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Roz Chast

 We might think of "man vs. nature" as a special, lofty kind of conflict: the stuff of "Into the Wild," "Into Thin Air," "The Call of the Wild."


But you can also find this material in a comic. In "Semi-Lucid Dream," Roz Chast emerges from the grocery store, the "Shop-Away." (This calls to mind certain phrases: "piss away your time," "fritter your life away" ....)

Roz's car has disappeared; in fact, the atoms of the universe are conspiring against her. The entire town--the street, the sidewalk--all is rearranged and new. Also, the frozen turkey is gone.

Roz takes a deep breath and rallies. In fact, she never bought a frozen turkey, she tells herself. That was just a fantasy in a dream.

And the world replies: "You're still fucking lost. Take that." The End.

I like the bleakness of this comic, and I like RC's impotent moment of faux-triumph. ("I never bought a frozen turkey!") .....Once again, I feel like I'm reading about myself; this is a weirdly generous and empathic (and darkly funny) tale.


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