Book Review: Everyone Poops

I had the same teacher for two A.P. English classes in high school. The first thing he made us do in each class was memorize the definition of the word "literature." He quizzed us and grilled us, and would randomly prompt us to recite it aloud. He pounded this definition into our heads so thoroughly that I still remember it, about seven years later. That definition is as follows: "A body of work, oral or written, prose or verse, excellent in form and expression, articulating the universal concerns of the human condition." It's hard to believe that contemporary literary scholars waste their time with hacks like Shakespeare and Milton when perhaps the ultimate example of literature has gone largely unnoticed: a little gem entitled "Everyone Poops," a children's book written and illustrated by Taro Gomi.

For those who can't tell, I'm being facetious. "Everyone Poops" may seem like a comedy bonanza, but, as the saying goes, all that glistens is not gold. Not to say that the book doesn't have its unique charm, it's just a little... weird. I think the main reason is that the book was originally written in Japanese, and then translated to English. This leads to some strange sentences that don't flow very well. These lines, for example, appear on two consecutive pages: "A one-hump camel makes a one-hump poop / And a two-hump camel makes a two-hump poop / Only kidding! (Gomi, 4-5)" And these two pages that end the book: "All living things eat, so / Everyone Poops (25-27)" What's wrong with these lines, you ask? First of all, the author is misinforming impressionable youngsters about the poop formation of camels. Secondly, the entire book seems to dispense with proper punctuation altogether. As a former Creative Writing student (and this is essentially a bastardized English degree) this drives me up the wall. And perhaps most importantly, the prose style of these lines simply sounds awkward; there is no natural sense of rhythm or cadence, at least not in the translation. It reads almost like a haiku (but without the structured syllables), or like the minimalist, free-form poetry of William Carlos Williams.

The structure of the book is equally helter-skelter. The overall meaning seems to be simply that pooping is a natural and necessary process in all living organisms. It goes on to name a variety of animals that poop, and sometimes point out differences in pooping habits and size between different animals, and even humans. But there are a few silly questions thrown in, seemingly at random, for example, "What does whale poop look like (12-13)?" I'm all for questions that get the creative juices flowing (so to speak), but seeing as how Mr. Gomi took it upon himself to write a book about pooping, I feel that he should be telling us, rather than asking. That said, I like how the book subtly builds up to the simple statement "Everyone poops," thus tying the text to the title and reminding us why we're reading it.

The artwork in "Everyone Poops" is very original. It's simple, but also skilled and pleasing to the eye. All of the characters and animals appear to have been painted in watercolor, and look quite flat and two-dimensional, almost like paper cutouts. As an amateur artist, I appreciate the style; the only thing I found off-putting was the fact that all of the animals and people have odd horizontal slits for eyes, which is a bit creepy. One particularly funny image depicts the backsides of a multitude of defecating animals, with the rest of their bodies cut away by the tops and sides of the pages. The paintings and text often appear against bright, vivid background colors, which seem to complement the colors in the painted figures. This adds variety and aesthetic beauty to the book; some of the pages almost remind me of a Mark Rothko painting.

At the end of the day, I'm proud to have this book prominently displayed on my shelf, if only as a conversation piece. I'm not wild about the prose style. But I liked the artwork, and I really enjoyed the humor and the novelty of the piece as a whole. And I applaud Mr. Gomi for making light of a subject that we sometimes take too seriously, and for reminding us that everyone does, indeed, poop.