A graphic novel about a dysfunctional family that is relatable for it's ordinary nature. When Juliette leaves Paris to go back to her hometown and crash with her dad - she isn't sure how long she plans on staying. She knows she wants to reconnect with her family and spend time with her older sister and eccentric mom. Juliette is dealing with crushing anxiety and depression - her father is lonely, her sister is unhappy in her marriage, and her grandma is getting lost in dementia. Told through beautiful and charming watercolor panels - this graphic novel is a breath of fresh air. It's emotional and filled with relatable characters - while not terribly exciting - it's still a nice quick read. ( )

This domestic drama is a bit mild but kept me reading along eagerly enough.

Juliette, an anxious and introverted young woman, visits her family in her hometown. Her parents are divorced and a bit acrimonious. Her outgoing sister is having an affair. And she meets a loser slob who she doesn't mind hanging out with. Bickering, slapstick and flirting ensue.

Side note: This is the third book I've read in the last month that has an out-of-nowhere cameo of the Pink Panther, and I'm not sure what the universe is trying to tell me with this weird confluence.

(Best of 2023 Project: I'm reading all the graphic novels that made it onto NPR's Books We Love 2023: Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels list.) ( )

Gasp! A graphic novel sitting on the table of new books in the library and one that I might like. What can I say? I grabbed it.

I don't know Camille Jourdy but this is a wonderful book telling of the return of Juliette to her family but with a family in chaos. Her mother and father are divorced but still niggle each other, her sister is having an affair out in the greenhouse at the end of the garden with the man from the costume shop and her Grandma is suffering from dementia. Oh, and Juliette is suffering with anxiety. What could possibly go wrong?

The story starts with the train journey, and if I didn't know before that this was France, I certainly did after this series of pictures. I suppose it could be anywhere but the pylons are definitely french in shape as is the post for the sign in the last image. I have seen those concrete posts all over France. Each image has so much detail in it - the industrial centres, rural towns eventually pulling into her hometown.

However, it is like all those coming home trips. You look forward to it but once you are there it feels like you want to go back to where you came from, in this case Paris.

There are some very funny moments in the book. Her sister's lover making the most of the costumes he has in the shop to wear when he visits her in her greenhouse. He's a bunny, a wolf and a ghost. It's the ghost trip where it all falls apart for her sister because her children complain that they have a ghost under the desk in their bedroom and although they aren't believed, he is eventually caught.

The main feeling throughout the book is melancholy, with things seeming to fall apart including the duckling she finds with a man she met in a bar. He looks after the duckling but in the end it gets squashed so even that doesn't succeed - nor does the relationship with him.

The pictures I really loved were the whole page or double page images. They are bright, often of the outside and where they are not, there is a wall decorated or papered in trees, twigs and birds. They are often referred to as Matisse-like but I think they are very like Hockney's Spring collection. The image of MaryLou's boyfriend dressed in his wolf costume in what looks like a wooded area is excellent. I love the toys strewn at the base of the fence just to remind us that this is not a Little Red Riding Hood story although it could be argued he is playing the role of the big, bad wolf in their marriage. On the following page, Juliette visits her Grandmother and sees her false teeth in a jar beside her bed. She, of course, says "Oh Grandmother, what big teeth you have . . .". This being 'real' life, her Grandmother can't hear her so the joke is dropped.

I loved this book even though nothing is sorted out at the end. ( )

Juliette no se encuentra demasiado bien. Últimamente ha estado teniendo ataques de angustia de los que espera recuperarse en casa de su padre, un hombre algo ausente desde que su mujer lo abandonó para hacer vida de pintora. En el pueblo todo ha cambiando pero todo sigue igual.
Juliette visita a la abuela, que ya requiere atención permanente, ve crecidos a sus sobrinos y trata de abrirse a su hermana Marylou, que ha cogido algunos kilos y tiene un amante secreto con el que se ve los jueves en el invernadero.
Juliette ha llegado en tren desde París y ahora recorre las calles de su infancia como un fantasma de sí misma. Tal vez ha entrado en “la dimensión trágica”, así es como lo llama el estrafalario cuarentón que ahora ocupa la antigua casa familiar del callejón. Aquella casa que fuera hogar de Juliette antes de la separación de sus padres...