Consider whimsy.
We all love whimsy. Whimsy makes us happy as readers. Whimsy brings a smile to our respective faces, and makes reading of the whimsical work a real pleasure and joy.
The problem is that whimsy is very, very hard to find these days. In these grim times, when the economy seems perpetually teetering on the brink of collapse oh my god the world is going to come to an end because the debt ceiling hasn’t been raised soon freeways will collapse under the weight of the polar ice caps flooding and polar bears will be forced to walk into my back door looking for food and I’m not sure if they’ll like the way I do my barbecuing.
Thankfully Joe Decie hasn’t forgotten whimsy. The Accidental Salad is a wonderfully charming few minutes spent inside Joe’s whimsical mind, where silly internal monologues and strangely insightful thoughts sit cheek-to-jowl with a charmingly skewed view of the world. Decie loves to have cute little dialogues with himself, charming little digressions that you and I might occasionally do, if we were funnier or more whimsical and not obsessed with the Casey Anthony murder verdict (what a injustice that was! Worst case of wrongful legal decision since the OJ trial. Oh… damn, I’m doing it again, aren’t I?).
Rather than explain what Decie’s all about, it makes a lot more sense for you to enjoy the work of his that I’ve interspersed through my review. Take a look at that stuff and you’ll see his charming sense of humor, his ability to find happiness in the small moments in life, his ability to take a half step back in his life and bask in joy about his own extremely human frailties. Chances are high that if you enjoy the four excerpts I’m sharing here, you’ll enjoy this book. If not, well, not everyone enjoys whimsy.
As for me, I had a wonderful time reading this book. Sometimes I need something to shake me out of all my many worries – holy crap, what does the unemployment number mean for me? Will be kids be able to find jobs? Is this recession the end of the world as we know it? To paraphrase R.E.M., Decie reminds readers in this book that if this is the end of the world as we know it, he feels fine. And being around someone who feels fine helps make me feel fine, too. This is a really terrific book and I recommend it thoroughly.
For more information on this book, click here.
Jason Sacks has been obsessed with comics for longer than he’d like to remember. He considers himself a student of comics history and loves delving into obscure corners of this crazy artform. Jason has been writing for this site for about seven years and has also been published in a number of fan publications, including the late, lamented Amazing Heroes and The Flash Companion. He lives in north Seattle with his wife and three kids and works for a large technology company.