Colson Whitehead: Obama Should Read RAW Comics' "Amy and Jordan" by Mark Beyer

(Illustration by Jillian Tamaki for the New York Times.)

The New York Times Book Review has a short "By the Book" interview with writer (and our former Brooklyn neighbor) Colson Whitehead. He thinks the president should read a graphic novel by Mark Beyer titled AGONY (Pantheon, 1987).

If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?

Whenever I’m down, I pick up Mark Beyer’s “Agony,” the 1987 pocket-size graphic novel from the old RAW comics line. It follows the human couple Amy and Jordan as they are beheaded by floating wraiths, devoured by fish, hemorrhage uncontrollably, get terrorized by more floating wraiths. But they keep going. They survive. I think “Agony” captures what being president must be like. You have to think on your feet, put out a lot of fires. Keep going, even when accosted by giant bears or tiny Putins.