Customer Reviews

Lucille

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

ARC provided by netGalley

Lucille is a young, awkward teenage girl in high school who is not quite sure of herself. She just wants to be normal like everyone else and her one childhood doll. But alas, Lucille thinks she's ugly and is slowly dying from anorexia. She wants to become so thin she doesn't even exist anymore. And into the picture enters Arthur (also known as Vladimir), whose plagued by OCD, convinces others to worship Satan, and whose father is a drunk fisherman who ends up killing himself after losing his job. And the two fall for each other. They run away together in the hopes of finding love and happiness...until they reach Italy and discover that life doesn't always come up happy.

"Lucille" is a powerful story of love, life, hope, and everything in between. Debeurme creates two characters that are well developed and that you might have trouble relating to if you knew them in real life. And yet...as you read deeper into the book you find that you can relate to them. The insecurity, the loss of hope, and being lost in a world that is often confusing. It's an amazingly written story of self discovery and finding some hope in the amidst of chaos. And at the same time...it's also very familiar tale of two star crossed lovers on a journey that only ends in tears. And it's when the story gets here that it starts to suffer a bit. It's an all too familiar tale that while told decently offers nothing unique and is far to reminiscent of "Romeo and Juliet" in some ways. I know it sounds trite, but I wish that he had taken it down a slightly different path, continuing to explore the characters issues with anorexia and OCD, their journey of discovering themselves. They didn't have to be happy, but the last ¼ of the book just felt a bit too familiar.

The artwork is simple line drawings, no depth to the characters, and often no background (sometimes the characters seem to float on air.) It's very similar in style to Chester Brown. And while at first these simple drawings maybe off putting (especially to those used to more robust images in graphic novels even in Chester Brown's work) it grows on you slowly. It fits the tone of the story quite well and by the end helps the tale along.

Overall its a good book bordering on great. The characters are well written and unique and even though the ending is somewhat familiar, we're left with something at the end that is a bit unique and makes the story well worth the read.

Lucille by Ludovic Debeurme is one of the most touching book of the year. I higly recommend this graphic novel.

This is one of those thick, whoppers (500 pages) that can be read really quick due to a lot of pages comprised of 1-2 panels with very little text. A slightly melodramatic young love tale that's been told many times before but still makes for a nice, breezy read if you're in the mood for such fare.

Lucille, a young anorexic woman, and Arthur, the son of a disgraced sailor, fall in love and run away together to Italy. Along the way, they fall prey to fears of abandonment and insecurities that test the bonds of their relationship. Debeurme's bare ink sketches suit the story well with their storyboard simplicity, and his examination of the characters' past histories and motivations turn an otherwise flat storyline into a moving tale of human frailty. Recommended for an adult audience due to sexual content, language.

I picked up this book recently because many of the reviews I read compared it to "Blankets". While I didn't adore "Blankets", it had a certain appeal to me that I still haven't been able to put my finger on. I thought that maybe this book would have that same appeal. Unfortunately, I felt that it had all of the negative aspects of "Blankets" and none of the positives. I know I shouldn't compare it to another work, but even on its own I found it lacking.

The graphic novel follows Lucille who is a troubled anorexic teen with few friends. She struggles with her relationship with her mother and often feels alone in the world. Her only confidante is an older woman in the geriatric unit of the hospital. At first, it seems that she is just your average conflicted adolescent. However, it becomes clear that she is suffering from numerous issues that are rooted in her unhappiness for herself. The second main character in the graphic novel is Arthur who is also a troubled youth. We first meet him when he is trying to convince one of his peers to sell his soul to Satan in exchange for a date with a girl and good grades. It is soon revealed to the reader that Arthur is dysfunctional because of his father's alcoholism and rage. Though Arthur loves his father, he is pained by his father's violent actions. Of course Arthur and Lucille meet and they are able to find in each other the love and acceptance that no one has shown them. That is until they journey out on their own and realize that the grown-up world may be even less forgiving than their adolescent world.

While I think the story was interesting, I feel like plots centered around misunderstood teenagers is a bit hackneyed. We have all seen it before in graphic novels, movies, TV, and literature. While I am always looking for people to put a new pin on it, "Lucille" does not do that. Additionally, I felt like the characters were beyond depressing. I love dark stories and crave unhappy characters in my novels. Yet, this went even a bit too far for me! I typically love simplistic graphics when reading a serious novel. Unfortunately, these illustrations seemed to make the story even more drab and depressing. Granted, the final page states that it is the end of part 1; therefore, one can assume that there will be multiple parts to this story. I hope that the future parts are a bit more developed than this installment and that the author turns away from the cliched plot of the poor outcast kids finding each other. Still, if there is a part two...I doubt I will pick it up.