The Speed Abater [Paperback]

Christophe Blain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2003

After hours of peregrinations into the steaming bowels of the monstrous boat, the sailors find themselves in front of the huge speed abater machine. Catastrophe follows and from then on, the men live in hell... A deeply human and highly unusual suspenseful tale by an exciting new talent.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Young oceanographer George Guilbert has volunteered as a helmsman for the French navy. On board the giant battleship Bellicose, he meets writer Louis Bleno and the dim but well-meaning coxswain Sam Nordiz. The ship sets out in response to a possible attack, and Guilbert and Bleno, being new sailors, become violently seasick. Nordiz suggests they visit the ship's nether regions, where there's less rocking. Though the sailors are forbidden to enter this area, Nordiz and Bleno become fascinated with it. They check out the reduction gears, which are exceedingly sensitive and crucial to the ship's functioning. Naturally, when one character drops a pencil sharpener into the gears, disaster strikes (or at least the characters think it does). Nothing much happens in Blain's anticlimactic story: readers expect a great tragedy, but everything turns out alright. Blain suggests that our imaginations inflate events and our roles in them, while the rest of the world is really paying attention to something else. While the narrative is fairly mundane, the art is fascinating: spare, expressive without being too worked over, and intensely colored to indicate locations and moods. The area above deck is portrayed in grays and blues, for example, and below deck, everything is acid yellow. While the three main characters are unremarkable, Bellicose steals the show in terms of complexity and depth. Blain skillfully captures Bellicose's sheer hugeness, where men can walk around for days on end without knowing where they are. Blain ultimately seems to be paying homage to the passing of a certain kind of military vessel and the adventure it affords ordinary men.
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From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Like Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut, Blain uses the irrationality of war to explore the fragility of life and society. Optimistic and naive George leaves his wife to ship out with the Navy. He's assigned duty aboard the Bellicose, a mammoth, obsolete (and aptly named) warship, where he quickly befriends two outcasts. Disoriented by the byzantine regulations of naval life, nauseated by seasickness, and tormented by the threat of an enemy submarine, the three sailors seek refuge in the entrails of the ship. Their near-mythical descent takes them through a labyrinth of ladders, pipes, and steam, terminating in a cavernous room that houses the reduction gears, a massive, finely tuned device for halting the craft. A small accident there slows the ship, unleashing a chain of events with hellish consequences: the three must choose between being captured as suspected saboteurs or starving to death in the stygian depths of the ship. This is an intriguing tale with plenty of humor and insight, but it may have a limited audience. The scratchy and stylized color artwork can be evocative, capturing the monumentality of the ship or the bewilderment of the characters, but some readers may not warm to the loose, caricaturized renderings. The combination of sailor talk that lives up to its reputation, occasionally awkward translation, sexual content, and the overall nature of the work make it best suited for older teens.
Douglas P. Davey, Guelph Public Library, Ontario, Canada
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: NBM Publishing (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561633496
• ISBN-13: 978-1561633494
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #942,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comics too good for words and pictures, September 17, 2003

By 

Teddy "teddyhk" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Speed Abater (Paperback)

This is the most impressive comicbook read I have had this year.It was SUCH a joy to read this work and I am dying to read the upcoming ISAAC THE PIRATE, vol.1: To Exotic Lands.
It is a perfectly told serious story about the claustrophic life on a big warship.If you are looking for a proper comic book european style,look no further.BUY........

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pinter on the Poseidon Adventure, March 15, 2009

By 

Marc Laidlaw - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Speed Abater (Paperback)

Not at all what it seems, this understated comic creates an unforgettable sense of claustrophobia and surreal dread. It's like having Pinter as your guide on the Poseidon Adventure. For me it's a 5-star experience; I grant it 4 because it may not be for everyone...that's my only reservation.