Yes, OK, I've read a graphic novel or two. They're literature, some say. Be that as it may, this book moves far beyond "graphic novel" territory in both its storytelling and its aesthetics. Chris Ware's masterpiece jumps, seemingly randomly, across three generations of damaged and pathetic men -- a petit epic that unfolds figuratively and literally through a myriad of odd and creative narrative devices. There are even fold-out craft projects embedded in it here and there, intricate dioramas that form a part of the story along with all of the lovingly detailed illustrations and dense marginalia.