OK book. I picked it up because someone recommended it to me when I told them I enjoyed absurdist fiction. In retrospect I would not really classify it as that though.
The scrappy go-gettem bildungsroman in the first half was enjoyable, the absurd Antarctic interlude scratched my itch for melancholy whimsy, but the last portion of the book was a slog. Motifs, themes, and comic-book history were tight, but I found the pacing quite sloppy and the overall story a bit incoherent.
Honestly reminds me a bit of Demon Copperhead, which also won a Pulitzer: there is lot to latch on to and unpuzzle (which probably makes them great fodder for book clubs and English classes), they are both a little too long, and they both never really crossed the line from “good” to “great” for me. Is this a modern fiction thing?