Loved and Lost: A Relationship Trilogy

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By Jeffrey Brown. Published by Top Shelf.

Softcover, 608 pages, B&W, 2022 (originally published 2002, 2003 & 2005)

A pioneer of 21st-century graphic memoir, Jeffrey Brown captures timeless insights into love, intimacy, and vulnerability in three unforgettable relationship portraits.

Twenty years ago, young painter Jeffrey Brown grew frustrated with the expectations of the art world and wanted desperately to make something real. In a single sketchbook, working directly in ink, he began recording his memories of a recent long-distance relationship, matching the emotional frailty of the young lovers with painfully honest writing and art.

As that book, Clumsy, struck a chord with readers and spawned the follow-ups Unlikely and Any Easy Intimacy, Brown’s work proved a watershed for the emerging form of the graphic memoir. Chronicling the awkward mess of romantic relationships in unsparing and explicit detail, these works also reflect the fragmentary nature of memory, the risk of opening ourselves to pain, and the giggly rush of falling in love.

Now collected into one volume for the first time, this Relationship Trilogy is a bittersweet reminder of the everyday joy, heartbreak, and humor that — despite everything— keep us coming back for more.

Collects Clumsy, Unlikely, and AEIOU or Any Easy Intimacy.

Praise for the “Relationship Trilogy” of Jeffrey Brown:

“An extremely impressive debut, full of all the things that make a story good — doomed relationships, embarrassing personal details, and the insatiable need to put it all down on paper.” — Chris Ware, author of Jimmy Corrigan and Rusty Brown

“You can open to any page and find something unusually bare and honest about these stories. They’re surprising, even though half the moments in the book are ones you’ve probably experienced yourself. Hard trick to pull off.” — Ira Glass, host of This American Life

“Mr. Brown seems to understand perfectly the day-to-day rhythms of the modern ‘young adult’ relationship… pretty much impossible to put down.” — Daniel Clowes, creator of Ghost World and David Boring

“An unmediated, raw and immediate account, [which] rings so very, very true that I cannot imagine it not speaking, directly and movingly, to anyone who has ever loved and lost.” — Neel Mukherjee, The Times (UK)

“Jeffrey Brown’s work is charming and fantastic.” — Whitney Matheson, USA Today

“Funny, sad, and a little embarrassing, Jeff Brown… delivers the look at real life that other forms of ‘reality’ entertainment falsely promise.” — Andrew Arnold, Time

“A million little brilliant and honest moments are sewn into the rough panels.” — Wil Moss, NewCity Chicago

“Jeffrey Brown’s work is not precious, broken-heart type stuff, but instead renders the terrific blanches and indelible happiness one can inflict upon another.” — Jennifer Przybylski, Rain Taxi

“Brown is a consummate storyteller, with a mixture of believable dialogue that carries both wistful romance and casual cruelty blending with simple artwork that conveys a wide variety of emotions and actions.” — Randy Lander, The Fourth Rail