origins of creativityrichly interleaved with the authors witty, beloved cartoons.

David Sipress, adreamer and obsessive drawer living with his Upper West Side family in the age of JFK and Sputnik, goes hazy when it comes totheceaselessly imparted lessons-on-life from his meticulous father and the angsty expectations of his migraine-prone mother.With wry and brilliantly observed prose, Sipress paints his haplessplace in the family, from the time he is tricked byhis unreliable older sister into rocketing his pet turtle out his twelfth-floor bedroomwindow to the moment he walks away from a Harvard PhD program in Russian history to begin his life as a professional cartoonist. Sipresss cartoonsappear in the story with spot-on precision, inducing delightfulAha!moments in answerto the perennial question aimed at cartoonists: Where do you get yourideas?