Bottomless Belly Button

Bottomless Belly Button (Fantagraphics) is an unusual title for a very unusual book. There is no navel involved, and the book itself is not bottomless. It does feel endless at over 700 pages, but it’s a good sort of endless from Dash Shaw.
The book centers on the Loony family, which reunites at their parents’ beach house on the occasion of their divorce. Elder brother Dennis comes with wife Aki and baby Alex, and is unwilling to accept such a clean break. Middle child Claire, a divorcee herself, goes on a wild night with Aki, and spends the rest of her time bonding with teenage daughter Jill. Finally, younger brother Peter, who has the head of a cartoon frog, winds up breaking out of his shell by meeting daycare counselor Kat.

While Bottomless Belly Button makes for a heavy read (Shaw advises readers to take breaks between the three chapters), it seldom feels like a waste, even when Shaw puts a few panels on a single page, leaving lots of white space in the process. The quirkiest aspect of the book comes from Shaw writing out sounds and actions using actual words instead of sound effects. For instance, when Aki and Claire enter a club, they are greeted by “LOUD MUSIC.” Gropes in the dark are sometimes greeted with words describing the object being touched. This approach takes time, but the reader eventually adapts to Shaw’s unique approach.

For the most part, the characters come across as deep as the book is long. In particular, the reader’s attention is drawn to the brothers, Peter and Dennis. Peter has a cartoonish appearance, possessing the head of a frog and gloves borrowed from either Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny. He doesn’t seem too broken up about his parents’ divorce, and he winds up spending time with Kat, going beyond his self-loathing to become more of an adult. Dennis seems to be more of an adult, especially since he has a wife and child, but he’s unwilling to accept the divorce as readily as his siblings. After looking through childhood pictures, he comes across a key, which unlocks a passage into the house’s crawlspace. While panting, sweating, and cutting his hand on a jagged piece of wood, Peter discovers personal effects from his parents’ past, back when they were dating. Squeezing through the narrow space, it feels as if he is going back inside the womb.

Dennis and Peter’s experiences are merely the tip of the sandcastle. Shaw makes the most of working two years on this book. Bottomless Belly Button is well worth the cover price, taking its place as one of the best graphic novels of the year.

-Jason Borelli