Book Review: Hark! A Vagrant is for those who are both well-read in the classics and willing to laugh at their favorites. The very first strip, eviscerating the Bronte sisters, will tell if this book for you. The invaluable Kate Beaton is that rarest and best of all possible humans, a polymath with a vicious sense of humor. The comics range wide over literature, history, pop music, super heroes, contemporary culture, and classical music. Even Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes. Be prepared: Hark! A Vagrant can be humbling when you find blanks in your learning that you didn't know were there. There were bits I missed. But there's also an upside: Googling Wolfe and Montcalm I repaired some gaps in my Canadian history. There's even an index! Beaton has a unique and galloping sense of humor that I began to treasure the more I read. What kind of mind comes up with a Dracula joke about turnips? Hark! A Vagrant is a perfect gift for that widely-read or over-educated person in your life. Or even better, yourself. Count me a fan. [4½★]
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