cover image Confessions of a Cereal Eater, Vol. 2

Confessions of a Cereal Eater, Vol. 2

Rob Maisch, . . NBM, $9.95 (96pp) ISBN 978-1-56163-352-4

Maisch's second volume of autobiographical stories is puerile and dull. The author clearly prides himself on the pranks he has pulled over the course of his life, but they neither amuse nor ring true. The stories are reasonably funny and well-observed when they concern Maisch's misspent youth, but obnoxious when they portray the protagonist in later years, since he doesn't seem to have progressed in wit or inventiveness. For example, "A Quiet Evening at Home" recollects how recent divorcé Maisch spent a night in with his girlfriend, dumped a bucket of snow on her in the shower and made her do a striptease on his cabin's porch for the benefit of his neighbors. It's no surprise the next story begins immediately after she's left him. The perpetual frat-boy tone might have worked if Maisch had some distance or insight on these events, perhaps by presenting a narrative in which he learns from his experiences. Unfortunately, each story is simply another increasingly unfunny episode in his life. The volume's saving grace is the art, much of it by new talents from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Paul Hudson's polish and cheeky sense of fun almost salvages "A Quiet Evening at Home." Nick Rummel's angular style and heavy lines fit in perfectly with a story about a group of college guys looking for (and, of course, finding) trouble in the local nightlife. And Robyn Chapman's soft pencils and almost pointillist backgrounds give an air of sensitivity to a clumsily written tale of young romance. (Aug.)