Tantrum

Tantrum by Jules Feiffer Tantrum is a 1979 black and white graphic novel about a 42 year old married father of two teenagers named Leo who is facing a midlife crisis. His life has no meaning, no mystery, no excitement. During a particularly bleak moment he wills himself back to the age of two so that he can play, be pampered, and get piggy back rides. Only he finds out that the rest of the world doesn't have the time or interest to oblige. As he goes to each person in his life, they all disappoint him in one way or another. Each is caught up in their own concerns and have little or no attention for Leo and his need to be nurtured. Feiffer's black and white line drawings are wondederfully expressive, and his story telling is richly complex as Leo and all the people he confronts reveal their own inner turmoils and concerns.

The Gates Ajar

The Gates Ajar by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

The Gates Ajar is an 1868 novel that was immensely popular following its publication soon after the American Civil War where so many men had been killed. In diary format, it tells the story of Mary Cabot, who is mourning the death of her brother Royal who was shot dead in the war. Their parents are deceased, and Mary is unable to find sympathy and relief from anyone. She is on the verge of losing her religious faith and giving in to despair when her widowed aunt Winifred Forceythe fortuitously arrives from Kansas with her daughter Faith. Through their conversations, recorded in Mary's journal Winifred offers an inspiring image of heaven that gradually restores her niece's faith. I have wanted to read this novel for a long time since I first heard of it and have finally found the time. The image of the afterlife portrayed in the novel is based upon selected readings of Christian sources, and appears very comforting to those in the novel. However, that is not the important part of the work for me. It is a wonderful story of two women bonding together to help each other through difficult times.