I Love You, I Hate You, I'm Hungry: A Collection of Cartoons

• Distinctive humor from a well-known artist: Bruce Eric Kaplan is one of the most popular cartoonists at The New Yorker . Known for his observational sense of humor and distinctive design, Kaplan’s work plays on modern foibles, juxtaposing droll, slice-of-life dialogue with slightly surreal situations. .

• Just in time for Valentine’s Day: This latest collection from Kaplan employs his trademark incisive wit on the volatile passions and comic banalities that plague relationships of all kinds. As Kaplan notes in the Introduction, “everything we do, we do for one of three reasons: because we love someone, because we hate someone, or because we’re hungry.” No one can argue with that, or anything else in this wickedly funny new collection..

This is a new collection of cartoons by Bruce Eric Kaplan, whose work has been appearing in The New Yorker for almost twenty years. But let's just get right to the important part. This is the best book ever. That's all you need to know. Trust us.

Publishers Weekly

In spite of the title, there isn’t much love to be found in New Yorker cartoonist Kaplan’s collection of single-panel cartoons. Whether the protagonists are couples, parents and children, cocktail party attendees, or woodland animals, all share a fundamental hatred of themselves and one another. Kaplan spoofs various aspects of our modern angst, including psychobabble—one elf in Santa’s workshop says to the other, “Obviously, behind all the jolliness there’s a lot of rage”; the Web way of life—a wife walks up to her husband with the words, “There you are—I’ve been looking all over the Internet for you!”; and our hidden but ever-present insecurities—one sheep tells another, “Sometimes I worry I’m a wolf dressed as me.” Kaplan’s simple, chunky line drawings are the perfect accompaniment to his depressive jokes, simultaneously conveying heaviness of spirit and a vision of others as blank vehicles of urbane truisms. Anyone with a cynical bone in his or her body is bound to enjoy these dark gags. (Jan.)

Bruce Eric Kaplan, known for his distinctive, off-beat single-panel cartoons, has been a New Yorker cartoonist for over ten years. He is also a television writer, and was an executive producer for the acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under, as well as a writer on Seinfeld (funnily enough, one of his most well-known episodes is one where Elaine becomes increasingly frustrated over what she takes to be an utterly nonsensical New Yorker cartoon).